Education, Workforce, Youth Development & Community Services Subcommittee - Regular Meeting

called to order our roll call will be quite simple today it is me it is I um one counselor uh lost a very dear friend and is tending to those responsibilities uh I did have another call me but I was in the process of trying to authenticate to get into our email so we'll see if he joins uh in the end room uh we're going to we're going to start so we will start with old business and that is a discussion and status update regarding the CNA program so I talked to uh principal Jesse White who is sort of administering the program and he said um that that currently all 19 students have passed the classroom and clinical portions of the program so that is exceptionally good news seven students have passed both portions of the exam and three students have passed one section of the exam the remaining nine students will test on February 1st and February 8th so I attended a meeting couple of weeks ago it brought in cwp um edsi some of the other uh Blue Hill civic association and some other groups that have been involved in the process and they are all extremely excited with the progress and with the students that uh are in the program so I'm I'm really really excited about that uh I don't know uh what the plan is for this upcoming semester I believe there was interest in

uh building out another section so we'll see I'll I'll have that news for you at a at another time um so we'll move to new business or or let me just ask are there any questions we have any questions we don't have Council people to inquire so if you have any questions I'd be happy to try to answer nothing okay thank you now we have new business so there have been some very interesting uh inquiries that have come across my desk and I wanted an opportunity for there to be some discussion so we have a discussion regarding the Bloomfield Trinidad style Carnival and uh triny might goes by a couple of names you know I'm but he was one of our newest additions to the parade and uh they won a huge trophy it was really really nice I mean this trophy is like almost my size but um what I saw in that presentation was something very small but I could see the vision of it being much bigger so we wanted to invite him to talk about this uh proposal um it is not currently something that we've you know we're attempting to fund or have funds for but he's going to give us the 411 on the plan so you could go right there to that mic stand if you would good evening deputy mayor uh good evening so we have councelor Oliver and counselor Mahan with us uh just a moment I I did briefly talk about the CNA program everyone in it 19 students have passed

uh their um their clinical portions of the program seven have passed both portions of the exam three have passed one section of the exam and nine students will test on February 1st and February 8th so this is a CNA program that is being administered through um Bloomfield High School and there are talks of expansion but we've moved now to uh new business and and we have a gentleman here that is going to talk about a proposed uh Trinidad style Carnival in our town so you don't have access to what he has but I think he's going to talk through it oh thank you good evening ladies and gentlemen my name is Mike Charles and I was born in Porter Spain Trinidad which is the home of Carnival all carnivals exist in the world is based on Trinidad Carnival we invented steel drums limbo Calypso um and Carnival the biggest carnival in the world is is hosted in Trinidad where there's steel band competition there's Maybe 50 bands competing for number one and if you never heard a 100 players in each band you never heard steel band steel drums um so we are bringing that to Bloomfield as far as the carnival itself a lot of people are familiar with naked costumes but we are bringing a family event which is will be kings and queen costumes which is a highlight the same as in Trinidad there's maybe 40

kings and queens compete for number one king of Carnival and queen of Carnival so that is what we bring to Bloomfield because we want it to be a family event so we could so people could bring the kids out to see the Splendor at this dy's Carnival it takes a whole year to create the costumes that you that you would see in carnival the kings and queens and and there's all kinds of various there's king of Carnival Queens of Carnival Calypso competition SOA competition stick fighting there's all aspects of Carnival if you're familiar with Trinity College um did a World Conference in carnival and brought all the aspects of Carnival to to Hartford and I did a radio program then at Trinity College called the city celebrat that highlighted Carnival the very first Jey was done in Hartford it took place at the CHS and it went because we didn't have permits for the street we went from CHS to Kenny park on the golf side and the the second Carnival we had had four steel bands from Brooklyn and two from Boston which is the most bands ever performed on the streets of Hartford so we did Carnival in Hartford for for like six years and when they changed to the city having not funding you have to pay 50% of all funding we moved it to Stanford when then mayor Malloy was the mayor of Stanford we did it in Stanford for three years and he attended the very first Carnival downtown in Columbus Park and then we moved to Middletown we brought it closer back to Hartford we did it in Middletown for 10 years and basically the funding was the problem

