The Progressive Action Roundtable mission is to inform the greater New Haven community about the activities of many progressive groups, so that people may learn about them and become involved in discussions and actions on issues for the common good, such as peace, health, racial equity, justice, clean energy and the environment.
by Aaron Goode, New Haven Peace Commissioner
The City of New Haven Peace Commission will celebrate International Day of Peace 2025 by planting a new tree and dedicating a plaque at Common Ground High School, 358 Springside Ave., on Tuesday, Sept. 30. There will be student readings and performances, a proclamation by the mayor, and more. Details will be announced on the Peace Commission website, peacecommission.org.
The Interfaith Service Festival will be held on the International Day of Peace, Sunday, Sept. 21, 12-4 p.m.
Keynote address will be given by Dr. Elias Farah, Executive Director, Jerusalem Peacebuilders.
There will be discussion groups about food scarcity, gun violence, the unhoused, peacemaking, and prison reform.
Events include a beach clean-up with Save the Sound, community billboard painting, a chance to turn guns into jewelry with Swords to Plowshares CT, and films and discussion with Stop Solitary CT.
Enjoy fellowship, service, and a beach walk on Sunday, Sept. 21, from 12-4 p.m. Activities will be by the shoreline on the grounds of St. John Vianney Church, 300 Captain Thomas Blvd., West Haven.
For more information, please go to bit.ly/3Vdn28C.
by Daniela Doncel, Aug. 20, Connecticut Public Radio
[Excerpts from article]
Around 100 community members huddled under a roof of umbrellas chanting “ICE out of Connecticut now” as rain poured down on Danbury Superior Court.
Advocates with Greater Danbury Unites for Immigrants demanded action from state lawmakers after several Connecticut cities have seen a surge in the presence of federal immigration officers.
The rally took place less than a two-minute walk from the same location where dozens of ICE officers gathered and detained two individuals on the Danbury courthouse steps earlier this month.
In a statement released on Wednesday [Aug. 20], Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials in Boston confirmed that 65 people were apprehended by ICE in Connecticut over four days this month.
Family members of one of these taken individuals spoke at the rally. Edwin Andres Calva-Guaman was taken into ICE custody last week at the Danbury Superior Courthouse, according to his sister Monica Apolinario.
“[Calva-Guaman’s] lawyer told him to go to the Danbury Superior Courthouse because he supposedly had a court date. I showed up in court to ask why he had to attend, but in actuality, he didn’t have a court date. We don’t know why they summoned him, and we don’t know where they took him,” Apolinario said in Spanish.
U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal faced pushback when he spoke at the rally in Danbury on Wednesday.
After introducing him to the crowd, organizer and co-founder of Greater Danbury Unites for Immigrants Juan Fonseca Tapia spoke to Blumenthal directly.
“We know you condemned this fascist administration and the terror inflicted on our community,” Fonseca Tapia said. “We know that. But on behalf of my community, I am asking you, what are you going to do to keep our families safe?”
When Blumenthal responded by asking the crowd if they were ready to fight, several individuals in the crowd shouted back, “Are you?”
Blumenthal said he was ready.
In response to the uptick in ICE activity, Greater Danbury Unites for Immigrants has organized a petition with demands for state elected officials. According to the petition, the group is calling on Gov. Ned Lamont and the legislature to strengthen Connecticut’s TRUST Act, a law that limits how local law enforcement cooperates with federal immigration officials.
[The entire article is at https://tinyurl.com/mr2kutbp]
It was fantastic on July 19 to have thirty of our subscribers and supporters at the PAR PARty, held at Edgerton Park’s Carriage House.
PAR readers through the years were there, including “original” PAR members from the first meeting in 1993, to our current internet subscribers. Conversation, camaraderie, food, and music made it an all-around wonderful gathering.
PAR’s history of local organizing was also on display. There were decades-old PAR newsletters and a poster of PAR documents and minutes of meetings from the 1990s.
For about the first ten years, PAR met once a month. As activists were busy in so many other organizations, the main focus of PAR became creating the newsletter. Judging by how much fun everyone had getting together, the in-person socializing needs to happen more often!
See some photos here ::::
Heating Aid in CT Expected to Increase this Winter
CT Mirror: For the first time in four years, state officials in Connecticut are anticipating an increase in energy assistance for low-income families this winter, though it remains to be seen whether much-needed federal funding will come through to provide support for the program. The Department of Social Services recently released its annual projected spending for the Connecticut Energy Assistance Program, including a maximum benefit of $1,920 this winter, which is $160 more than last year.
Hundreds of Millions of Dollars for Clean Energy in Limbo for CT
WSHU: The Trump administration has canceled billions of dollars that were expected to go towards solar and wind energy, including hundreds of millions for Connecticut. The “Solar for All” program was part of the Inflation Reduction Act passed by the Biden administration. It was supposed to help 900,000 low-income households across the country reduce pollution and utility bills through clean energy initiatives. Connecticut was supposed to get more than $60 million for the initiative.
by Joan Cavanagh, PAMAS member
Recently produced by Progressives Against Medical Assisted Suicide (PAMAS) and Karyl Evans Productions LLC, the 36-minute film, Thoughts on Medical Assisted Suicide, will be presented followed by discussion with the filmmakers and audience members at the Fair Haven Public Library, 182 Grand Ave., on Thursday, Sept. 11 from 6-7:30 p.m. and at the Unitarian Universalist Society of New Haven, 700 Hartford Turnpike, Hamden, on Sept. 14 from noon until 2 p.m.
