Incredible Turnout for IRIS-CT

IRIS Run For Refugees and March 2017 from New Haven, Connecticut on Vimeo.

Today's @irisrefugees march in New Haven drew a massive crowd

A photo posted by #NHV: New Haven, Connecticut (@nhvorg) on Feb 5, 2017 at 3:20pm PST

Toni Harp on Mayor Daniels (Transcript)

A photo posted by #Nhv: New Haven, Connecticut (@nhvorg) on Mar 20, 2015 at 7:24am PDT

John C. Daniels was mayor of New Haven during a particularly turbulent time. His efforts, described by Mayor Harp at Battell Chappel on March, 20th, expressed gratitude towards his pioneering efforts. During his tenure as mayor, John Daniels initiated policies of community policing, which were commended by the Wall Street Journal as recently as about a week ago.

Mayor Harp was an alderwoman in the Dwight-Kensington neighborhood of New Haven while Daniels was mayor. She credits the success of the community policing to Daniels' pioneering attitude towards policy.

Here's what she had to say:

"Good morning everybody. It is nice to see all of you today. I hope tha thou will agree with me, it’s comforting tone together under these circumstances. I’ll confess, I did feel a bit out of sorts all week this week. With Mayor Daniels passing, part of our city’s foundation was shaken. While trying to absorb this loss, it’s clear the bedrock on which we all depend has shifted. So today we’re gathered together for comfort to remember and acknowledge the remarkable life of John Daniels. We’re together to honor his many contributions to this city. The city he loved. And today we’re gathered together this spring; We’ll need to say goodbye and release his spirit to the ages.

Mayor Daniels was the pioneering public servant. I’ve said it before and I’ve heard others say it, pioneers live exciting lives. They seek things before most others do. And for that reason, they see things different than most others do. I think pioneers are adventurers by nature. They explore where others haven’t been, and as a result have experience most others don’t have. All this gives pioneers a perspective most others don’t share: a unique point of view of the world others just don’t see. Pioneers also face challenges and hardships others simply cannot imagine. The road they travel doesn’t just get bumpy; there is no road to begin with. And pioneers often ace these extraordinary challenges alone.

I happen to think many pioneers question their faith with some frequency. HIs vision for New Haven was innovative and bold. And he worked to bring the city into the light of that vision. Community based policing in New Haven is attributable to John Daniels, who had the idea that standards for law enforcement should be set among the residents, and that any police presence should be a reflection and extension of those standards. Mayor Daniels’ idea was that police should work together with communities as a force for good, and not an occupying force.

John Daniels was an outspoken advocate for something that wasn’t very popular at the time: a needle exchange program. When that idea, if you think about it, was new and so controversial in this city, when city residents were sick with HIV and dying of AIDS at an alarming rate. The idea of conceding to individuals' battles to perhaps win an overall war was unique and bold. Intravenous drug users were still using drugs, yes; but with clean needles their risk of deadly infection was dramatically reduced. And I think the advances we made nationally, here in New Haven, was because of John Daniels’ bold vision and his political action to support that."

For the full audio, see below, [link]
Mayor Harp describes the life and accompishments of New Haven's first African American mayor, John C. Daniels, at his service which was held on March 20 at Battell Chapel. She touches on the subject of his work in building better relationships between community and police, as well as how he helped save the lives of victims during the AIDS epidemic which took place during his leadership. She describes him as a pioneer, one who was not afraid to go places where others haven't been. See Nhv.Org main site for a partial transcript.

Toni Harp's Inaugural Address

This is a partial version of her speech, with remarks by Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) in addition to Toni Harp's swearing in ceremony and inaugural address. You can read the entire speech, as well:

Conversations with Candidates

Toni Harp speaks to Steve, a resident of East Rock on his front porch.


Justin Elicker speaks to Jahmal Henderson on a bench in Newhallville.

From CWOS Alternative Space Last Week

With so much news pertaining to the mayoral race this year, it's difficult to determine the position of the candidates.  Wouldn't it be great if you could just sit with each one for ten minutes and discuss the issues of the day? These were filmed over the summer.  It was part of a series, with a theme.  Community members were paired up with different candidates and asked to have a conversation. The result was something that might be considered more organic and authentic than traditional news; something insightful and helpful to those who are still determining which candidate they would like to vote for;  everyone is hoping for one of the biggest turnouts in #nhv voting history.  Voting day is November 5th.  If you are looking for your polling location, try here.

Click here for Nhv.Org's full video coverage of important mayoral race events this year in 2013.

Honorable mention to Henry Fernandez who participated in the project.  Here is the audio of his interview with Ibrahim Abdul Qawiyy on the New Haven Green.

NhvMayor2013 Interview Series - 1 Left!

