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Stephanie Thomas, Secretary of the State of Connecticut, meets with Carver students
Carver students mine valuable career guidance at our regular Meet the Professionals series held at Norwalk and Brien McMahon High Schools and at the Carver Community Center.
At Brien McMahon High School, Stephanie Thomas, Connecticut Secretary of State, recently visited with our after-school students from both Norwalk high schools.
Secretary Thomas and the students discussed what it means to be a responsible citizen in a vibrant democracy, especially the value and benefits of careers in public service.
Secretary Thomas is a longtime Carver volunteer and advocate. She has spent her entire career in public service. Prior to her election as Secretary of the State, she served as State Representative of Connecticut's 143rd District - Norwalk, Wilton, and Westport.
Today, she is one of the constitutional officers of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is an elected position in the state government and has a term length of four years. Secretary Thomas has held the office since January 2023.
She leads the state’s Legislation and Elections Administration Division, which administers elections and ensures compliance with state and federal election laws. This division is also responsible for maintaining governmental records, administering the Seal of Connecticut, and licensing notaries public. She also leads the Commercial Recording Division, which charters corporations and other business entities.
The duties and responsibilities of the office have grown substantially paralleling the growth of governmental activities in Connecticut. Today, there are more than two hundred and fifty constitutional and statutory mandates affecting Secretary Thomas’ office covering Business Services, Publications, Information Technology, Legislation and Elections Administration, and Management Support Services.
The Carver Meet the Professional series helps students explore and plan for future career endeavors based on their individual interests, skills, and values. Secretary Thomas successfully enhanced the linkage of academic and career experiences like this one to improve their career preparation and management.
Mutual Security Credit Union gifts $2,500 to The Carver in honor of Black History Month
This week, The Carver was delighted to receive guests to 7 Academy Street: the wonderful team at Mutual Security Credit Union! Beyond their warm company, the MSCU team also brought a generous gift of $2,500 dedicated to assisting the efforts of The Carver.
“We admire The Carver Foundation’s mission to close opportunity gaps for all children and to ensure they graduate high school on time and are ready for college and careers,” said Elaine Borrelli, MCSU Marketing Manager. “In honor and celebration of Black History Month, we’ve selected three nonprofits that serve and empower the Black community all year round, including The Carver Foundation of Norwalk, Inc again this year."
Mutual Security Credit Union has remained a pillar of support in Connecticut, committed to elevating and improving the community where their members live, work and play. We are so grateful for their generosity and partnership. Thank you, MSCU, for once again recognizing and supporting the Carver this Black History Month.
Support Carver kids this Thursday at FCGives.org!
CLICK ON THE IMAGE ABOVE TO GO DIRECTLY TO THE CARVER FCGIVES.ORG PAGE. THANK YOU!
Oracle executives guide Carver high school students into exciting careers
L-R: Oracle executives Kellie Hayden, Kathy Morrison, Malin Fagerlund, Tagan Ward, Rosanna Tirrito, and Rod Johnson
Coinciding with National Acts of Kindness Week, local Oracle executives teamed up with Carver for the company’s own 4,000 Acts of Kindness social impact volunteer initiative.
The Oracle volunteers, led by Carver advocate Rod Johnson (Oracle EVP, Applications North America) joined Carver after-school students at Norwalk High School to share stories about their roles at Oracle and the pathways to careers in computer technology and corporate marketing.
Round table conversations engaged our students as they rotated around the room for a jumbo-sized Meet the Professionals session. Carver executive and program staff also participated. Carver high school students at Brien McMahon and Norwalk High Schools connect with professionals throughout the year who help them learn about the careers they want to pursue.
Carver 12th graders Fred Luma, Stephen Nils, and Anthony Harris (Carver after-school paid interns) presented their marketing projects and received guidance and encouragement from the Oracle team.
Our sincerest thanks to Rod Johnson, Malin Fagerlund, Tagan Ward, Kellie Hayden, Rosanna Tirrico, and Kathy Morrison for partnering with Carver “to build lifetime achievers!”
Oracle Corporation is an American multinational computer technology corporation, the third-largest software company in the world. The company sells database software and technology (particularly its brands), cloud-engineered systems, and enterprise software products, such as enterprise resource planning (ERP) software, human capital management (HCM) software, customer relationship management (CRM) software (also known as customer experience), enterprise performance management (EPM) software, and supply chain management (SCM) software.
Starting on Monday, March 6, you can sign your children up for our summer programs!
Click on the image or use the QR Code above to sign uop starting on Monday, March 6th!
On Valentine's Day, Carver students read, help each other, and play!
By Julia Berg
On Valentine’s Day, Ze, a second grader, helps Sierra, a first grader, with her daily reading homework by selecting the book.
They each pick out a piece of candy to eat while they read.
Sierra lays the books in her reading bag on the table so Ze can see the options. After examining the covers, she chooses one of the two Pinkalicious books. Since they are both wearing pink for Valentines day, they have a discussion about which of them is Pinkalicious and what color the other is, noting that if they really were Pinkalicous they would have to wear the color every day.
When they finish reading, Ze and Sierra join the rest of the group to decorate a hanging heart. Each student selects a red heart that has a hole at the top with a ribbon through it. They decorate their hearts with numerous stickers and rainbow scratch art.
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.
21st CCLC funding benefits Carver students
Founded in 1938, Carver was an early leader in the national movement of providing students support after school. Once Carver expanded beyond its community center into Norwalk’s schools, Carver began to receive very competitive 21st Century Community Learning Centers (21st CCLC) grants. This is the only federal funding source dedicated exclusively to supporting local after-school, before-school, and summer learning programs.
Today, 21st CCLC funding supports Carver 5th Grade Scholars Program at Naramake, Silvermine, Jefferson, and Kendall Elementary Schools and our afterschool students attending McMahon and Norwalk High Schools.
In 2001, The U.S. Congress expanded the 21st-century program through the No Child Left Behind Act. Through NCLB, Congress increased the funding for the 21st-century program from $40 million to $1 billion.
With NCLB, Congress also changed how 21st Century grants were distributed. Rather than give money to schools, the program began distributing funds to states. The amount of money allocated to each state is now based on the percentage of schools within a state that qualify as Title I schools (where at least 40 percent of the students are from families living below the poverty line). The states then determine how the funds are distributed to schools and nonprofit organizations like Carver.
21st CCLC funding enables Carver to provide students with unique opportunities they might not otherwise have access to, including STEM opportunities, college and career exploration, workforce development, and social and emotional support. 21st CCLC helps Carver to close opportunity and achievement gaps for our students.
Help Carver kids be the winners of this year's Fairfield County Giving Day on Thursday, 2/23/23!
Save the Date! Thursday, 2/23, to join our community of supporters and turn your contribution into big prizes for Carver kids! Most of Fairfield County's charities participate in this 24-hour fundraising event at this website (or click on the image above). Consider rallying support for Carver kids by utilizing the peer-to-peer fundraising tools available on the FCGives.org website above.
You can help us win $1,000 prizes in these categories:
First 10 organizations to receive 25 unique donations ($25+) beginning at 12am Thursday, 2/23
Organizations receiving the most unique donations before 9 am
Education-focused nonprofits with the most unique donors between 3-4 pm
Youth-focused nonprofits with the most unique donors between 4-5 pm