the parks we couldn't charge people to come in the Parks and we had expenses very huge expenses so we decide to move it to Bloomfield this year Well I lived in Bloomfield quite a few years I lived at Gaslight condos and I used to do my music trucks from Gaslight down to Harford for the for the parades and so we decided the organization decided to bring it to Bloomfield because it seems like a ideal town to since there's no carnivals like that in in Bloomfield to doing in bloom F so we have we have couple of sponsors that's been on hand with us for the last 3 years Citizens Bank um and we plan to try and raise our own funds but because we want to start the carnival at the Town Hall and take it down to Park Avenue into the park and wreck which we'll have stage and vending and all this other stuff set up there so that's that's the plan so I hope um excuse me so that's the plan um we plan to have a journal that we'll raise funds from business cards all the way up to full Pages um and we do have a sponsorship package that we've been sending out the um the TCO which is a um Carnival um organization in in um Trinidad um plan to be on board with us and we're looking to get more sponsors from Trinidad so we in a fundraising process and we hope to do a lot of fundraisers in Bloomfield so that's it in a nutshell um also we'll be starting a mocho jumie class I don't know if you guys saw the mocho jumie in the parade

so to we'll have mocho jumie classes we already met with the parks and wreck and he allocated some rooms that we could have the classes um so we'll be teaching moo jumi classes for the neighborhood kids that will like to participate um we'll be trying to raise funds so we'll make the cushion easier for the kids to be part of it but there's my secretary now coming in um when you say mocha jumbi mocha jum that's that's SS you the kids if you saw the parade you saw the one m j yes and and people enjoyed him well we'll be teaching classes for the local kids to learn how to how to perform on SS so I think if you if you identify that as such in your proposal yes will relate yes better to it because that was fantastic what he did yes but by looking at that if you're not really aware of what that means right they're going to look at the cost and say what you know what is that well yeah what the cost will be um we be trying to cushion um in the sponsorship package um revenues that will be coming in that we can offset but the fact that is is a mocha jumie skill that kids will be learning um if the parents might be interested in having the kids learn a skill like mocha jum because mocha jumes is the backbone of Carnival Moko jumes Started from way back in Africa um if you if you check some of the sites in Africa you'll see them on SS and it's called M jumes and basically it's a skill that those mocho jumes earn a quite a good living going from carnivals to carnivals in those as as M jumes so it's a good skill we plan

to also bring steel drums we plan to teach a steel drum class um in the future but these are some of the ideas we have and um the park and wreck has shows showed us some rooms that perhaps we can teach the classes in all right so we'll be reaching out to especially to parents who will like to have the kids learn a skill if they can if they can afford it and if any way we could raise funds like we be planning to do fundrais and sell food and and and different events to to kind of facilitate what we're trying to do I know our some of our committee members probably have a couple of questions so I'm going to I'm going to throw mine out for um um when you were in Bridgeport or Stanford what was that cost I know you said it was too expensive but what what did it what did it cost to well how how it went with with Stanford on on on Connecticut on Hartford is the more we raise the more we could do if we raise like in Harford we raised 5,000 we had four steel bands that we just had to pay for transportation for them to come in but if it was to raise enough funds for Bloomfield we plan to have a competition whereas if we have a competition and we have save PR priz money then the bands will come the the steel drums the costume bands they will come to try and win the prize money um so that's one aspect where we can raise funds other than that we're looking for the government of Trinidad since a it's a it's um International Carnival um we call Trinidad the mother of all carnivals so they have funded an event down at at the at Brooklyn at at aollo the where they brought calypsonians up to perform so we're looking for them to do the same as the fund um fund the carnival since is a

is a initiative from Trinidad so do you have an idea in mind of what amount of funding you'll need to well we we have a budget here that that that shows okay um what what we can do with and we also have any sponsor that could pick up the tab to say they will they will cover the transportation for a ban and so everything is here in the in the budget so estimated 30,000 yeah 30,000 will do a great Carnival but 50,000 will do a fantastic Carnival you know we could basically um get get bands as far as Toronto which is one of the biggest carniv in mhm in North America um Miami we have costume makers right in Brooklyn that will come up and make costumes for people who can afford them right so so right now it's January 14th so February March April May June five months y because you're talking about July right um at do you have an idea of how much funding you intend to raise during those those periods to basically satisfy what you need well it goes like this if we have $1,000 we will bring two bands if we have 5,000 we bring five bands so the more funding that we can pick up the more we will do okay uh so basically is in a nutshell what we whatever funding we have that's what will represent on the street okay I want to uh turn it over to our uh committee members if if you have any questions can't release you right now because we

