CLICK HERE TO THE LEARN MORE ABOUT THE WE R 1 CAMPAIGN AT THE IMPACT VINE!
Help us complete the campaign to produce our We R 1 Song!
Happy Labor Day!
Labor Day: What it Means
Labor Day, the first Monday in September, is a creation of the labor movement and is dedicated to the social and economic achievements of American workers. It constitutes a yearly national tribute to the contributions workers have made to the strength, prosperity, and well-being of our country.
Labor Day Legislation
Through the years the nation gave increasing emphasis to Labor Day. The first governmental recognition came through municipal ordinances passed during 1885 and 1886. From these, a movement developed to secure state legislation. The first state bill was introduced into the New York legislature, but the first to become law was passed by Oregon on February 21, 1887. During the year four more states — Colorado, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and New York — created the Labor Day holiday by legislative enactment. By the end of the decade Connecticut, Nebraska, and Pennsylvania had followed suit. By 1894, 23 other states had adopted the holiday in honor of workers, and on June 28 of that year, Congress passed an act making the first Monday in September of each year a legal holiday in the District of Columbia and the territories.
Founder of Labor Day
More than 100 years after the first Labor Day observance, there is still some doubt as to who first proposed the holiday for workers.
Some records show that Peter J. McGuire, general secretary of the Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners and a cofounder of the American Federation of Labor, was first in suggesting a day to honor those "who from rude nature have delved and carved all the grandeur we behold."
But Peter McGuire's place in Labor Day history has not gone unchallenged. Many believe that Matthew Maguire, a machinist, not Peter McGuire, founded the holiday. Recent research seems to support the contention that Matthew Maguire, later the secretary of Local 344 of the International Association of Machinists in Paterson, N.J., proposed the holiday in 1882 while serving as secretary of the Central Labor Union in New York. What is clear is that the Central Labor Union adopted a Labor Day proposal and appointed a committee to plan a demonstration and picnic.
The First Labor Day
The first Labor Day holiday was celebrated on Tuesday, September 5, 1882, in New York City, in accordance with the plans of the Central Labor Union. The Central Labor Union held its second Labor Day holiday just a year later, on September 5, 1883.
In 1884 the first Monday in September was selected as the holiday, as originally proposed, and the Central Labor Union urged similar organizations in other cities to follow the example of New York and celebrate a "workingmen's holiday" on that date. The idea spread with the growth of labor organizations, and in 1885 Labor Day was celebrated in many industrial centers of the country.
VIDEO: Carver kids are back to AFTER-school!
Giving Voice to Fuel Change: Novelette Peterkin included in FCCF Celebration of Black History Month
See the entire article here.
Giving Voice to Fuel Change: Celebrating Black Philanthropy Month in Fairfield County
AUG 29, 2017
Photo: Les Treize, a Bridgeport-based giving circle, gives back to the community by awarding scholarships to African-American youth.
August is globally recognized as Black Philanthropy Month – a time to celebrate the collective power of African-American communities and their allies to transform lives through the power of giving, and to raise awareness to inspire and strengthen this work.
It’s a conversation that is deeply meaningful in Fairfield County, where growing disparity between wealth and poverty have created the nation’s largest opportunity gap. In the face of this challenge, many African-American philanthropists are actively investing their time, talent and treasure to build more equitable, inclusive neighborhoods and address the most pressing needs of our communities.
We are grateful to not only these featured African-American philanthropists, but the many others working in our communities to break the trajectory of poverty, increase access to quality education, create pathways to careers and build up Fairfield County as a place where every individual has the opportunity to thrive.
MEET THREE AFRICAN-AMERICAN PHILANTHROPISTS SHAPING THE FUTURE OF FAIRFIELD COUNTY
Novelette Peterkin
Executive Director,
The Carver Foundation of Norwalk, Inc.
As the executive director of the Carver Foundation of Norwalk, a Connecticut nonprofit that is the city’s largest private provider of afterschool and summer programs, Novelette Peterkin is committed to partnering with both parents and public schools to “build lifetime achievers.” She is a member of the National Black MBA Association, has served as a panelist for the Norwalk Chamber of Commerce Leadership Institute and the Fairfield Leadership Development Roundtable, and received the Women of Distinction Award in 2013 from the Darien YWCA.
