Bulky Waste

I've noticed an increase in bulky waste in the North End, and I know I'm not the only one. If you live next to a pile, email or call NEAT(neat@neatmiddletown.org or 860-346-4845) and the city's Public Works department ((860) 344-3408)to report it. It's unsafe, unhealthy and unpleasant.

College Bound Mentoring Program/Free SAT Prep

NEAT is starting a College Mentoring program and we're looking for high school Juniors. As part of the program, we'll be hosting, in partnership with Wesleyan's Upward Bound program, a FREE 8 week SAT Prep course that will help students increase their schores on the SAT. Additionally, students can opt in to the college mentoring program and have help with the college application process. Call or email NEAT for more information. 860-346-4845 or neat@neatmiddletown.org

Get Your Taxes Done For Free!

Income under $50,000? Then You Can Save Money
January 21st- April 10th
Tuesdays & Thursdays 5pm-8pm
Saturdays, 10am-3pm

* IRS-certified volunteer tax preparers
*Quick refunds to bank account or specail debit card
*File even if you don't owe taxes: you may qualify for money from the government (EITC)

MUST HAVE A APPOINTMENT CALL 211

This is Sponsored by the Middlesex VITA (Volunteer Income Tax Assistance) Coalition Partners include Middlesex United Way and Middlesex Coalition for Children. Must Call 211 for the Appointment, why pay for someone to do your taxes, don't you want ALL your money?

What you need to bring-
* Valid picture ID
*Social Security cards or Individual Taxpayer ID Number (ITIN) for you, your spouse and any dwpendents with you born before Dec. 31, 2009
*Birth dates foryou, your spouse and dependents
*Income documentation including W-2, W-2G, 1099-R, etc. from all employers
*Interest and dividend statements from banks or other financial institution (Forms 1099)
*Total paid for child care, if any. Bring the child care provider's name, address and tax ID or Social Security number
*Last year's federal and state tax returns, if available
*Current year's tax package, if you received one
*Education expenses and student loan information, if any
* Documentation of property tax payments (home, auto)
*If you wish to itemize deductions you also need to bring a list of your medical, interest, charitable donation, miscellaneous expenses and a list of the taxes you paid

*If you took advantage of any of the special tax credits related to the Economic Recovery Act (first-time home buyer, purchase of a new care after Feb. 16, energy improvements, etc.), please bring all related documents (price paid, receipts, taxes, etc.)
*If you run a small private business (day care, handyman, etc), documentation of income and expenses
*If you are married filing jointly, bring your spouse

NEAT Hiking Club Member Screens Documentary

Our Elders, Our Youth

Friday January 29, 6:00-8:30 PM

Green Street Arts Center

Admission: $5 suggested donation

Join Green Street's After School program students and local senior citizens in the gala premiere of a documentary film that attempts to bridge the gap between the oldest and youngest generations of Middletown residents, while confronting the perceptions each side has about the other. Acclaimed actress and director Janis Astor del Valle and Middlesex Community College Professor of Videography Dan Nocera will introduce the film and lead a post-film discussion.

How to Talk so Kids Will Listen

Thursdays | 7:30-9PM
January 14, 21, 28, February 4, 11
FREE! Childcare provided

Being a parent can be a joyful experience, but it can also be a challenge. This educational workshop series can be a valuable resource for developing communication skills that will help you to better understand your children, and to be better understood by them.

This course offers parents and caregivers simple and productive ways to communicate with children that gets positive results. "How to Talk So Kids Will Listen" provides parents with the opportunity to share experiences, discuss and practice skills together, and role-play with each other, to develop skills that will benefit all relationships: at home, at work and elsewhere.

Topics include: Letting Kids Have Their Feelings, Engaging Cooperation, Alternatives to Punishment, Encouraging Autonomy, New Ways to Praise and Freeing Children from Roles.

This class is presented in partnership with the Family Wellness Center of the Community Health Center and the North End Action Team.

Contact Julie Deak to register: (860) 347-6971 x3662

NEAT at First Church: Please join us!

First Church on Court St. is hosting a “meet our neighbors” meeting will explore how NEAT and First Church might work together and build upon partnerships involving youth, outreach, and the Jonah Center, some of which we have already started. NEAT's director, Izzi Greenberg will be speaking and would love to have other NEAT members help to share our story or just meet people at the meet and greet.

11:30 am, 190 Court St. We hope you can make it. Please call 860-346-4845 for more information or email neat@neatmiddletown.org

NEAT meeting this Wednesday at 7 pm at the Green Street Arts Center

Wednesday, January 13: Monthly NEAT Meeting

Tomorrow, NEAT will be hosting its monthly NEAT meeting at 7 pm at the Green Street Arts Center. Childcare will be available and there will be pizza for the kids.