still have the uh program uh in front of you but uh councelor Mahan councelor Oliver any thoughts questions concerns you uh you pretty much covered a deputy mayor I was going to ask uh questions along um funding and what the associated cost would be for this matter because obviously we want to it in Bloomfield um but we also got to make sure that we're uh staying within certain Financial parameters uh for it so so you you were spot on with exactly what I was gonna ask okay thank you um another question and I probably would need to um ask Dave molesco because he's very familiarized with doing these kinds of things the costs associated with the root police all of that um I don't have no idea like it says 30,000 but I know it doesn't include those other uh intangibles thank you sir thank you Deputy Mayor um it varies we haven't we would need to put together a an ops plan with the police department to determine what the vual route is what the road closures would be and that's how you would determine what the costs are associated with the event would be um you know just looking at it if you were to start here at the center of town you got um jome Avenue you get Sena um you got Crest View um and then after that you're looking at Tyler Street into that area so you have

four you know you have four cross streets that you would need to to to have uh to coverage with forclosure there um and then something at the beginning so you know that's just the start of it there could potentially be more I would not be able to provide a cost for you I don't even believe the chief would be able to provide a cost at the top of his head it would have to be something that you would really need to sit down there something that the the town would want us to to Really explore and to look into we would need to go through and to really Define what the program itself looks like and what the logistics are that's accompanying this because so you're just talking about please for road closures for the parade aspect itself if you're looking at a major Festival that would be held at the park school complex at 3:30 Park AV the you know Al patress Wood Human Services Center with the number of people there what are the costs that are associated with police officers um DPW so for for sources um you know the timing of it it comes into play as well you so the The Proposal here is for July 26th that's right around the time of West Indian celebration West Indian celebration would be for us believe it's the following Thursday for us because I know that West Indian celebration week here in the state of Connecticut I believe it's August 3rd through the 10th I want to say but it's it's somewhere in that time frame um so these would be this would be an addition to that okay okay uh councelor Mahan had a question or uh you have the floor yeah yeah sorry about that Deputy I um I miss the part about it uh I I did hear Park Avenue but I thought I may have misheard um is there any particular reason why uh it's not being designed around our usual route which uh is that you know takes

into account of course just going around essentially the town green and uh and like that Winterberry mall area that that seems like it' be we're used to that route we know the cost associated with that route uh why don't we stick to that is there any particular reason why we're moving away from that so coun Mahan if I can speak on that briefly on there I I believe that that actually would be something that could be discussed at this point um I have not provided any direction towards Mr Charles at this point in time for this other than having preliminary discussions with him because I didn't feel as if um I I didn't know where the town stood on this if this was something that the town wanted to pursue but that is definitely something that should be brought into consideration um because the town green is an area that we hold a lot of festivals and events as well um so there would be a possibility of hosting it there as well I think that that would need to be open for discussion um but Mr Charles is here I don't know if you would want to speak on that yeah I'm I'm fine whatever this the tongue you know proposes um just to get the event on the road for the first year well I know for certain that it would provide great benefit to our businesses that are in this area and uh you know and also it's closer to a lot of our residents that come to to you know events so um it's a great facility at uh 330 Park but I think the amenities that are available on the town green uh with with local restaurants and and things of that sort who are biting at the bit to to get more opportunities to to sell is good so I'm not going to try to push either way but it's giving you the options that's find whatever you guys propose just to

get this thing going and as we grow we can Reach Out further councel Oliver had sorry I just had a follow Deputy Mayor oh yes um the so uh thank thank you very much for that uh answer uh Dave I appreciate it do you do you have the number associated with um with that route for around the town green like an estimate again unfortunately I do not we do have an ops plan for that so that would be a much easier number for us to for them to put together at this point in time um but unfortunately I cannot provide um a um a response to that right now or put a number to that okay thank you Dave it would it uh through you uh Deputy Mayor um would it be possible to ask for an email with that if it's possible to come up with an estimate it like I said of course not right now but an email with as just so that we can keep it in mind going forward because I I think it is something that quite a few folks are interested in especially uh since the uh light up the town um uh event in the central town and and having a taste of what that uh of what this event could be like I think a lot the appetite is there uh so we should you know seriously consider um what those costs would be to put it together okay okay we'll work on that and I believe uh councilor Oliver had a has his hand raised as well you have the floor appreciate that councelor Harington uh chair uh I have a question um does Carnival fall on a certain day

