Norwalk's Community Services Department is here for you!
Click on the image above to go to the online referral form
The Community Services Department's mission is to increase and sustain the social well-being and health of all Norwalk residents.
Lamond Daniels, LCSW, MPA, Chief of Community Services, is charged with unifying initiatives and programs that directly affect the social well-being and health of the residents of Norwalk.
Other Community Services Department Leaders:
Health Department - Deanna D’Amore, MPH
Youth Services - David J. Walenczyk, LMFT
Human Relations & Fair Rent - Anna T. Keegan, Acting
Early Childhood Coordinator - Mary Oster
Library - Sherelle Harris, MLS - Library Director Services, Maria Escalera, Director
Lamond Daniels, LCSW, MPA, Chief of Community Services
Resources & Additional Information
Community Resource Referral Form; powered by Unite Us.
Substance use prevention: www.thenorwalkpartnership.org
Counseling services and peer supports for youth: www.thenorwalkpartnership.org/get-help
Norwalk ACTS Out-of-School-Time Providers Portal: 2021 Summer Programs, Here's the link: https://bit.ly/3wIA7ti
Carver employees complete First Aid/CPR/AED training
Certified teachers, paraprofessionals, and other Carver employees across all programs spent their Saturday morning receiving First Aid, CPR, and AED training. Every year, we provide this training for employees who need to renew their certification.
The safety and well-being of our students always comes first. We know they’re in good hands with our staff and we’re grateful to have such a great team.
Second annual Rowayton Racketlon raises generous support for Carver kids!
A group of Rowayton residents organized the second annual Rowayton Racketlon for the benefit of Carver kids on Sunday, September 26th. The event happened at the Rowayton Community Center and nearly 50 Rowaytonites participated. The event this year also benefited the Rowayton Fire Department, a great friend of the Carver community — and Fire Department volunteers cooked for the event!
A total of $5,000 was raised, $2,500 for each organization.
The event was inspired by the sport of Racketlon in which competitors play a sequence of four racket sports back-to-back: ping pong, badminton, squash, and tennis. It originated in Finland and Sweden and was modeled on other combination sports like the triathlon and decathlon (which helped inspire the name Racketlon.)
For the Rowayton Racketlon, the four sports were changed to paddle tennis, pickleball, badminton, and ping pong to make it easier to play all four sports at the same location. Participants were divided into six teams of eight people each. Everyone played all four sports, one sport after the other, and the winning team was determined by the total number of games won across all of the events.
While you’re probably familiar with badminton and ping pong, you might not be a pickleball fanatic – yet. Pickleball is growing at a rate that is almost unprecedented in the history of American sports. Part of its popularity is that it is much easier to learn and play than tennis and other racket sports. Norwalk has been joining the bandwagon with courts at the Norwalk Senior Center, Nathan Hale Middle School, Ludlow Park and Roosevelt Elementary School and Norwalk Parks and Recreation recently announced plans to create four dedicated pickleball courts at Woodward Avenue Park by Spring 2022.
Paddle Tennis (technically Platform Tennis, to distinguish it from Paddle Ball) is a sport that was invented nearby, in Scarsdale, NY in 1928. It is played outdoors on raised courts with chicken wire fences that you can play the ball off of. While it has historically been more of a winter sport, it is also being played in the summertime more and more.
The Rowayton Racketlon was conceived as a way to bring together people who love playing these different sports, to have some fun competition and to give back to the overall community.
While these generous Rowayton Carver donors had a lot of fun that day, Carver students were the winners!
Thank You, Rowayton Racketlon!
Memorial service for Mike Barbis on the field at Brien McMahon High School this Sunday, 6:30PM
Here is Mike delivering Christmas presents to Carver kids. The Carver community greatly grieves the loss of this stalwart volunteer and friend through the years.
Here is Mike with other Carver friends at our annual Rowayton Connections party.
FAFSA Day at Norwalk Community College on Saturday, October 16th
Community conversation next Thursday on Equity Literacy via Zoom, 6-8PM
Free vaccination every Wednesday now through October 27th
Town Hall meeting tonight at 7 PM on the issue of Student Mental Health!
Please join the students of the Center for Youth Leadership at Brien McMahon High School for a discussion on student mental health needs, what schools have done to address them, and how the district can better meet the needs moving forward.
Click here or on the image below to join in the discussion via Zoom, 7:00 pm-8:00 pm, tonight.
This discussion is made possible by Norwalk ACTS. It provides a safe space for youth to come together to educate, share experiences and explore solutions to ensure an equitable school environment. As a reminder, these are student-led discussions, however, adults are encouraged to listen in.
In the news: Carver receives state youth violence prevention grant
Carver CEO Novelette Peterkin. (Harold F. Cobin)
Read the entire article here at Nancy on Norwalk.
NORWALK, Conn. — State grants totaling $150,000 will help fund youth violence prevention initiatives at “five wonderful nonprofit organizations in our community,” State Rep. Stephanie Thomas (D-143) said Friday.
“I believe that we all benefit when government and nonprofit organizations team up to address difficult issues,” Thomas said, at City Hall. “Our nonprofit partners are closest to the problem, and they focus on database solutions that work. Given the challenges we’ve all faced over the last 18 months, this funding will help vulnerable youth move forward in a positive direction. All five of these organizations have proven strategies that will help our young people stay on a positive path throughout their lives.”
“I want to just take a moment to really thank Representative Thomas for her efforts to bring this funding to our local communities. She is in her first term in the first year of her first term,” State Senate Majority Leader Bob Duff (D-25) said. “… It’s very hard to kind of find your way around (in your first year), whether it’s virtually or in-person and she managed to do not only that but find funding for these great organizations.”
“This grant will specifically help us to expand our Summer Run program. That’s a program that we’ve done for a number of years,” Carver Center Executive Director Novelette Peterkin said.
A Carver Facebook post explains that this summer, the program included the “new mobile L.O.V.E. Unit, an initiative that provided free basketball training and mentorship at Roodner Court and Columbus Court.”
“We actually took this on the road, which, as a result of this grant, we’re able to do that, so we’re very happy about that,” Peterkin said at Friday’s event.
Carver also offered high school students paid internships through an Earn and Learn Initiative, “as a result of this grant,” she said. “We also will add a number of family engagement at the community center. We plan to do a workshop on artificial intelligence. “There’s so many things that we want to do with families as well as with the students. So, we are grateful for this grant.”
The Carver Center, Homes for Hope, the Norwalk Housing Foundation, the Child Guidance Center of Mid-Fairfield County, and The Rowan Center are benefitting from the grant….