Topics include:

*Annual Election of our Advisory Board

*Jonah Center/NEAT Partnership

*School Redistricting Update

*City Foreclosures in the North End

*Jobs with the Census Bureau

We hope you can make it. Please call 860-346-4845 for more information or email neat@neatmiddletown.org

Rescheduled Schools Meeting Tonight!

Tonight: December, 14th.
Where: Macdonough School Cafeteria
Time: 6:00 pm.

Childcare and Dinner will be provided

What: Come discuss the future of our schools. The focus for this workshop will be North End schools, but the implications could touch all of downtown, as well as property values and quality of life. Everyone should attend this workshop.

Call NEAT if you have questions or need transportation 860-346-4845

Schools Meeting Postponed

Tonight's Important Schools Meeting is Postponed Until Monday, December 14th at 6:00 pm.

I hope you will be able to attend. We will have childcare and dinner.

Middletown Public Schools hired JCJ Architecture to figure out how to solve school overcrowding at Moody and bring Macdonough School into racial balance with the district's average. Whatever happens, the North End will be affected.

Our kids are at the heart of this study. North End children who attend Moody School may be districted to another school and the lines for who attends Macdonough may change. The report also suggests making Macdonough a magnet school to solve racial imbalance.

NEAT will be hosting a meeting this Monday, December 14th 6:00 pm at Macdonough School to discuss what the neighborhood wants its school to become.

It is very important that you attend this meeting. We will discuss what we want in a school, what we'd like to preserve, what our ideal attendance boundaries would be, and how to keep a community school and conform to the state's mandates.

This meeting will be run by NEAT and you will have the chance to express your views and concerns. Childcare will be provided and there will be dinner for everyone. This is open to anyone who would like to participate, no matter what school your child attends, or even if you don't have children.

The entire North End will be affected by this change, your property values depend on having a good school, your friends and neighbors will be affected.

Please call NEAT for more information or email neat@neatmiddletown.org. You can click here to get the links to the JCJ report.

Food Allergy Info

This is info about food allergies from a group that we have sometimes worked with. I hope this is helpful to you.

Oftentimes when we think about taking care of our health and keeping our families safe, there is one danger that is overlooked – Food Allergies.

Each year, food allergies send about 125,000 Americans to emergency rooms. Most of those serious reactions occur in schools and restaurants, not inside the food allergy sufferers’ own homes.

This shows that there is a serious lack of information out there among the general public about the dangers of food allergies. Could you imagine if there was a similar absence of knowledge about heart attacks or CPR?

Children, who can be unaware of the daily risks posed by the things with which they come in contact, are especially susceptible to the dangers of the outside world. It is often up to the adults in their lives to prevent situations that could trigger reactions. But when the adults are similarly unaware, even schools and playgrounds can suddenly become potentially hazardous minefields.

However, there is some good news. Researchers believe that they are only about ten years away from discovering treatments or even cures for food allergies if they are able to continue their work.

We can help! Write a letter to your congressman expressing support for food allergy research, and encourage everyone to do so as well.

As a community, it is our duty to be educated enough to protect the safety of all of our members. Learn how you can help today at www.faiusa.org.

Board of Education Sponsored Workshop Tonight!

Middletown Public Schools hired JCJ Architecture to figure out how to solve school overcrowding at Moody and bring Macdonough school into racial balance with the district's average. JCJ presented their findings at the last Board of Ed meeting. There, they decided to host two public workshops to help inform the public of the various options.

The first of those meetings will be held tonight, December 1st at Macdonough School at 6:30 pm. The second will be on Thursday, December 3rd at Keigwin Middletown School at 6:30 pm.

The Board of Ed would like public input from the public, so please attend if you can. This WILL affect the North End. Our kids are at the heart of this study. North End children who attend Moody School may be districted to another school and the lines for who attends Macdonough may change. The report also suggests making Macdonough a magnet school to solve racial imbalance. Please attend so that the North End is educated.

Also, NEAT will be hosting a meeting next Wednesday, December 9th (our regularly scheduled NEAT meeting, just a location change) at 7:00 pm at Macdonough School to discuss what the neighborhood wants its school to become. Based on the JCJ report, there are a lot of different options, but they all involve changing Macdonough in some way.

It is very important that you attend the December 9th meeting. We will discuss what we want in a school, what we'd like to preserve, what our ideal attendance boudaries would be, and how to keep a community school and conform to the state's mandates.

This meeting will be run by NEAT and you will have greater ability to express your views and concerns.

If you can only attend one meeting, please attend the December 9th meeting.

Childcare will be provided and there will be dinner for everyone. This is open to anyone who would like to participate, no matter what school your child attends, or even if you don't have children. The entire North End will be affected by this change, your property values depend on having a good school, your friends and neighbors will be affected.