of the year or is there is there a way that maybe we could collaborate with the West Indian I mean obviously trines are West Indian right um yeah go ahead go ahead no no go ahead brother all right know car Carnival basically is um always the couple of days before Ash Wednesday okay um but Carnival events is all over the us so we try to not to go on the same date of another Carnival gotcha this way Carnival um reelers travel wherever carnivals are so come from from all over so we we trying to plan to have it the week before Toronto understood is a big carnival so we could get Toronto people to come down to to Bloomfield okay and and New Yorkers and you know the diasp that follows Carnival okay so you trying to make it fit is is the yes within within yeah without stepping on any other Carnival toes got you okay so people will come in because in carnival I mean all the rental cars are booked all the hotels are booked so it's a great economic giant for a city gotcha okay and you know I I would like to agree said I do agree with uh both Mahan councilor Mahan and Anthony Harrington Council Harrington um you know the the par there' be a lot more parking in Bloomfield Center um if we went down Park I just think it would block a lot of people from coming in and out of their driveways and you you to get more participation in Bloomfield Center as well just wanted to add that thank you I appreciate it why we was focusing on a gated event so if we bring artists into you have to charge people to come in for for for for the artist

and then vending you could also raise funds by selling vending space and a lot of vendors come from all over to sell Carnival food that's why we was focusing on a gated area that if we bring in International artists and it costs us money to bring them in we have to fly them in and put them in hotels per performances so we'll have to find a gated area that we could charge so we could recover some of those funds I know for in so far as the food trucks it could be done similar to what we did this summer where there's a certain fee associated with uh with each vendor uh would we just have to have many because what we had this year you know they ate up all the food quickly uh so we know that it has the potential capacity to just be huge yeah and uh so hopefully we will have learned from the last uh food truck you know Festival to possibly utilize some of that learned experience to you know help you know with this um I see councelor mahan's hand is that Legacy hand no no it's a new hand Deputy Mayor um just on the point uh of um hoping that being that you could be in an area for it to be gated off and sell tickets um I I do understand the potential need to to recoup cost if you do bring in an international uh artist you know because there that comes out a cost that you know not only having that person to perform but also um making sure they have somewhere to stay that is also decent you know you want them to you want to maintain that relationship the thing is that with a

carniv with the carnival in Bloomfield being something of public benefit it it needs to be open to everyone in the public and not associated and not have a extra cost Associated to enjoying the event or partaking in the event um because it's not it's not a private event it's a it's a public one well carniv is private just one moment sir uh and know if we're hosting the carnival of course in our in our town green and public space for all of our residents to enjoy there should not be an extra cost that's associate especially if the town is going to be contributing their tax dollars that they're already paying to the system well no yeah it is a free event it's just for the for the um performance side will which will be a cost but the carnival itself everywhere is free so yeah when whenever we've had performances in time even with the West Indian celebration there's there's never a cost Associated to seeing those um those acts perform and same same thing in Hartford when they have brought folks for their West Indian cele coration I I remember when I was younger they brought um an an artist that was pretty popular at that time this gentleman named kago and there was no cost associated with seeing him perform so just in the same thing like I said it's something a public for public benefit there should not be any additional cost Associated well well don't forget there there's big sponsorship the Evelyn Prescott fund is who funds most of those free events so they they have funds coming in to do those those events it's just like the Jer Fest there a lot of funds that come

into that is it I mean possibly there there may be a way to apply to Evelyn Preston Evelyn Preston and or the Harford foundation for public giving so well we plan to do so yeah there's five months that we have to work with but this is probably the most important month y because you need to get those feelers out and and inquire because um it's really going to be important and and the Harford uh Festival jazz or Harford jazz festival uh they go out with buckets I'm I'm not saying that you know this is standard procedure but they're able to recoup a lot um because they don't charge anyone for for those events but they they get funding from different sources and they get money from those who benefit on that day right so it's not like we're we're you know uh uh trying to recoup funding that we that we don't have I think it would be great if you know these are wonderful performances and people are are notified that if they'd like to contribute here's a you know an opportunity that's our plan but first we have to get approval to to to say we have the carnival in Bloomfield and then we could go all out donations are fine donations are always fine selling the experience is not with me no no no we not plan to sell even even selling tickets for a concert is not fine with me but donations 100% okay if folks want to contribute their own funds that is 100% okay I I would never say no to that but selling selling tickets to a concert that is associated with this event in Bloomfield on our town green that that doesn't say well me

