PUBLIC ALLIES CONNECTICUT

How has the steep drop-off in COVID policies like masking affected immunocompromised individuals and those with disabilities? The CDC’s list of those at risk of severe COVID-19 illness is long and wide-ranging.

This hour, we’re joined by Kayle Hill, a Waterbury-based writer and an advocate with Disability Rights Connecticut.

12.5% of the US population is Black, yet only 3.2% of senior leadership positions are held by Black people. In fact, out of the entire Fortune 500, only 4 CEOs are Black (and they’re men)—that’s a whopping .08%— and as of 2018, there have been 1,974 members of the US Senate, but only ten have been Black.

2013 Public Allies Connecticut Alum Lamar Perry advises to “develop affinity groups within your company which allows participants to speak with other staff of color, at various levels within the organization. The truth is, microaggressions are committed by even the most well-intentioned people and staffers should have access to decompress and share resources within a company-sanctioned safe space.”

Serve Connecticut, the Connecticut Commission on Community Service (CCCS), is awarding $2.3 million in federal AmeriCorps State & National funding to eight Connecticut organizations serving residents and communities across the state.

When Kerry Ellington first learned that police had shot at two unarmed people in Newhallville, she didn’t hold a press conference. She started organizing.

Meet Jermal Muhammad, a second year Member at Public Allies Connecticut. Jermal is Lead College Access Advisor at Higher Heights Youth Empowerment Program (HHYEP) where he has been piloting a citywide FAFSA completion drive in New Haven, Connecticut. When we checked in with Jermal, he had already held 8 FAFSA  workshops and assisted over 150 students to complete their FAFSA forms.

At Junta for Progressive Action, clients can now find community resources in a tropical forest. In one corner of the old building, a monarch butterfly and hibiscus flower flourish. Just inches away, a bright parrot settles on Junta’s welcome sign. Flowers dot the path leading inside, splashing the community center with vibrant color.

A new report from Yale Law School — Forced Into Breaking the Law — The Criminalization of Homelessness in Connecticut — aims to stop the criminalization of homelessness in the state of Connecticut. Central to “conceiving, planning, and editing” the report was Nate Fox, tireless homelessness rights advocate and Public Allies alum.

Every year about 650,000 people are released from state and federal prisons. Two-thirds of them are rearrested within three years of release, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. When Roland Whitley walked out of prison for the third time recently, having done a total of 9 years on drug charges, he was sure he didn’t want to go back for a fourth time. But it wasn’t easy.