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It is not knowledge, but the act of learning which grants the greatest enjoyment for our youth

By Julia Berg

The CASPER students are hard at work after school. Each student focuses and works on new skills.

Cameron does his math homework using a Number Line. For English, he works on words with the long ‘I’ sound, like pie and night. Sitting close by, Sanjay works on his handwriting; he traces words and then writes them twice for practice. While he sometimes writes above the line, the shape of the letters is accurate, and he seems pleased with his work.

Elianna sits next to him and does her English homework. She reads a brief story and answers a few questions about a little purple turtle who is shy and only comes out of his shell when there is a quiet, gentle girl there. After she initially writes a few words about each question, she looks through the story again and re-reads each question, looking for the relevant part so she can mention it in her answer. After answering the questions fully, Elianna is particularly proud that she can spell the words correctly.

CASPER’s after-school program is a quiet and positive place for students to do their work and build on the skills they learn at school.

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.

Let us know if you want to go to "The Westchester Kicks' HBCU Night" on Friday, 2/24/23 in Bridgeport

Click here or on the image above to RSVP for this event. On Friday, February 24th, The Carver Community Center would like to attend the NBA's G-league, The Westchester Knick's HBCU Night, at the Total Mortgage Arena in Bridgeport, CT! The Carver Community Center would like to provide transportation to interested families. Max of 2 guests per Carver Student. More information to follow. If you are interested, please fill out the Google form here! Thank you!

The Norwalk Lacrosse Association brings LaX to Jefferson and Marvin Elementary Schools

Our kids have taken to lacrosse like fish to water! This past month, the Norwalk Lacrosse Association has been generously providing LaX practice to Carver 3rd-5th graders at Jefferson Elementary School and Marvin Elementary School. The 6-week program started January 9th and runs from 4 pm to 5 pm on Tuesdays at Marvin and on Thursdays at Jefferson. Watch the video below to see our students in action and living the mission of the NLA.

The NLA strives to provide an opportunity for participants to have fun in a safe and inclusive environment while developing physically, emotionally, and socially. Programs will encourage individual skill development and physical fitness while emphasizing positive lifelong skills like teamwork, leadership, self-confidence, sportsmanship, respect, and empathy.

Registration for the 2023 season is open on the NLA website! Financial aid and equipment assistance is available.

It's Black History Month!

February marks Black History Month, a tradition that started in the Jim Crow era and was officially recognized in 1976 as part of the nation's bicentennial celebrations. It aims to honor the contributions that African Americans have made and to recognize their sacrifices.

Of course, with George Washington Carver as our namesake and having been led by Black leaders since our founding in 1938, Carver is an ardent observer of Black History Month.

In 1926, Carter G. Woodson, the scholar often referred to as the "father of Black history," established Negro History Week to focus on Black contributions to civilization. According to the NAACP, Woodson — at the time only the second Black American after W.E.B. Du Bois to earn a doctorate from Harvard University — "fervently believed that Black people should be proud of their heritage and [that] all Americans should understand the largely overlooked achievements of Black Americans."

By 1976, it became official, with President Gerald R. Ford declaring February as Black History Month and calling on the public to "seize the opportunity to honor the too-often neglected accomplishments of Black Americans in every area of endeavor throughout our history."

Today, Black History Month is also celebrated in Canada every February and in the United Kingdom in October. This year, the theme is "Black Resistance." "African Americans have resisted historical and ongoing oppression, in all forms, especially the racial terrorism of lynching, racial pogroms, and police killings since our arrival upon these shores," the ASALH says of this year's theme. "These efforts have been to advocate for a dignified self-determined life in a just democratic society in the United States and beyond the United States political jurisdiction."

Meet the Professionals: Finance professional, Matt Rebold, shares the value of persistence with NHS Carver students.

Our Meet the Professionals series puts students in the room with leaders and innovators across varied professions. On Tuesday, January 24th, our Carver students at Norwalk High School had the opportunity to sit down with Matthew I. Rebold, Managing Partner at Osprey Partners LLC.

Matt wasted no time in telling our students his keys to success. His 4 Life Points identify the most crucial values of an accomplished adult.

Matt Rebold (left), Managing Partner of Osprey Partners LLC since 1996, gives Norwalk High School students 4 “life points” to steward professional success.

Hard Work, Persistence, Flexibility, and Belief in Your Product. As an undergrad, Matt told our students, he had no idea what he would do for a career. What he did have, however, was the dedication to work hard and persevere through adversity. In his senior year at Duke University, Matt realized that this core drive was the foundation of a powerhouse entrepreneur. But effort alone does not win the day. Flexibility, Matt said, can be make-or-break at critical junctures. Things rarely work out perfectly, and Matt impressed upon our students the power of getting one’s foot in the door—even when it isn’t the path one had initially envisioned. Finally, belief in your product (whether that product is yourself, your business, or your dream), is what Matt credits with rounding out his success. “Dare to be different,” he told our students. “It’s one thing to have a dream. It’s another to take action.”

Our students left Matt’s Meet the Professionals talk with unique insight and preparation to achieve their goals. Matt will be working with more Carver students in the coming weeks to provide lessons in financial literacy. As an alum of the university, he is also looking forward to talking to our teens who will be visiting Duke as part of Carver’s 51st Spring College Tour in April, which will include school campus tours in North and South Carolina. Thank you, Matt, for being a dedicated resource and mentor to our students!

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Matt Rebold was the Managing Partner of Osprey Partners LLC, a broker dealer which specialized in the private placement of hedge funds. He is now semi retired and manages Bold Osprey LLC, his family holding company. Osprey raised over $1.2 billion for its clients during its existence. Prior to Osprey, Matt was Director of Marketing for Tiger Management Corporation in a period where assets grew from $400 million to approximately $4 billion under management. He was also on the Board of Directors for Lifesync Corporation and Fairfield Theater Company and continues to serve as Managing Director of Glenwood Capital. Matt additionally served as an advisor to Wellston Coal. We at Carver are so grateful to Matt for giving his time to our students.

Join us for our annual Breakfast With Champions! March 25th, 10 am - 12 pm

Carver’s Breakfast With Champions introduces Carver students and their parents to leaders in an array of professions. Save the date for this annual forum! Our champion speakers inspire middle schoolers and high schoolers to pursue their interests and to prepare for satisfying careers. Hot breakfast is provided and there will be door prizes and raffle items! For more information, call: 203-838-4305.

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.