that that doesn't that's not something that is synonymous with the culture that we have here in Bloomfield as well well that's that's that's to say I am I'm on board with that once we get approval then we could go all out and try and raise the funds to do so okay uh councelor Oliver is that a legacy hand sorry it was a legacy hand I couldn't unmute my phone sorry about that no problem no problem so my view is is that within this month there need to be quite a number of uh get togethers to have some discussions about how we move uh because I'm sure we're going to have to involve you know the town manager and and council with with you know some of this um discussion it sounds like a great idea and we just need to make sure that we do the proper you know agree inquiries and and get the proper approvals to make it make it happen but it sounds great I know when I saw the guy on the stilts uh he was dancing and it would just that alone showed what the promise could be um so I I think we have something you know very great that we could you know put together here and that would I mean imagine all of the new people in town plus the people coming from town bloomfield's on the map well I'm in your hands whatever you guys want to take this approve it and let's let's move on and try and get the funding well we'll we will talk to uh the rest of the council and uh see what if anything they're open to potentially contribute along with

your uh major efforts to raise funds on you're in that would really show the council that hey you're committed that you know you're responsible and that you know all of that so um that would be great so thank you very much I don't see any other hands um any other questions from from Council okay so I'm sure there's going to be many more that will be coming up because it is going to be a fairly costly event and strategically planned uh to make it successful so thank you very much for thank you coming to me I appreciate it all right all right the next item on the agenda is uh regarding mospace um so there is a group that recently has engaged with um um bloomfi Public Schools they're doing something uh but I wanted to bring about some notification of what's called making able 2025 that's engineering fun with a purpose and what I'll do is maybe we can send this out to to them okay because it's kind of too much to read uh but Mondays and Fridays um will be cohort a January 27th through February 21st they'll be meeting 5:30 to 8:30 then there's a cohort B that will meet Mondays and Fridays March

3rd to March 28th same time 5:30 to 8:30 and then there's a cohort C that will meet Mondays and Fridays April 7th to May 9th 5:30 to 8:30 you will get this information and it's really uh designed for youth um ages 14 to 18 in high school um it's a 4-week program totaling 24 hours of handson study maker space is a phenomenal uh organization and we're hoping that our relationship with them will grow relative to um Bloomfield Public Schools but also with this and I'll I'll just get more information to to possibly send out to you because you may have some students uh in your programs uh probably not Senior Services but you know other other other departments will will probably take advantage of it um so that that's that it's a little it it's wordy it's a lot so I won't try to you know expound on it I will get more information for the group uh as we move forward um now we are going to have the uh reports for Town staff so we first start with senior services you've been getting quite a few accolades of late and I'm sure it's well deserved just you know as we move into the new year you know your name has been coming up quite a bit H oh I said uh oh I don't know what no it's been great it's been great okay well good evening everyone I just I'm going to give you like a what our update is on the things that are going on I mentioned before that we had um an issue with CRT no

longer being able to provide the the hot meals um Fridays they took away one of the days well it's been very successful we're um asking for them to give us $3 and we do a variety of pizzas like a pizza Go Round And so we'll have whatever of this week and next week we'll have something else and then we mix and match other things and it's been very successful not a huge group but a group that's happy because they don't want to miss out on that um so I'm happy to say that that's been working out that we still have the ability to mix and match our Tuesday and Wednesday program so that if we have a lower number on a Tuesday we can add those numbers to the Wednesday so out of the three days we're covered excuse me we um have a program that we received a Grant from duncaster retirement community to help us do a program where we have women coming together and talking about um various um self-care self-love issues and are doing projects um today was one of the days and they were all coming out showing what they were working on uh we have a drumming program that we're also doing in collaboration with social news Services bringing um a gentleman who comes with all the drums and all the equipment and probably get between 15 and 25 people coming out um once a month they drum for about 2 hours they socialize and it's um been a very interesting thing people come and watch people who are afraid to drum you can't you can't make a mistake but and they come out and they watch and then the next um month they sign up and take um advantage of that we also have a grant um this um what is what we call it um a secret gr tour who wanted to make sure that we had an opportunity to once again and provide the Tai chiwan moving for better balance program which is a a program where they build up skills over the course of 24 weeks um 48 sessions