“I am passionate about giving every advantage to the most disadvantaged youth in Norwalk today. I can only hope that this important work will contribute in some small way to gradual social change tomorrow. As a Jamaican immigrant who came to the United States as a child, you might assume my passion arises from my ethnic heritage. It does not. I am just as passionate for the success of our Hispanic youth, and white youth, and Asian youth, as I am for our black young people. The alignment of my passion and purpose, and how I sustain that passion day-in and day-out, depends on my honoring and responding in-kind to the passion my students have for embracing Carver’s mission of Building Lifetime Achievers.
Our work to help close the achievement gap in Norwalk is financially under-valued and too often ignored as an impossible dream that no other city of Norwalk’s size and diversity has ever achieved. The transformative potential of giving is witnessed in the lives of Carver kids every day. Generous and believing people and institutions such as Fairfield County’s Community Foundation are changing Norwalk, if not society, from the inside out. I have the privilege of witnessing this transformation every day. We can absolutely close the achievement gap in Norwalk. Given the wealth in Fairfield County, the excellence of our teachers, and most importantly, the capacity of our young people to overcome serious challenges to achieve their dreams, Norwalk is the nation’s best chance at being the first to finally close the achievement gap and much more. Generous and even sacrificial giving is essential to make this happen. Giving already, each day, changes lives and is already influencing positive change for generations to come. That is the power and promise of giving.”
~ Novelette Peterkin
Welcome Back to School, Carver!
Carver among 15 charities to receive a $35,000 grant in celebration of Newman's Own Foundation's 35th celebration
See the article here in WestportNow and here in The Hour.
To celebrate its 35th anniversary, Newman’s Own Foundation is donating $35,000 to five Westport nonprofits, the Foundation announced today.
They are among 15 nonprofits receiving $35,000 donations to mark the founding of Newman’s Own on Aug. 25, 1982 by the late Westport actor and philanthropist Paul Newman.
The Westport recipients include: CLASP Homes, Homes With Hope, Westport Historical Society, the Westport Library, and Westport Volunteer EMS.
Photo: Jarret Liotta / For Hearst Connecticut Media
The Foundation said the 15 nonprofit organizations were originally funded and have been supported for more than three decades.
The grants are part of the approximately $30 million that is being donated this year alone by Newman’s Own Foundation and Newman’s Own, the Foundation said.
Other $35,000 recipients include: The Actors Studio, New York, N.Y.; Amref Health Africa, New York, N.Y.; Carver Foundation of Norwalk; Central Park Conservancy, New York, N.Y.; Happiness is Camping, Blairstown, N.J.; Maritime Aquarium of Norwalk; New York Foundling Hospital; Norwalk Hospital; Save the Children, and Yale School of Drama.
August is Back Philanthropy Month
Black Philanthropy Month (BPM), held each August, was created in August 2011 by Dr. Jackie Copeland-Carson and the Pan-African Women's Philanthropy Network (PAWPNet) as an annual, global celebration of African-descent giving.
Recognized by the United Nations as part of its Declaration of 2011 as the International Year for People of African Descent, and declared by Congressman Keith Ellison, with proclamations from Minnesota’s governor and the mayors of Minneapolis and St. Paul, all Black communities and their allies are invited to use August and beyond to promote the power of giving to transform lives.
In 2013, a widespread and concerted effort began to invite public participation in a wave of high-impact events, media stories and service projects. Expanding each year, the BPM civic engagement and awareness campaign occurs online and in communities with local and global dimensions.
Primary aims of BPM are informing, involving, inspiring and investing in Black philanthropic leadership to strengthen African-American and African-descent giving in all its forms. A new organizing concept frames the BPM campaign each year.
The theme for 2017 is: Giving Voice to Fuel Change.
Themes for past years were:
2016: Elevating A Culture of Giving
2015: A Season of Change
2014: Generosity At Home and Around the Globe
2013: Of Dreams And Mountaintops
Help Carver kids sing a new song our nation needs right now - WeR1
GO HERE TO MAKE A DONATION ON THE CROWDFUNDING PLATFORM THE IMPACT VINE
WE HAVE RAISED $710 OF OF OUR $1,500 GOAL. HELP US MAKE THIS SONG A REALITY!
For its 80-year anniversary year, the Carver Foundation of Norwalk is recording a theme song written and sung by world-renowned artists and Carver’s own vocalist! This effort will help make the Carver story known worldwide and advance its mission of Building Lifetime Achievers!
