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The Hour: State Bond Commission approves $1.2M for Carver Center makeover in Norwalk

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See the article in The Hour here.

Here is another article in The Patch about our renovation plans for the community center.

NORWALK — The State Bond Commission has approved a $1.2 million grant to renovate the George Washington Carver Community Center on Academy Street.

The grant, which goes toward urban development projects, was funded by the Office of Policy and Management and approved by the Bond Commission Friday morning.

The Carver Center renovation required $2,121,767, and $860,000 was provided by private contributions, according to Bond Commission documents. The commission approved funding for the remaining $1,261,767.

“This changes everything,” Carver Center Executive Director Novelette Peterkin said. “The Carver Community is deeply grateful for the trust and generosity of the Norwalk delegation. Norwalk’s young people will benefit from this gift for generations.”

The funds will be used to complete interior and exterior renovations, according to state documents.

“The Carver Center is a vital resource for so many in our community,” Norwalk Mayor Harry Rilling said. “I am thrilled that they are receiving this state grant to complete state-of-the-art improvements at the facility. Thank you to Reps. (Stephanie) Thomas and (Lucy) Dathan for helping secure these funds for the Carver Center — it is going to make a difference for so many in Norwalk.”

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The agenda for the first meeting of the state Bond Commission was a preview of what could be “a pretty robust” year for state borrowing, Gov. Ned Lamont said.

The governor said it’s “a unique time” to be making these investments given historically low-interest rates that allow the state to borrow more at a lower cost to taxpayers, an improved bond rating, and a large number of residents still unemployed.

“This is a time to get people back to work, get people back to work with good-paying jobs, a lot of them good paying construction jobs,” the governor said.

The commission approved nearly $1.1 billion in state borrowing, including $300 million for school construction projects and more than $500 million in transportation projects, including finishing upgrades to the Merritt Parkway.

abigail.brone@hearstmediact.com; Includes reporting by Julia Bergman

Faces of Summer 2021

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See hundreds of images here in our Facebook album!

Our summer learning programming is more important than ever this year. Our nine summer programs are adapting and innovating to ensure children and their families can access quality summer learning opportunities and critical supports.

These are images from our summer campers right now enjoying our Summer Enrichment Camps at the Carver Community Center, Columbus Magnet School, and Kendall Elementary School (for our After the Bell students), and the new Summer Learning Program at Side By Side Charter School.

We also have summer transition programs for rising 6th graders at Norwalk’s four middle schools, and summer transition programs for rising 9th graders at Norwalk and Brien McMahon High Schools.

Remembering and Celebrating the Life of Tish Gibbs

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Tish Gibbs (Elizabeth Villa “Tish” Gibbs) has died at age 85. We will miss her greatly. Tish’s friendship, advice, guidance, and advocacy will continue to have an impact on the Carver community for many years to come.

Carver knows Tish mostly as Executive Director of N/NSCP, a Sister City partnership between the people of Nagarote, Nicaragua, and Norwalk.

But that role and her many others through the years are not why we loved Tish so very much. Instead of counting career achievements here, though they are many, we simply want to thank her for teaching us, for loving us, for connecting us to her wonderful world, and for being in our lives.

We made our connection to NicPhoto because of Tish. From 2011 to 2015, Carver high school students partnered with NicaPhoto (not an N/NSCP program) to learn alongside their peers in Sonrisa de Dios (Smile of God), one of the poorest barrios in Nagarote, Nicaragua. The students shared photography, poetry, and stories via Skype and other digital means. A coffee table book based on this cultural exchange was published in 2014. Our students traveled to Nicaragua to help the students there establish this organic garden by which the young people learn about growing their own food, organic gardening, and healthy eating. Ronnie Ellen Maher, Founder and Executive Director of NicaPhoto, first visited Nagarote in 2005 as an N/NSCP volunteer.

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Through her storied political and charity work and her myriad other interests, Tish will be remembered by Carver as a sparkling and burning light who illumined, inspired, and guided us to lead lives as joy-filled and giving as hers. Her infectious ebullience, curiosity, enthusiasm, and love nourished and guided us all. She showed us what we could be and how we could give of ourselves evermore.

What did Tish teach us? That it's all achingly beautiful; to be of service and generous; to relax, and to remember to have fun and adventures.

Carver campers explore Connecticut farms

Over the past two weeks, campers at the Carver Community Center have ventured outside of Norwalk to explore Silverman’s Farm in Easton and New Pond Farm in West Redding.

Campers between the ages of 5 and 9 visited Silverman’s Farm last week to pick blueberries - the perfect snack for a warm, summer afternoon. Children in the 5-6 year old group were delighted to feed the farm’s barnyard friends, which included fallow deer, goats, and sheep.

At New Pond Farm, campers in the 7-9 year old group learned about a variety of farm animals and aquatic creatures by engaging in fun, hands-on activities. The campers found themselves wading in streams, eagerly searching for tadpoles, frogs, and crayfish. Touring the farm, they got a closer look at a dairy cow and calf, pigs, sheep, and chickens, learning about the distinct roles the animals play on a farm.

Both campers and counselors alike enjoyed these enriching experiences offered by Silverman’s Farm and New Pond Farm. Thank you to our wonderful hosts!

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Many thanks to Kelly Dominick for the photos!

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Thank you to Mike Lasky for the photos!

Carver summer camp kids visit the Maritime Aquarium!

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This week, Carver summer campers attending the Carver Community Center and Columbus Magnet School summer enrichment programs are visiting The Maritime Aquarium.