and so people make a commitment to come 75% of the time um it's been wonderful and we did it before I think this right before I left I think the count was 25 um we can't exceed 25 but we actually have um three people on a wait list because it's such a long commitment we usually are able to accommodate a few more people just because not anyone not most people can accommodate and make a commitment to 48 days of being there not missing um game on is a new thing another uh collaboration that we have with social news Services um they play all kinds of games including volleyball inside um it's chair volleyball so it's very uh safe for the most part although we do have some very exuberant folks who do diving for the ball so we we don't like that but it does happen um we also have a lunch and learn program this is something that um we are experiencing um just sort of um on the light side but we don't want it to continue which is bullying bullying of older adults one to another and so we have someone who's coming in to address that and we have a weight list so we're going to talk with our presenters to see if since it's a lunch and learn program if we can accommodate some other folks so that everyone who feels concerned about this matter would be able to participate um another lengthy program but very successful in the past it's new to us it's monitor my health they um we have someone from the CDC coming in to um be with us for as a coach it's going to be a 49 session program and people are I think we might have like um 28 or N I can't remember what the number was because there were two people standing in line trying to to find out about it um they do lifestyle work and you can see all the things so I don't have to

say it so a lifestyle um sessions on nutrition stress and healthy habits 25 Fitness sessions as well um and there's no cost to the individual um in addition we have a Valentine's happy hour um I call it a happy hour plus um India and her family come out and do their special mocktails uh we collaborate again with social new services with that some of the um dancing folks it's just amazing um I call it the 8 to 80 blind you know whatever you whatever it's got going on it's amazing the dancing that people do one person dropped to the floor on our first dance and I thought oh my God somebody did passed out no she she got back up like James Brown just like pop back up so it really is quite fun we have a light refreshments and people really enjoy that and we also have our our neighbor for the center Bloomfield Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation which is sponsoring a valentine breakfast on the next day so it's um really great one of the things that's very important that we have lots of phone calls on foreign people stopping by is the AARP tax aid program um one of our our retired staff persons Marie benzan is going to be volunteering for that along with Zelda and the team and so they will be able to take care of eight individuals per hour um there's no cost to them they just have to come in and get the paperwork fill in and take an appointment and it's really it goes on until um just before the 15th every Wednesday you have to make an appointment and it doesn't matter your age so that's what I have thank you for your time thank you very much misset youel thank you pleasure to see you again Happy New Year

and now we will bring up uh social and youth services uh Camila helan and uh Angelica Thompson good evening I just wanted to say one thing Evette I realized that officially I can sign up for program so I'll see you after thank you India thank you got a round of applause no it's hard to believe but yeah so um we'll have Angelica come up and share Youth Services programs good evening everyone I'm going to start off with our youth services after school programs that are going to be starting up um starting this month and most of our other groups were fully launched in the next month we have a new program a DJ 101 program is for grade seventh and eth grade where the students will learn about music production audio engineering and how to DJ um our other program we have is our robotics program for grades 6th through 10th grade which will build the students will build their own robotics car and learn about programming and electronic assembling we have our mini sunbeams this is for our younger girls ages for grades second to fifth grade it focus on a young girls Empowerment Group we have our project 330 leadership group for 8th to 12th grade which focuses on leadership skills and Community engagement we have our tribe Young men's group for grades 7 through 11th it's a mentorship program focusing on physical health self-discipline entrepreneurship and mental health awareness we also have a partnership with the um bloomfi public schools in collaboration with the cams group it is called a dream it beit career support for girls grades 7 through eth it exposes young girls to career opportunities role models and

resources we also have um partnership for a case after school leadership program grades fifth through sixth grade it's a collaboration with the Leisure Services and is also funded by the bloom public school after school Grant we have our monthly parent series Workshop we do have on the 21st of this month A brotherhood check-in for adult males in the community it's in collaboration with the bloomfi public schools and my people's Clinical Services and we have our rise Foster Care Program for ages five through 18 is focuses on recreational leadership cultural and cultural activities this is funded through DCF this is our year-long program that we have here for our department um in terms of community events for social use Services we have our floor grams which is in partnership with the senior services department we will have uh fresh flowers delivered to our seniors ages 55 and up on Valentine's Day are you put together centerpieces a nice card and message to our seni years and that's something that we've been doing for a couple of years now it's a very huge program that we actually expanded the numbers so I look forward to every year Distributing our floral grams and I actually teach a workshop with the kids on how to make the centerpieces and write nice things to the seniors as cars to show that we care we think about them um we also have a family engagement Community event to the whz on March the 14th and we have the Monster Jam in March 29th tickets are on sell now for that is $15 per person and we have our youth Summit which is something new that we are going to have for May 2025 it's in collaboration with the Leisure Services in the Bloomville West Harford health district this will be focusing on um mental health drug prevention and we have some other fun things for the Youth to do and we looking to do this on a Saturday we're just trying to figure out