Please call NEAT for more information or email neat@neatmiddletown.org. You can click the links below to download the report from JCJ.

Click here for the November 17, 2009 Presentation from JCJ Architecture (9MB)

Click here for the November 10, 2009 report from JCJ Architecture (3MB)

click here to read about this issue in the Middletown Press

click here to read about this issue in the Hartford Courant

click here to read about this issue in the Middletown Eye

Indira Karamcheti To Read Work of Nobel Laureates

Nobel Literature Discussion at Green Street

Wesleyan University’s Green Street Arts Center Presents
Indira Karamcheti To Read Work of Nobel Laureates

Sunday Salon Series Brings Wesleyan Professor to Discuss Prize-Winning Literature

Middletown, Conn, November 13, 2009—Since 1901, Nobel prizes have become the most prestigious international recognition of achievement. They are earned by a broadly international register of scientists, activists, and authors. Wesleyan Associate Professor of English Indira Karamcheti will read from the several works of recent Nobel Laureates, in addition to leading a discussion of the criteria for establishing Nobel's ideal of the "greatest benefit [to] mankind," as it relates to literature.

This informal lecture takes place on Sunday, November 22 from 2–4pm as part of the Sunday Salon Discussion Series, Green Street’s monthly discussion series for creative minds and curious individuals hosted by Wesleyan University Chemistry Professor David Beveridge. Each monthly salon includes plenty of opportunity for socializing as well as a reception with light refreshments.

Admission is $5 for the general public and $3 for Green Street members, seniors, and students. Green Street Arts Center is located at 51 Green Street, Middletown, CT. To register or get more information, please visit: www.greenstreetartscenter.org or call (860) 685-7871.

About Indira Karamcheti
Indira Karamcheti, Associate Professor of English and Women's Studies is an important new voice in the field of postcolonial literature. Her broad ranging interests in the geographies of marginality encompass Caribbean and African-American literatures. She received a BA, MA, and PhD from the University of California, Santa Barbara.

About Green Street Arts Center
Wesleyan University’s Green Street Arts Center, which opened in January 2005, is a vibrant center for arts education, serving residents of the neighborhood and the region. It is a project of Wesleyan University in collaboration with the City of Middletown and the North End Action Team (NEAT). Programming in the former schoolhouse at 51 Green Street includes an after school arts education program and a wide range of affordable classes and workshops for children and adults in music, dance, visual arts, theater, sound recording, media arts and creative writing.

Posters Wanted

Dear Readers of the North End News:

The staff (of 1) at the NEAT office is having a hard time posting here as frequently as you deserve. Can we all pitch in a little? If you have something to say (nicely), news to report, something interesting on your block or an event that deserves attention (all North End related or of interest to the North End specifically), please email me at neat@neatmiddletown.org.

It would be nice to have something new posted everyday. It can just be a great picture of the beautiful tree on your block. Get creative!!

Thanks,

Izzi
Director
NEAT

First Mayoral Debate Available Online

Wesleyan University has created a video archive of the first mayoral debate between incumbent Sebastian Giuliano and challenger Dan Drew.

You can view the entire debate here.

*Reprinted from the Middletown Eye. Thanks!!

Meet the Candidates Forum: Tonight!

NEAT will be hosting a "Meet the Candidates" forum Tonight, Wednesday, October 14th at 7 pm at the Green Street Arts Center. It is open to anyone and will be a great chance to meet some of the people running for local office and asking them questions that are important to you.

We have roughly 85% of those running for office confirmed for attendance, including both mayoral candidates.

The format will be informal (no panel, no debate), so you'll have a chance to speak with the candidates that you are most interested in. Local elections affect your everyday life in real and important ways. From how your school is managed to trash pick-up, it is important that you vote and are educated about that vote.

It is important that we show our elected officials that we care so that they care about us! PLEASE come and meet the people who will serve you.

NEAT's goal in this event is to create a chance for everyday residents to interact with the people who will serve them.

As director of NEAT, I am able to do that on a regular basis and find the interactions extremely telling. The point of the event isn't to "catch" the candidates on issues -- we do that enough already. It's to get a sense of who the candidates really are.

To be clear, other groups are hosting debates and panel discussions and we encourage our members to attend those for a different perspective. We wanted to offer something different for the residents of Middletown. So, if pinning a candidate to the wall on an issue is what you'd like to do, this is a great chance to do it in a more personal setting. Or, if you know nothing about the candidates and would like to go to one place to meet them all, this is a good chance for you, too.

Our goal is to encourage a well-educated citizenry. Between other debates and our event, we hope to achieve it.

We will serve dinner and will offer childcare.Call NEAT for more info: 346-4845 or email neat@neatmiddletown.org

Meet the Candidates Forum: October 14th at 7 pm.