The aquarium features harbor seals, river otters, sharks, jellyfish, loggerhead turtles, and hundreds of other animals living in re-creations of their natural Long Island Sound habitats. Three touch tanks feature stingrays, nurse sharks, crabs, sea stars, moon jellies and other coastal creatures.

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In addition to its exhibits, The Maritime Aquarium offers educational programs to Carver kids in our after-school programs throughout the school year and year-round cruises on its 64-foot research vessel R/V Spirit of the Sound.

The Maritime Aquarium inspires people of all ages to appreciate and protect the Long Island Sound ecosystem and the global environment through living exhibits, marine science, and environmental education.

The "Maritime Center" opened July 16, 1988. The name was changed to the "Maritime Aquarium" in July 1996 to emphasize the live animals featured there.

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Carver’s CEO, Novelette Peterkin, is a member of The Maritime Aquarium’s Board of Directors.

The image to the left is of the new exhibit. at The Maritime Aquarium.

The Community Fund of Darien renews its generous support of Carver youth

Elsie Lopez, Carver’s Executive Administrator, received this year’s grant to Carver from Janet King, Executive Director of the Community Fund of Darien (TCF), at the TCF Investment Awards celebration last week. Elsie was joined by over 75 local nonprofit representatives, local dignitaries, TCF board, staff, and volunteers who review the many proposals TCF received this year seeking support.

Elsie Lopez, Carver’s Executive Administrator, received this year’s grant to Carver from Janet King, Executive Director of the Community Fund of Darien (TCF), at the TCF Investment Awards celebration last week. Elsie was joined by over 75 local nonprofit representatives, local dignitaries, TCF board, staff, and volunteers who review the many proposals TCF received this year seeking support.

Carver’s generous and faithful friend, the Community Fund of Darien (TCF), just renewed its support of Carver’s mission and work. For Carver and many fellow nonprofits in Darien, Norwalk, and Stamford, TCF initiates solutions, builds collaborations, and implements and supports programs to strengthen youth, adults, and families. Since its founding in 1951, TCF has distributed more than $20 million.

Carver’s work is possible because of our many donors who believe in and are committed to the success of our youth. Each of our donors is precious to us. TCF is special because this community fund represents many donors and influencers and its grants follow a rigorous vetting methodology that involves a smart and deep investigation into Carver’s program integrity and financial health. TCF’s significant support is as much about the size of its financial impact as it is about how our crucial partnership with TCF makes Carver that much more self-aware, transparent, and effective.

TCF initially raised $30,000 to support eight local social service organizations in 1951. That first year, more than 95% of Darien's residents contributed because they knew this was their "community fund". Since then, thousands of donors and hundreds of businesses have contributed to The Community Fund to improve the lives of Darien’s families, friends, and neighbors.

Thank you, TCF, for counting Carver kids among your friends and neighbors!

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All eligible families need to benefit from the Expanded Child Tax Credit

Americans are now receiving the concrete effects of the American Rescue Plan show up in their bank accounts, as the expanded child tax credit goes into effect for one year.

This blog post is written especially for those families that need to let the IRS know they exist and qualify for this benefit. Here is the IRS link to sing-up.

Through this program, the Child Tax Credit increased to $3,000 per child aged 6 to 17 and $3,600 per child under 6. All working families will get the full credit if they make up to $150,000 for a couple or $112,500 for a family with a single parent.

The government sent payments for almost 60 million children yesterday, totaling $15 billion.

In America, one in seven children lives in poverty. This measure is expected to cut that poverty nearly in half. Studies suggest that addressing childhood poverty continues to pay off over time, as it, for example, helps adults achieve higher levels of mobility.

The United States provides big tax incentives to encourage people to work, to buy a home, to save for retirement. But the government provides less money than almost every other developed nation to help people raise children. Last year, the tax credit for buying an electric car was almost four times as large as the tax credit for having a child.

Another challenge is reaching the very people who most need the help.

Sending money to middle-class families is easy. Their addresses and often their bank account information are on file with the Internal Revenue Service. The government estimates that 86 percent of recipients are getting the payments by direct deposit.

But the administration estimates more than four million children live in households that are eligible but aren’t on the I.R.S. mailing list. In the early 2000s, the government mounted a successful campaign to increase the use of food stamps by allowing states, which administer the programs, to make it easier to apply and qualify for them. Participation rose to 85 percent of eligible households in 2016, from just 54 percent in 2002.

There is a difference between celebrating a program as an attack on child poverty and ensuring it helps as many poor children as possible. We write today’s blog post to help our community achieve both outcomes.

Carver kids are fully engaged in our nine summer learning programs

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Our summer learning programming is more important than ever this year. Our nine summer programs are adapting and innovating to ensure children and their families can access quality summer learning opportunities and critical supports.

Carver kids are right now enjoying our two Summer Enrichment Camps at the Carver Community Center and Columbus Magnet School, the new Summer Learning Program at Side By Side Charter School, and our summer transition programs for rising 6th graders at Norwalk’s four middle schools, and the summer transition programs for rising 9th graders at Norwalk and Brien McMahon High Schools.

Carver joins the National Summer Learning Association (NSLA) in celebrating National Summer Learning Week, a celebration dedicated to elevating the importance of keeping kids learning, safe and healthy every summer; ensuring young people return to school ready to succeed.

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During July 12-16, each day of Summer Learning Week is devoted to a different critical summer issue, from the enriching possibilities of STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) to arts programming to summertime programs that strengthen career development skills for young people.