spacing and availability to get this going but we are in the planning process to get all these pieces together the health district is also going to help fund some of our activities around the mental health and wellness piece so we're still in the planning process of getting this going but we do have a a date of the month of May to get this started does anyone have any questions in regards to after school programs or our upcoming community events if not I'm going to turn it over to Camila thank you okay uh thank you Angelica some great things coming down the pike and just a few highlights from our social services division um the department we are in the process of planning um some work and support services for parents and Guardians who have children with IEPs and are preparing for graduation and transitioning to adulthood we know that can be a tough transition for a lot of households and families and preparing for what happens after graduation such things as guardianship or cons conservatorship programs support groups for parents to discuss not only their challenges but their successes as well so that's something that will also be coming down the pike soon um we are proud to say and I know the town manager announced last night in town council meeting that Community Renewal team resumed their in-person applications and thanks to the support and advocacy of our mayor and town manager no household went without without heat as a result of the appointment freeze which was shortlived um due to their advocacy so we're really happy um and feel really supported uh for that operation fuel we learned today we'll begin accept applications for heating utility and MDC

bills beginning January 2 27th applicants can receive up to $500 for a delinquent MDC Bill and in addition up to $500 for heating or utility bill all applications are done online and residents can call our department to also schedule an appointment for assistance with applying for the program Food Bank resumed monthly shopping this week um we had over 30 residents signed up for their personal shopping experience and were able to choose items that they needed for their household we are I say this every meeting but so grateful for the response from the community to the needs for our food bank which continues to come in um so we're keeping those shelves stocked and full and and meeting the needs so I I thank you again I can't say thank you enough um as we continue to expand our services for veteran residents um we will have a veteran res uh representative um from the state of Connecticut who will meet with veterans twice a week in our office um to answer questions and assist with accessing benefits um we are seeing inre an increase since our um veterans fair in November she in November um with phone calls and inquiries so we're looking forward to continuing to expand those Services social workers continue to provide excellent Case Management Services and Outreach um on a variety of um needs with our community and we also continue to work closely with our building health and Fire Department M some issues that we've addressed in this past 30 days included um displacement due to hoarding illegal and unsafe R rental units um in single family homes and other housing code violations so we continue to stay

really busy meeting the needs of our residents that concludes our report question so great um I just wondered and it's probably not falling into a realm of responsibility but of late in the news had been one of the apartment dwellings and manor house right um I'm going to assume we don't have funding to address those issues not in my department no and not in any Department I would say but the town has a responsibility to go out and investigate any complaints that they receive to make sure that there aren't any code violations and if so to issue what those correction corrective action plans need to be so I can't speak on what has been done um but I'm quite sure that our departments are on it and following through okay okay I'm sure uh councilor Mahan may have a question regarding that but I don't see a hand raised so I don't want to speculate yeah I can't speak much on it because my department isn't involved yeah with that now if a home if an apartment was condemned and the residents needed relocation assistance that's when we step in and okay and assist okay well thank you very much thank you appreciate it and now we move to parks recreation and Leisure Services David molesco good evening um report that's up on the screen that's just a monthly report from past programs that we put together for uh the month of December for a report that we put together every month for the Parks and Recreation committee um more so going to focus in

this evening on um what we have kind of upcoming in in in the works right now um as Angelica mentioned we met with the Board of Education um uh I believe yesterday we have another follow-up meeting uh scheduled that we're going to beginning the 7th and e8th grade after school program I believe February 9th or somewhere right right right around that time frame um so we're we're pleased to be doing that we've been working with the Board of Education and collaborating with youth services for the last several years on on this grant um we were hoping that it would go into effect in September or October but um better late than ever it is a two-year Grant so at least going into next year that we know that these These are is a program that is stable and that we'll be able to to plan on um as we move forward um I also met with the Board of Education today um they will be hosting a literacy event um coming up on March 7th um they plan to take over the entire North section of the building they'll be using the gymnasium rooms 131 132 152 153 the multi-purpose room um it'll be a a townwide districtwide a literacy event for uh grammar school through U through High School event so we're happy to be able to partner with the the Board of Education in order to make that happen uh also working with the tree City USA committee um we're happy to say that we've moved forward with obtaining the services of Conwood forestry to um put together a forest stewardship plan for the uh for the town um that report is currently being worked on and should be completed and delivered to us during the month of April um is part of being a tree City USA uh the the town allocated $50,000 for for this initiative last year um it basically met the minimum requirements