Video StillFrame:  Harp and Poland (E.Rock)

As part of our "Get To Know #Nhv" Theme, this website has been approaching candidates with the interest of conducting one-on-one interviews with community members.  Toni Harp spoke to Steve, a resident of East Rock. Justin Elicker had a conversation with Jahmal Henderson, a resident of the neighborhood of Newhallville.  Each conversation is from 10-15 minutes in length, none of the content is rehearsed or recited.

Many of the match-ups are selected with the intent of drawing from contrast, and the conversations themselves hold to the interests of the community at the present time.  The full run time of the completed project should be approximately 30-45 minutes.  We're reaching out to the Fernandez and Carolina campaigns to participate in the two remaining sections which have yet to be filmed.

Video StillFrame:  Elicker and Henderson (Newhallville)

While these interviews may not have an impact on the outcome of the election, they might encourage the community to become more actively engaged in the voting process.  To whomever wins the election, this video might be a worthwhile piece to watch, because all of the points being discussed throughout this project will probably be relevant throughout his or her time as mayor and reflect the current climate, relating the problems posed by citizens and the solutions proposed by the candidates who seek to represent them at mayor.

The tone of the discussion is more like a conversation than a debate. These are conversations between candidates and individual community members in outdoor spaces as the mayoral race heads into the Autumn.  We'd like to release the footage in October in segments online as well as in one full-length documentary due out to be aired just weeks before the election.

If successful, we hope to make this into a tradition of support and work with the museum in preserving these conversations as a part of history.  This in particular is an historic race for mayor, with John DeStefano announcing earlier this year that he would not be seeking re-election.  2014 will be the first year that New Haven will have a different mayor other than DeStefano since 1994.  Stay Tuned for more and click *Like* to the left on home version to get Nhv.Org updates.

Public Support for Judicial Equality

 The NAACP and other leaders, including mayoral candidates Sundiata Keitazulu and Toni Harp, attended a rally in front of 157 Church Street, next to City Hall this morning to speak in the wake of the decision to exonerate George Zimmerman.  Scot X spoke, as did Toni Harp and other members of the community.  It would have been more appropriate if we could have filmed something related at that point in time.  Juror 37B is setting the stage for a mistrial, particularly with what was released pertaining to her pre-trial statements.  These are things they knew about her before the trial even started.  For example, under pretrial questioning, she described the protests that took place in Sanford, Fla., after the shooting as "rioting."  Not only was there no damage or destruction to property during the initial protests, which would constitute rioting, it's the same type of preconceived notion (or misperceived notion) which led to the massive expectation that so-called riots were going to occur all around the country, which also never took place.

The judicial system should investigate the jury selection, and it might find evidence that this process was not conducted in the interest of a fair trial.  Evidence has already been reported on the news.  The Federal judicial system might also want to research the constitutional legality of "Stand Your Ground," as it pertains to this case, where it could be construed as unconstitutional, so I hope that these efforts will result in holding the Florida legal system accountable for what's clearly systemic double-standards (20 year sentence for warning shots fired, in a different case).

I think the march on Washington Aug 24 will help, but personally I would think that Obama and Eric Holder should take action and honestly I'd be surprised if they didn't.

Marches are planned for Washington, DC on August 24th.  Contact the NAACP New Haven to find out more information on how to be a part of that rally. In addition, a march is planned on Toads Place in anticipation of a Ted Nugent concert. Nugent wrote in online mag: "Mr. Zimmerman may have some legal room to move regarding a wrongful death lawsuit by Trayvon Martin’s family."  It was made clear that Nugent felt strongly that Zimmerman had every right to shoot and kill Martin.
That concert is August 6th.

Toni Harp Announces Mayoral Candidacy

Harp announced on Sunday in Edgewood Park she will be a candidate in this year's mayoral election.

From Wikipedia:

Toni Nathaniel Harp is an American politician. Harp, a Democrat, has been a state senator from Connecticut since 1993.

Harp, a resident of New Haven, represents the western half of the city as well as part of West Haven in the Connecticut Senate.

Harp was born in San Francisco and graduated from Roosevelt University and received a M.Ed. from Yale University. Prior to being elected in the Connecticut Senate, Harp served as a New Haven Alderman; she defeated incumbent Senator Charles H. Allen III for the Democratic nomination in 1992.

In 2001 her husband, the prominent architect and developer Wendell Harp, was embroiled in a scandal after he sold a property to the city of New Haven for $485,000, more than twice its assessed value. The city later resold the property at a huge loss, leading to allegations of corruption.^[1] It soon after emerged that as Mr. Harp owned over $200,000 in back taxes to the city, he should not have been able to do business with the city at all.^[2]

In 2007 Harp introduced a bill to have the state pay for free diapers for poor mothers. ^[3]

You can find out more about her history on her web page here.