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We remember Dr. King as a husband, father, friend, and fierce advocate for the betterment of all people.

On Monday, January 17, 2022, the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday will mark the 27th anniversary of the national day of service. This day was established to honor the life and legacy of Dr. King, and to encourage all Americans to volunteer to improve their communities.

Americans celebrated the first official Martin Luther King Day, which is the only federal holiday commemorating an African-American, on Monday, January 20, 1986. In 1994, Congress designated the holiday as a national day of service, and marking the third Monday in January every year as the Martin Luther King, Jr. Day of Service - a "Day On, Not a Day Off."

Dr. King advocated for nonviolent resistance to overcome injustice as a means of lifting racial oppression. He created change with organized sit-ins, marches, and peaceful demonstrations that highlighted issues of inequality. Dr. King received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964; he was the youngest person to ever receive this high honor. He followed in the footsteps of his grandfather and father by entering the ministry to become a Baptist minister. On April 4, 1968, at the age of 39, he was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee as he stood on the balcony of his hotel. Dr. King traveled to Memphis, Tennessee to lead a march in support of striking sanitation workers.

We remember Dr. King as a husband, father, friend, and fierce advocate for the betterment of all people. Honor his memory by organizing, volunteering, and spreading the word. Remember to MAKE IT A DAY ON, NOT A DAY OFF, for you and those around you.

The U.S. public can begin ordering free at-home rapid Covid-19 tests through a new government website on Jan. 19

The U.S. public can begin ordering free at-home rapid Covid-19 tests through a new government website on Jan. 19, senior Biden administration officials said.

Initially, orders will be limited to four tests per residential address. Tests will ship via mail within 7-12 days of ordering, the officials said. The administration expects that timeline to shorten as the program ramps up, one of the officials said.

The public will be able to order tests at covidtests.gov. Those without access to the internet can place orders via phone, and the administration will work with community groups to help people request tests, the officials said. The government will give priority to orders from areas that have been hard-hit by the pandemic and low-income parts of the country.

The only information required to order the tests will be a person’s name and their address, the officials said. People can include their email addresses if they want to get updates on their order.

Starting Jan. 19, the Biden administration will make available the first half of the 1 billion rapid tests it is procuring to meet record demand caused by the spreading Omicron variant.

The tests will be mailed to Americans via the U.S. Postal Service via first-class mail.

Carver's 6th and 7th grade travel basketball teams won the Milford Holiday Tournament!

Carver’s 7th Grade Team

Norwalk Youth Carver Basketball (NYC) 6th and 7th-grade teams just won the Milford Holiday Tournament sponsored by the Fairfield County Basketball League (FCBL)!

See the photos here!

To be a sponsor and/or for more information about Carver’s basketball league, contact Carver’s Recreation Coordinator, Shannon Singleton-Bates, shannon@carvercenterct.org.

To be a sponsor and/or for more information about Carver’s basketball league, contact Carver’s Recreation Coordinator, Shannon Singleton-Bates, (203) 945-9666, shannon@carvercenterct.org.

Carver’s NYC organizes, promotes, and operates youth basketball teams for Norwalk boys grades 4th thru 8th, with the specific mission of providing athletes in the program with the opportunity to: compete in organized travel basketball games in the Fairfield County Basketball League (www.fcblhoops.org); improve their basketball skills through weekly basketball practices; develop positive social and personal qualities through team participation.; receive academic support and encouragement; develop understanding and become involved with the diverse Norwalk community; understand and learn the game of basketball the way it is meant to be played, and to get a great experience while doing all of the above!

The Fairfield County Basketball League (FCBL) organizes both League games, non-League games, and tournaments for 5th-8th grade teams from basketball organizations in Fairfield County, New Haven County, Hartford County, Litchfield County, and Westchester County. Over 400 teams participate annually in FCBL winter league games.

Update on home energy assistance

Connecticut received $159.9 million for home energy assistance – a record amount thanks to the American Rescue Plan.

Today, the Biden-Harris Administration announced that due to passage of the American Rescue Plan, Connecticut has received a record $159.9 million for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) available this fiscal year (October 2021 to September 2022).

As part of a state-by-state breakdown of funding, the Administration reported that in addition to an annual appropriation of $65.8 million for Connecticut, the state received an additional $94.1 million in funds from the American Rescue Plan – more than double the state’s typical annual funding. The total of $159.9 million is the highest amount Connecticut has ever received in LIHEAP to help families struggling with the costs of home heating.

Today in 1943, our namesake George Washington Carver died at the age of 80

The Carver Foundation of Norwalk was founded by volunteer community leaders in 1938 and named after George Washington Carver.