NEAT will be hosting a "Meet the Candidates" forum on Wednesday, October 14th at 7 pm at the Green Street Arts Center. It is open to anyone and will be a great chance to meet some of the people running for local office and asking them questions that are important to you.

The format will be informal (no panel, no debate), so you'll have a chance to speak with the candidates that you are most interested in. Local elections affect your everyday life in real and important ways. From how your school is managed to trash pick-up, it is important that you vote and are educated about that vote.

It is important that we show our elected officials that we care so that they care about us! PLEASE come and meet the people who will serve you.

We will serve dinner and will offer childcare.Call NEAT for more info: 346-4845 or email neat@neatmiddletown.org

Macdonough Running Club at the Hartford Marathon

If you're looking for something to do tomorrow, head to Hartford and support Middletown's Macdonough School students and teachers as they run in the Hartford Marathon.

Today, the Macdonough student running club, which includes more than 50 students, took their running skills to Hartford's Bushnell Park to participate in the 2009 edition of the ING Run for Something Better Day. Macdonough students have been training at home and school to run 12 miles during the past month. They each ran their last 1.1 "Final Mile", and crossed over the official ING Hartford Marathon Finish Line in Hartford's Bushnell Park to receive a Finisher's Medal.

On Saturday, nearly two dozen teachers and students will be traveling to back to Bushnell Park to join in the running of the 2009 ING Hartford Marathon as part of the Jeff’s Running Partners program. This program encourages children in Connecticut schools and adults to complete either the 13.1 mile Hartford Half Marathon or the full 26.2 Hartford Marathon as part of a relay team.

Mayoral Debate Tonight

Watch tonight's mayoral debate live on the web. It should be good!

http://condor.wesleyan.edu/openmedia/webcast/cast1.qtl

If you're interested in attending, here is the info:
When: Tuesday, October 6th from 8-10 PM
Where: Wesleyan University, specific location to be determined
Format: Co-moderated by a student and faculty member from Wesleyan University

Please consider this invitation an opportunity to engage the Wesleyan community and Middletown residents in this community.

For any logistical questions, please contact Wesleyan Student Assembly member David Markowitz at dmarkowitz@wesleyan.edu or (917) 757-7185

For any other concerns, please contact Wesleyan Student Body President Michael Pernick at mpernick@wesleyan.edu or (917) 653-3401

Open House at Green St. Sunday

Please join us at Green Street Arts Center for our Opening Day, Sunday, September 13th from 2-6 pm for a celebration of our Fall 2009 Program. Opening Day at Green Street will have free classes, including Salsa, Breakdance and Scottish Country Dance, demonstrations of South Indian music and dance, Balinese Music and Dance, Irish traditional music, and participatory workshops including Traditional Tune Sharing for all instruments, Open Mic Writers Out Loud with Cocomo Rock and Al Bower, Writing with Sari Rosenblatt and Comic Book Making with the Comic Book Artists Guild. Special offerings for families with younger children include Music Blossoms with Gwen Pond and Creative Collaboration with composer Brian Parks. Snacks provided! Click here to check out the full schedule of the days' events. Bring yourself, your family and your friends!

Please support NEAT and the City's new blight ordinance at Tuesday's Council Meeting.

You may or may not have been following NEAT's involvement in Middletown's new blight ordinance. So, here's the update.

This past June, (read about it in the Middletown Press) after many years of complaints by residents who were tired of living next to blighted buildings, NEAT held a workshop to discuss the efficacy of Middletown's Blight Ordinance. Many council people, city department heads and community members came together to discuss the pros and cons, the weaknesses and strengths. At that meeting, everyone agreed that the current ordinance is not an effective document, and that over the next few months it would be rewritten based on Bristol, CT's model.

Since then, the document has gone through department review, ordinance review and review by NEAT members. You can read the new draft here.

It is a much more complete document now, with a greater focus on code enforcement. Before, the ordinance was effective in designating a property as "blighted," but it stopped there. There was little in place to help with remedy. This new ordinance is more focused on preventing buildings from deteriorating to a blighted state in the first place.

I urge you to come to the common council meeting this Tuesday, September 8th to sit with NEAT members and (if you're comfortable) speak in favor of this new ordinance which has much tougher enforcement rules and standards.

The meeting is at 7 pm in the council chambers at city hall (245 deKoven Dr.)

NEAT also believes that we need to take this a step farther and create a liscensing program for property owners, where the revenue generated could pay for an additional inspection officer to regularly inspect rental properties in Middletown. NEAT will be working with the city to create a model that works for Middletown.

Please contact NEAT if you'd like more information. Also, you can check out the article in this month's Chronicle (sorry, no link), and there will be stories on this in this weekend's Hartford Courant and next Sunday's New York Times Real Estate Section.