that you have to do in order to to be be a tree City USA um so following along those lines to show movement on it um working with Paula Jones Paula Jones just submitted the application last week to get that designation uh we believe that we will be awarded it we don't think that we have any reason not to um we've been pretty active in this area over the last several years and we were able to demonstrate that in the application um so it's a nice designation that the town will be able to to have and it's something that we hope that the town will continue to support in in in the coming years um applications for our summer employment um will be going out shortly I know between my colleagues and myself we've been working with HR in order to send out the um return applications for our summer employees in this way hopefully by the end of this month we'll have a really good understanding with we'll be returning then at that point we'll be able to identify what our needs are for the upcoming summer um we also we talked I heard earlier today that the food truck festival came up um we actually had a nice meeting today with the Chamber of Commerce that information has been released already um so look forward to that coming up in the month of September it will be bigger and better than last year which is difficult to do in terms of the larger size of it it was a rather large event that we had um I actually believe it was one one of if not the largest event that we that I've been part of here in town and that that's saying something um we've already increased the food trucks this year um we currently have eight food trucks to date um and then there are at least six more food trucks that will be available so we're looking to get anywhere between 14 15 food trucks um for the event and we're trying to uh to hit every type of

Cuisine that's out there so this way we can diversify um everyone's food pallet so that there's something for everybody that's there um so India Rogers was part of that meeting today and Vera Winfrey Smith um is a pleasure working with all of them um ver definitely has her her her eyes dotted her te's crossed when it comes to this stuff she is on top of it um so we are well on our way um to doing it uh to this event um we will expand the uh the layout this this year last year the majority of it was on the town green um with the food trucks being on Park Avenue we plan on having additional services and activities on the town hall lawn um you know probably I don't know if I'm saying too much at this point in time but we're actually looking to ex expand it to some of the other committees that are in town so one of my uh takeaways today is for me to reach out to the Arts commission the historical society and Humanity to see if they could get involved in this event as well so really see with what we can do to make this a bigger and better event I'm pretty sure that you're going to make sure that the trucks are not damaging the the LA yes sir that is that is absolutely correct um so they'll all be on Park Avenue they will be on pavement uh we make sure of that you know we take pride in in our grounds and we want to make sure that there's no damage to those properties and you know there's with irrigation and other things on there that we want to make sure that they're in pristine shape um so um additionally sponsorship letters will be going out for both the summer concert and the uh juneth uh 5K um so those th those um actually just signed off on them the other day so I believe Matthew will be releasing them by this week um the 5K will be held on uh Saturday uh June

21st um is part of the the juneth celebration and um summer concerts will begin on Thursday June 19th I believe this year um with the West Indian celebration being held either the 31st of July or the 7th of August I believe it's going to be the 31st um we typically have it prior to the West Indian celebration week so if that's the case it will be held on the 31st but if for whatever reason they like us to have it on the week of the 7th I mean during the actual West Indian celebration week and it'll be moved to the sth so so we're working on that as we speak um and that's the gist of my report I'll be happy to answer any questions thank you very much uh to our counselors uh do you have any questions thoughts uh no I just like to say great work Dave um I see you guys are putting a lot of work I keep hearing India's name coming up she's like the go-to for everybody just shout out to India we all know she's holding this down and uh great work thanks thank you thank you thank you well thank you very much thank you I believe our next area is uh other business so one thing I I failed to mention earlier was uh I had um a conversation about our summer program uh and last year it was through um cwp and blue hill civic association and it was to end at the end of July but some of the students were didn't receive all of the money that

they were planning to receive so after working through the budget they were paid uh an additional $4,900 some odd dollars uh which will require that our uh uh budget be amended through uh through town manager because it needs to go through December 31st so it's no big to do it's just that because they were paid at that time and it extended beyond the time that the dollars were to be expended um we need a modification of the contract uh they have also indicated that they're very interested in working with us again but I do know cwp has some new standards that uh were not aware of what they are so it may modify or change to some extent uh the services that that we provide but they will be all Bloomfield students and uh we're excited about the continuation of this program um that ends that and now we move to public comments are there any public comments going once public comments going twice public comments going a third time I suppose we can move forward from there uh do we have approval of minutes yes yes okay so we will negate that part and now to your favorite part um I'd uh like to make a motion to

adjourn second all right uh all those in favor I I I have a good night okay the motion is passed have a wonderful evening and happy New Year and uh have a beautiful evening all right have a