EnglishHaitian CreoleSpanish

Carver earns Candid’s highest Seal of Transparency

The Platinum Seal of Transparency is the highest recognition offered by GuideStar (also known as Candid), the world’s largest source of nonprofit information. The Platinum Seal demonstrates Carver’s progress we are making toward our mission. You can have confidence that your support is moving Carver forward. 

To reach the Platinum level, we've added extensive information to our GuideStar Nonprofit Profile: basic contact and organizational information; in-depth financial information; qualitative information about goals, strategies, and capabilities; and quantitative information about results and progress toward our mission of changing the way the world defines and views disability. We have demonstrated our commitment to transparency and giving donors and funders meaningful data to evaluate our performance. 

Carver CASPER students go head-to-head in a battle to own the grid!

By Volunteer Julia Berg

Jeremiah plays a couple of rounds of Connect 4 with his counselor as homework time winds down. Connect 4 is a tic-tac-toe-like two-player game in which players alternately place pieces on a vertical board seven columns across and six rows high.

Although Jeremiah claims he is not skilled at the game and sometimes places his chips randomly, he impresses the counselor, a first-grader named Sierra, and a small group of students who watch his strategic moves.

Sierra has just finished her twenty minutes of daily reading when she spots Jeremiah and Kat playing Connect 4 and goes over to speculate. She waits until Jeremiah wins the game to ask if she can try before they leave for the next after-school activity.

Jeremiah agrees to play a game of Connect 4 with her. Though Sierra had never played before, she did a decent job during the game and enjoys playing.

Jeremiah may have won the game, but both students learned that it’s worth taking a risk to try something new and to get better at a task.  

Volunteer Julia Berg tells us lively stories about our summer and after-school students at the Carver Community Center. See more of her stories here.

Community Spotlight: Altar'd State (SoNo Collection)

There are shops that sell goods, and then there are shops that do good. Altar’d State’s motto of “stand out. for good.” encompasses a mission to serve as an inspiration, empower others, and give more than they receive.

This past fall, Altar’d State partnered with The Carver as part of their Mission Mondays initiative; 10% of Altar’d State net proceeds on Mondays go directly to local charities across the country. We are amazed and grateful to announce that Altar’d State raised over $4,000 for The Carver. Thank you for supporting our kids and for standing out for good in Norwalk!

About Altar’d State: “Altar'd State is a rapidly growing women's fashion brand with more than 100 boutiques in 30 states. [They] offer a place of respite and a distinctive shopping experience with the latest fashion finds, the most sought-after accessories, charming home decor and gifts.” You can find Norwalk’s local Altar’d State at The SoNo Collection or online at altardstate.com.

What advice would Shakespeare give our students in 2023? We asked!

Shakespeare on the Sound (SOS) will bring two of Shakespeare's plays to Carver students. In March, SOS will bring its 45-minute version of Romeo and Juliet, R+J 4Evr, to the students in Carver's after-school program at Norwalk's four middle schools—Nathan Hale, Ponus, Roton, and West Rocks—and at Side by Side Charter School and the Carver Community Center. In June, SOS will bring a 30-minute version of its summer production As You Like It to multiple sites in Carver's after-school K-4 program.

Courtesy of Character AI, we asked William Shakespeare what Romeo and Juliet would advise our students in 2023. And then we asked Shakespeare what his advice would be. Here are his answers.

Romeo & Juliet: Be yourself. Never change for someone who doesn't love you for who you are! Learn how to forgive. Juliet can forgive Romeo for the death of her cousin Tybalt. It would be best to learn to forget your grudges because life is better when you forgive. Also, it would be best if you learned the importance of loyalty. And of family. I hope this is useful advice!

 Shakespeare: Never forget how great you are; have the courage to be yourself! "To be, or not to be" is more than a question. It's a statement of choice that we make every day. I am a big defender of individualism and free will. It is important to choose your way. Also, it's important to help other people. You must be yourself, but you also have a responsibility in society.

The benefits of clay art for our After the Bell students at Brookside Elementary School

Carver’s before and after-school program, After the Bell at Brookside Elementary School, is always bursting with creativity and joy, as shared in this story.

