Leola Davenport clearly relishes her role as a Senior Emergency Planner. She’s one of a corps of 24, two for each of the public housing complexes in East Hartford. In CRT’s groundbreaking model, the Planners are trained to respond to any emergency in their buildings, from fire or hurricanes to a neighbor’s confusion over how to plug in her oxygen machine. Working closely with the town’s Fire Department, they run drills, file incident reports and maintain up-to-date lists of residents who would need special assistance in case of an evacuation.
Leola, retired from 27 years as a classroom paraprofessional and school bus driver, seems to be a natural in this leadership role. She knows the value of emergency planning: Nearly everything in her Georgia home was destroyed in a hurricane in 1997. She joined this branch of the RSVP (Retired Senior Volunteer Program) when it started nearly three years ago, hoping she could help others avoid what she had gone through.
Marlett Hansel
It took Marlett Hansel four long years to achieve her dream, home ownership.
Watching each dollar deposited in her Individual Development Account (IDA) being matched with two more, until she had a down payment for the house.
Attending monthly classes at the CRT HOME Center, learning how to find
a realtor, choose the right home, shop
for a mortgage, get through a closing.
Developing a budget with her case
manager, reflecting purchase price,
renovation costs and income from tenants.
Now the dream is a reality for Marlett and her daughters, Janeal and Jenine. The reality of a two-family home on a quiet street in East Hartford. “We spend every evening with paint rollers or shovels or scrub brushes in our hands, but we’re so happy!
Reginald Clemons
Reginald Clemons knows what it’s like to have
a job you love. Unfortunately, he also knows what it’s like to lose job after job, and to know “it’s
your own fault.”
For more than 15 years he was a family advocate, a residential counselor, a job coach. “I loved
working with troubled kids, teens who were autistic, any group that needed some help.”
But he drank too much, and then added drugs
to the mix. He lost jobs, and started “living
on the street, or moving in with friends to have someplace to sleep and party.”
In August 2004, he checked into CRT’s McKinney Shelter. Case Manager Serlena Thomas set some high expectations for Reginald. “She would get me talking about the work I had done, how much I loved it,” he says. “And she would say that I could get back there, if I could straighten up. She was always tough on me, but I needed that.”
Today Reginald has an apartment, a new fiancee, and a job as a security guard. But his face lights up when he talks about volunteering back at McKinney and at the Sigourney Square Senior Center. It’s a way to prove himself, to get back to helping people. “That’s where I get my strength, that’s where I feel like my life has some meaning,” Reginald says.
Jessica Emery:
I didn’t know anyone else who was sober, and I couldn’t see how you could have fun sober. So I would just start drugging again.”
That’s how Jessica Emery describes her bounceback,” after each of her five-day detox programs. “It was just a big circle,
and I kept going round and round.”
Fresh Start is helping Jessica break out
of that circle. The residential program gives court-referred substance abusing women and their children a safe environment for six months of intensive counseling, sobriety support, employment assistance, anger management and domestic violence
education.
The best part is the support of the other women. You don’t have to feel low about yourself because people here, they’ve seen worse,” she says. “This is the hardest thing I’ve ever tried to do, and I couldn’t imagine
a better group. We actually have a great time together.”
Falhado Hassan, Aziz Abdikahf:
After six months in Hartford, Somalian
refugees Sharifo Noor and her husband,
Abdulahi Ali Hassan, are just beginning
to understand their options and opportunities. Thrust into an environment that is entirely
foreign to them, they are grateful for help offered by staff from CRT’s Head Start program, where daughter Falhado is a student. They particularly credit Aziz Abdikahr, a fellow
Somalian who’s a translator, classroom
aide and home visitor for the early
childhood program.
Aziz plays a unique role within ECE: He meets with refugee families, explains the preschool program, and enrolls those who are interested. He supports the Family Service Worker, refers families to other services available in Hartford, and helps ECE administrators organize group instruction for the Somalian parents.
Aziz squats beside Falhado at the tiny table in the preschool classroom. He talks with Sharifo as they walk back to the family’s apartment,
a block from the school.
It’s clear that CRT educators meet families wherever they are in life, to help them over
the humps in the learning curve.
Janice Gonzalez and Luis Rodriguez
Janice Gonzalez and Luis Rodriguez didn’t really know what to expect when they stepped into the CRT Family Service Center on Park Street. With fuel prices soaring, they were interested in help with their heating bills. The Connecticut Energy Assistance Program (CEAP) for low income and working poor households; in 2005, CRT has taken over Operation Fuel in Hartford, to help those who are not eligible for CEAP.
They also learned about do-it-yourself energy-reduction measures that work for renters as well as homeowners. This can include weather stripping and caulking, insulating hot water tanks and replacing light bulbs and showerheads.
At a follow-up appointment with case manager Theresa Biscette, they plan to ask about employment and education programs. Meantime, they filled out the paperwork for a Thanksgiving turkey – to cook for the first big holiday meal that they will host together. “I’m surprised by everything that’s offered here,” Janice said, with a broad smile.
