In 2009, participants in Skills for Life I spent six months working on a new construction Habitat home on Dewitt Street. The home was dedicated last November. Habitat and Youth Continuum will begin Skills for Life II in July. In 2010 ten new participants will work on several new Habitat homes on Sylvan Avenue.

On Saturday, June 12, Habitat and Yale-New Haven Hospital held a groundbreaking for two new homes on Sylvan Avenue being sponsored by YNHH. YNHH and its Medical Staff sponsored their first Habitat home, 15 Wilson Street, in 2009. The groundbreaking was attended by Habitat staff, Board members, friends and supporters, YNHH administrators and staff, recent Habitat homebuyers and Habitat’s newest family Dorjee Wangdak, his wife Tsering Choedak and their daughter Tenzin Loudon. Dorjee and his family are Tibetan and emigrated to the U.S. from south India. In 2008 they became American citizens.

Richard D’Aquila, COO and Executive Vice President of YNHH (top photo, second from left), was joined by Dr. Suzanne Lagarde (top photo, far left) and Dr. Michael Bennick (top photo, second from right), members of the Medical Staff, in extending best wishes from the hospital community and a promise that YNHH volunteers would again work side by side with the family to build the house. Recent Habitat homebuyers Robert Henderson (see article below) and Fred and Lavenita Smith, purchasers of 432 Huntington Street (to be dedicated in July) were on hand to share Dorjee and Tsering’s dream of becoming homeowners get underway. After the groundbreaking, the Smiths and their two children rolled up their sleeves and got to work, helping to put together part of the framing for the house.

Dorjee and his wife will spend the next six months putting in the required 400 hours of sweat equity working on their house and eventually the house next door. Family selection for that home is underway.

For photos of the groundbreaking, please click here.

Amity Cares has been an active Habitat house sponsor since the autumn of 2004. Businesses, faith groups, civic organizations, student groups and individuals from the communities of Woodbridge, Bethany, Orange and Westville have raised funds and supplied volunteer labor and materials to build three Habitat homes in New Haven. Amity Cares’s extraordinary commitment to Habitat has made a profound impact on the lives of the families they have served. 

Rabbi Jon-Jay Tilsen, Congregation Beth El-Keser Israel, New Haven, leads the opening prayer

Pedro Candelario-Cuevas, Arrelis Vazquez and their children

Sponsors of 42 Dewitt Street

• O&M Electric
• Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, Woodbridge
• Amity Senior High School Habitat for Humanity Chapter
• AT&T
• Beecher Road School Woodbridge
• Carter Drywall
• Congregation Beth El-Keser Israel
• Congregation Or Shalom
• Dennis Colwell
• First Church of Christ Congregational, Bethany
• Pat Cardozo, Coldwell Banker Realty
• Trinity Church, Woodbridge
• Werth Family Foundation

Co-Sponsors

• NewAlliance Foundation
• M&LF Giving Back Foundation
• One of a Kind Foundation

Additional Support

• U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development Community Development Block Grant Program

Marisol’s Story

Marisol is soft-spoken, a bit shy and self-effacing, but she also has a will of iron and an unshakable faith that has enabled her to survive her ordeal of being homeless and the parent of three small children ten years ago. (Read about Marisol’s journey in the recent New Haven Independent article at:  http://www.newhavenindependent.org/archives/2009/11/skills_for_life.php). Week after week, after working at her full time job, she arrived at the work site to do her sweat equity hours, one of the requirements for Habitat homeownership. She set a sterling example of what can be accomplished with determination and a dream. It was particularly meaningful that Marisol worked side by side with participants in the Skills for Life program, who themselves were learning the skills necessary for full-time employment and financial independence.

The Skills for Life Project

Skills for Life, a collaboration between Habitat for Humanity of Greater New Haven and Youth Continuum, is a pilot program that provides construction skills training and life skills for young adults preparing to transition from homelessness or Connecticut’s foster care system to self-sufficiency. Fifteen Skills for Life participants received a stipend to work alongside Habitat’s professional construction staff to build 34 Dewitt Street. They learned construction skills, and just as importantly, they learned how a workplace functions. Now that the project is finished, those interested in construction as a career will be assisted with gaining entry into educational programs or apprenticeship programs. The first Skills for Life project was funded primarily by The Annie E. Casey Foundation. Habitat is currently raising funds for the second Skills for Life project.

Sponsor for 34 Dewitt Street

• The Annie E. Casey Foundation

Co-Sponsors

• NewAlliance Foundation

• M&LF Giving Back Foundation

• One of a Kind Foundation

Additional Support

• Pfizer

• The United Illuminating Company

• U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development Community Block Development Program

Habitat Executive Director Bill Casey accepts
check from Scout Executive Lou Salute

7 great tool caddies ready to use!

On Friday, July 10, ESPN, located in Bristol, Connecticut, sent a team of 20 volunteers to help build 34 & 42 Dewitt Street in New Haven. In addition to volunteering, ESPN made a generous donation that will enable Habitat to buy materials and tools that will be used to build the two new construction homes. Here are some photos from the day.

Habitat is deeply grateful to Subway and its volunteers for their contributions!

Lane Volunteers at Work!

Lane volunteers have worked on site several times this summer. Below are some photos from their August 7 work day.

Lane volunteers assist Adam Blasavage,
Habitat construction manager, with sheetrock

Please note: the blog is not a scheduling tool. Do not report to the site if you have not been scheduled.

To schedule a date, contact Ellen McNally, Volunteer Coordinator, at (203) 785-0794, x.10.