When he died on January 5, 1943, Carver left a legacy of a revived and diversified Southern agriculture and hundreds of new and improved food products. Think of him whenever you're enjoying peanut butter.

Carver was born into slavery in Missouri sometime in the first half of the 1860s: The exact date is unknown. His father was killed in an accident before George was born. Slaveholder Moses Carver sent his slaves to Arkansas during the Civil War, and though George's mother was never heard from again, the boy was returned to the Missouri plantation at the end of the war.

He was no longer a slave, but he was frail and not hardy enough for fieldwork. Instead, he helped with household chores and gardening. Carver developed considerable knowledge of local vegetation and gained a reputation as a "plant doctor" who could nurse sickly plants back to health.

Carver left the plantation and set out on his own at about age 10. He supported himself as a household worker, cook, laundryman, and farmhand. He picked up a high school education in Minneapolis, Kansas, and went on to study at Simpson College in Iowa.

An art teacher there recognized Carver's skill with plants and encouraged him to enroll at the Iowa State College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts (now Iowa State University). He was the first black student to enroll there, and he excelled in classes and extracurricular life.

Carver received a bachelor's degree in 1894 and was invited to join the faculty (again the first black) as an assistant botanist for the College Experiment Station. He published work on plant diseases and fungi, gaining national recognition and a master's degree.

Booker T. Washington invited Carver to join the faculty of the Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute in Alabama in 1896, and Carver became its director of agricultural research. Carver sought to revitalize Southern agriculture through research, education, and diversification.

The continuous cultivation of single crops (cotton in some places, tobacco elsewhere) had seriously depleted soils throughout the South. Carver recommended planting peanuts, soybeans, and other legumes because these could restore nitrogen to the exhausted and eroded soil. He also advised Alabama farmers to plant sweet potatoes.

The first farmers to follow these suggestions got good results, but couldn't find the market to make their new crops profitable. So Carver set about finding new uses for the crops.

Besides peanut butter, he developed 325 derivative products from peanuts, including cheese, milk, coffee, flour, ink, dyes, plastics, wood stains, soap, linoleum, medicinal oils, and cosmetics. He also came up with 118 sweet-potato products: flour, vinegar, molasses, ink, synthetic rubber, and postage-stamp glue, etc. Add to that another hundred or so products from another dozen plant sources.

Carver carried the Iowa State Extension idea to the South, encouraging the teaching of new techniques to local farmers in their own communities. The boll weevil pest was destroying the South's cotton economy, and Carver's contributions came just in time to save -- and transform -- the region's agriculture.

He stayed at Tuskegee for the rest of his life, turning down job offers from other colleges and from industry magnates Henry Ford and Thomas Edison. Praised by many white leaders for his scientific contributions and his cooperative attitude, he was criticized by some black leaders for what they felt was excessive deference.

By the time of Carver's death, peanuts had risen from insignificance to one of the six leading crops in the nation -- and second in the South. Among many other honors, Carver is enshrined and honored in the National Inventors Hall of Fame and the Hall of Fame for Great Americans — and here in Norwalk, CT!

The Hour: Free classes grow a new generation of creatives at Norwalk Art Space

See the entire article here in The Hour.

The Norwalk Art Space is a vital support to Carver youth as seen here and here, and continues to fulfill the vision of its founder, Alexandra Korry.

Building community is never easy. In COVID days, it seems all but impossible. But that is exactly what the Norwalk Art Space is doing: Growing community through art, music, mentorship and food.

The idea behind the Norwalk Art Space on West Avenue is intriguing. Each year, five established artists are named Korry Fellows and exhibit their work in the large main-floor room. In exchange, the fellows mentor four younger resident artists who receive free studio space downstairs. The resident artists then teach free art classes to high school students in a room filled with easels and supplies. Three generations building a community of artists in Norwalk.

Isabella Cuartas, a junior at the Center of Global Studies, said she learned a lot in her first “professional” art class. Lizi Mamukashvili, a sophomore at Norwalk High School, said her art space teacher treated her like a colleague.

“You were not treated like a kid but treated like an equal,” she said. “It was a good feeling.”

…Norwalk Art Space’s founder and funder, Alexandra Davern Korry, was a highly successful lawyer, civil rights activist and educator who lived in Westport. Her goal in buying and renovating the former church was to “enhance opportunities and equity in the local arts community by promoting local artists, offering free educational opportunities to under-served students, and providing the public a welcoming space to enjoy art and music,” according the Norwalk Art Space newsletter.

Artistic and Educational Director Duvian Montoya, a Norwalk native, wants all the classes completely filled.

“I wish there was something like this when I was growing up,” he said.

Art classes are open to any student in the area and are free. Registration is open now for classes that begin on Jan. 24. (www.thenorwalkartspace.org).