Today, a Brookside Elementary School story begins with one slice of clay. A blank canvas receptive to endless explorations by our ingenious students.

Squishing and pulling pieces off. Using a tool to make markings and indentations. Exploring how clay can hold an object upright. Making textures and impressions. Working with the small pieces – focusing on the details.

Manipulating (squishing, squeezing, pulling, pushing) a piece of clay helps develops the child’s dexterity and fosters eye-hand coordination. It builds a child's ability to focus and builds their attention span. Mathematical understandings include pattern making, experiential understanding of three-dimensional shapes, and tactical experience of size and weight differences. Literacy growth includes a new vocabulary – pound, pinch, roll, flatten, poke, tear squeeze, coil, stretch, squash, twist, and bend! And then there is the creative storytelling with each of these clay pieces our students created.

Playful learning helps our children develop social relationships and connectivity, which are important to a child's persistence in school, love of learning, and self-efficacy. Play is essential to learning.

School Feature: Side By Side Charter School and The Carver Philosophy

Fencing is just one of many after-school programs SBS students enjoy

Side By Side Charter School is nestled in the beating heart of South Norwalk, just a short drive from The Carver’s home at 7 Academy Street. If you’re lucky enough to pass Side By Side during their midday recess, you’ll be treated to a veritable cavalcade of play. Song, dance, games, joy! Inside that energy persists as students engage with academic panache. From in-depth ecosystem studies on an extinct species of moth to social-emotional music learning, Side By Side “teach[es] the whole child.”

We sat down with Assistant Director, Mary Newbery, to learn more about how Side By Side cultivated this educational environment. “When the school was founded in 1997 by six teachers, it was done so with the intent to reflect the diversity of the community,” she said. Today, Side By Side teaches 235 students from several surrounding CT towns and cities. “How do we prepare kids to be in a pluralistic democracy if they don’t see and learn with each other?” Indeed, Side By Side focuses on providing students with social context, critical engagement, the ability to broach difficult conversations, and the academic chops to succeed in high school.

With the Carver mission to equip all learners with global competitiveness, Side By Side’s vision of equitable, diverse, and interdisciplinary learning is a match made in heaven. “What was so unbelievably fabulous was that The Carver brought after-school programming here. When kids get to 11, 12, 13… they start having a much harder time getting homework help," said Mary. “Now they’re able to participate in enrichment activities, access tutoring, have snacks, and get a bus home.” Mary brightly credited perpetually honored Carver staff member, Tremain Gilmore, for the vibrant activity planning and the grades it improved. “Kids deserve discourse and a rich learning experience… They use [this background] to come up with their own vision with so much care.”

We at The Carver are delighted to partner with Side By Side. Learn more at sbscharter.org.

Today is George Washington Carver Day, our namesake!

George Washington Carver died on January 5, 1943. The Carver Foundation of Norwalk was founded in 1938 during Carver’s lifetime to honor his example and monumental achievements.

The following month after his death, The National Achievement Club, Inc., based in Pittsburgh, called for George Washington Carver Day to be held each year on the anniversary of his death. Therefore, the first observance of George Washington Carver Day was in 1944. The National Achievement Club worked to spread the holiday. For example, eight governors proclaimed the holiday in their states in 1945 at the request of the club. Similarly, on February 23, 1945, at the club's urging, Representative Robert J. Corbett [R-PA] introduced a joint resolution to establish January 5 as George Washington Carver Day at the federal level.

On December 28, 1945, the 79th Congress approved the resolution and it became Public Law 290. It designated January 5, 1946, as George Washington Carver Day and authorized and requested the president "to issue a proclamation calling upon officials of the Government to display the flag of the United States on all Government buildings on such day." That same day, President Harry Truman issued Proclamation 2677 in accordance with the request.

George Washington Carver was buried next to Booker T. Washington at Tuskegee. His legacy continued following his death: He appeared on commemorative postage stamps in 1948 and 1998 and was on a commemorative half-dollar alongside Booker T. Washington between 1951 and 1954. The George Washington Carver National Monument was dedicated in 1960, located near his birthplace of Diamond, Missouri. And of course, George Washington Carver Day was established, which is observed today!