The film considers the historical context, current practice, and impact on health care of enabling medical providers to offer lethal drugs to patients for the purpose of ending their own lives.
With poetry and song written and performed by West Haven, Connecticut-based poet, songwriter, and performance artist Elaine Kolb, it features interviews with disability and social justice activists including Anita Cameron of Rochester, New York, former Director of Community Outreach at Not Dead Yet; Jules Good, programs coordinator of the Autism Self Advocacy Network and the founder and director of Neighborhood Access LLC of Barrington, New Hampshire; nationally and internationally recognized palliative care specialist Dr. Diane Meier, professor at the Mt. Sinai School of Medicine; retired Connecticut disability rights attorney Nancy Alisberg; and five local community activists. It is narrated by Scott Harris, producer of the WPKN radio program, Counterpoint, and includes ASL interpretation by American School for the Deaf Community Interpreting.
Thoughts on Medical Assisted Suicide premiered at the Miller Library in Hamden on March 25 and has since been shown at five other venues in Connecticut, including the West Haven, Woodbridge, and Westville Public Libraries, as well as two classes at the University of Hartford. It is streaming on the PAMAS website, https://pamasprogressives.org, into September.
Please contact PAMAS at progressivesagainstmas@hotmail.com if you know of a venue that might be interested in a future showing and discussion of the film.
For more information, visit the website at https://pamasprogressives.org.
Thoughts on Medical Assisted Suicide was partially funded by the Haymarket People’s Fund and the Community Foundation for Greater New Haven, with support from the Patients’ Rights Action Fund and Not Dead Yet, and fiscal sponsorship from the Arts Council of Greater New Haven and the Center for Disability Rights, New York.
Junta for Progressive Action will hold a free, family-friendly street festival with live music, dance performances, food vendors, kids’ activities, and cultural pride in full force on Saturday, Sept. 27 from noon to 5 p.m. at its location on 169 Grand Ave. in New Haven.
The Peabody Museum will hold a day of curated exhibits, youth performances, music, dancing, and educational engagement celebrating Hispanic culture on Sunday, Sept. 28 from noon to 5 p.m. at the museum, 170 Whitney Ave.
by Paula Panzarella, Friends of the West River Peace Garden
On July 23, a contingent from Friends of the West River Peace Garden met with managers from Cofield Estates to talk about mutual programs and community resources. The West River Peace Garden is bounded by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, Ella Grasso Boulevard, and Legion Avenue. The Cofield Estates is a new housing development that abuts the garden.
For decades, where Cofield Estates now stands, this was an empty parcel of land. Members of the West River Self Help Investment Plan (WRSHIP) worked to bring housing to this area for almost 25 years. Finally, it’s been created.
We talked about how the garden became a designated United Nations Peace Garden and why New Haven is a Peace Messenger City. Previously, Mayor Justin Elicker was in contact with Cofield Estates about the Peace Garden.
We mentioned that the Peace Garden would like to have access to a water spigot, and that we can help involve Cofield Estate residents in neighborhood and environmental organizations. We can set up canoe rides at West River Memorial Park, offer bicycle safety classes and repair workshops, and have residents’ teenagers earn volunteer hours at the Peace Garden.
The representatives of Cofield Estates were enthusiastic about the various ways we could help bring programs to the residents, the first of whom moved into the new 56 apartment complex in April.
Within a week of our July 23 meeting, Friends of the West River Peace Garden were given a key to the water spigot on one of the buildings. We now can run lengths of hose to the garden to keep the plants and trees watered. We also can fill up a rain barrel that will store enough water to keep the garden in good shape for two weeks. We look forward to the residents joining us in the garden and in other collaborative projects.
Please consider volunteering! For more information, contact Aaron Goode at aaron.goode@gmail.com, or 203-507-8985. Our website is https://westriverpeacegarden.org.
A soil test can advise you when you are planting something new, and when an existing garden area is doing less well than expected. Following the recommendations of a soil test can save you money and improve the quality of your plantings. Adding soil nutrients when they aren’t needed can negatively impact our water supply.
Home gardeners have two sources for soil testing in Connecticut: The Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station (CAES), free; and the UConn Soil Testing Lab (UConn), $15 per test. They each test for major and minor nutrients and pH. in addition, UConn tests for lead, while CAES analyzes soil texture and organic matter.
For the CAES form and instructions, go to bit.ly/3JtbThr.
For the UConn form and instructions, go to bit.ly/3Hrqae1.
The Alzheimer’s Association Walk to End Alzheimer’s is the world’s largest event to raise awareness and funds for Alzheimer’s care, support and research. Held annually in more than 600 communities nationwide, this inspiring event calls on participants of all ages and abilities to join the fight against the disease.
The New Haven walk will take place on Sunday, Sept. 28 at Lighthouse Point Park, 2 Lighthouse Road in New Haven. There is the option of a one- or two-mile walk.
The event opens at 9 a.m., followed by a ceremony at 10 a.m. Paula and Frank Panzarella, PAR Planning Committee members, will be in the walk, which begins at 10:30 a.m. You can register to join their team and walk with them or make a donation at bit.ly/3VfxtIN.
Info: Caroline Kachmar, 860-362-0936, ckachmar@alz.org.