Please give generously to help Carver complete this important project. Your gift will support:
- Recording Carver’s alumnae Gabbie Pierre-Louis on We R 1
- Finishing the musical instrument recording for the song
- The final mix and master of We R 1
- Filming a short video of Gabbie and Carver students in the studio for a behind the scenes look
- Releasing We R 1 as a worldwide single on iTunes, Spotify, and all major retail/streaming sites
Goal: $1,500
The Song
Carver alumnae Gabrielle Pierre-Louis will join renowned music artists Michael McDonald, Peabo Bryson, Oleta Adams and other international star vocalists to produce the song “We R 1” for worldwide distribution. “We R 1” was written by Morris Pleasure and his wife, Lori, in 2002, and recently gifted to Carver. Over the years, Morris Pleasure captured recordings of the artists named above for the future release of the song. The song is sung in the style of the charity single “We Are the World” written by Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie. The advent of Gabrielle’s powerful voice brings the professional recording of “We R 1” now to completion.
The Recording
Factory Underground Records is a Norwalk-based independent recording studio. Universal Music Group/Caroline distributes Factory Underground’s label worldwide. “We R 1” will be available soon on Spotify, iTunes, and on many other platforms available in 115 countries. Carver after-school students will observe the recording process at Factory Underground as part of Carver’s STEAM programming.
Gabrielle Pierre-Louise
Carver alumnae and Norwalk resident Gabrielle Pierre-Louise (Gabbie, 21 years old) is currently studying to be a dentist at the University of Bridgeport, inspired by years of helping her mother and father and other family members deliver humanitarian relief and dental care in particular to Haiti and other places in need. Gabbie is a gifted vocalist who is using her prodigious talent to support Carver.
Morris Pleasure
Mr. Pleasure received Carver’s Child of America award at a performance at Carnegie Hall in 2014, the only time Carver ever conferred this honor apart from Carver’s annual gala. The award recognized Pleasure’s volunteer support of Carver’s “Youth Voice” initiative, WeR1Voice (named after his song). Born and educated in Connecticut, Pleasure is an American composer, producer, multi-instrumentalist, and touring musician. He has recorded and performed with artists such as Ray Charles, Najee, George Duke, Earth, Wind & Fire (a band member for 10 years), Roberta Flack, Christina Aguilera, Peter Cetera, Mary J. Blige, David Foster, Bette Midler, and many others. Pleasure appeared in the documentary, This Is It, and Janet Jackson’s film, Janet: Live in Hawaii.
We R 1 Lyrics
WE ARE ONE…
WE KNOW OUR WORLD HAS GONE ASTRAY
EVIL AND VIOLENCE EVERYDAY
IT CAN’T GO ON THIS WAY FOREVER
FATHER HEAR OUR PRAYER FOR THE FUTURE
OUR CHILDREN GROW UP IN A WORLD OF PAIN
IN A LIFE WITHOUT DREAMS WHAT HOPE REMAINS
WE’VE GOT TO CARE FOR EACH OTHER
LOVE IS THE ONLY WAY
WE ARE ONE….
JUST LIKE THE SUN WILL CROSS THE SKY
EACH DAY A JOURNEY AS TIME GOES BY
WE NEED TO COME TOGETHER
WE MUST BELIEVE
WE ARE ONE…
WHEN LIFE GETS HARD TO UNDERSTAND
WE HAVE TO HAVE FAITH IN THE MASTER’S PLAN
LET’S MAKE A NEW WAY FOR THE CHILDREN
HELP THEM BELIEVE
WE ARE ONE…
ENOUGH OF THIS POVERTY AND DESPAIR
CORRUPTION, INJUSTICE EVERYWHERE
IT’S TIME TO MOVE ON, LET’S WORK TOGETHER
THROUGH UNITY, WE CAN MAKE IT BETTER
LET’S BE A BEACON IN THE NIGHT
SPREAD PEACE LIKE WE’RE ANGELS TAKING FLIGHT
A MESSAGE OF LOVE AND UNDERSTANDING
HEAL OUR WORLD TODAY
DON’T GIVE UP HOPE FOR YOUR BROTHER
HELP HIM BELIEVE
WE ARE ONE.
LOVE ALL AROUND AND YOU’LL KNOW
THEY’RE PEOPLE WHO’RE BELIEVERS WHEREVER YOU GO
A SMILING FACE WILL SHOW
WE NEED UNITY
IT’S UP TO YOU AND ME.