Black history, bulky waste collection, DMV and a financial boost for Norwalk ACTS

NORWALK, Conn. — Some Norwalk announcements for you:

• Observe Africa’s influence on Western art today, March 3
• City offering bulky waste pickup
• Connecticut DMV rolls out new online functionality
• Norwalk ACTS celebrates huge grant

A Black History presentation online

African Art Migration: From the Tribe to Museum Walls, a new program examining African influence on modern Western artists such as Picasso, Matisse, and Modigliani will be presented via Zoom 6:30-7:30 p.m. Wednesday March 3, marking the end of this year’s Black History Month, according to a press release from sponsor Norwalk Public Library.

The program, an ArtScapades production, will be presented by longstanding art appreciation teachers Robin Hoffman and Jodi Stiffelman, who have held forth at museums and libraries in Connecticut, New York, Massachusetts and Florida.

Register for the program by contacting Director of Library Information Services Cynde Bloom Lahey at at (203) 899-2780 ext. 15133, or [email protected] org

Learn about ArtScapades at www.ArtScapades.com

 

 

City to haul bulky waste away

Norwalk Bulky Waste Collection is back.  After being suspended last year due to the pandemic, the service will be available this year to all Norwalk residents who get city garbage collection.  (Commercial locations and residential complexes exceeding four units aren’t eligible.)

The trucks will pick up:

• Furniture
• Mattresses
• Rolled rugs or carpet, maximum width 4 ft.
• Metal items
• Metal appliances (can’t contain freon)
• Large plastic items  such as kids’ toys or outdoor furniture

 

However, they will not pick up:

• Household hazardous waste
• Freon appliances such as refrigerators or air conditioners
• Electronics
• Liquid waste
• Paint
• Tires
• Vehicles and motor parts
• Propane tanks
• Yard waste
• Construction and remodeling debris
• Furnaces
• Single-stream recycling items
• Clothes and textiles
• Empty cardboard boxes
• Filled cardboard boxes

 

The city is divided into four collection zones, each of which has two pickup days assigned.  Find your zone on the map here.  All pickups will be on Wednesdays.  The schedule is:

Zone 1 – March 10, July 14

Zone 2 – April 14, Aug.11

Zone 3 – May 12, Sep. 15

Zone 4 – June 9, Oct. 6

 

If you have stuff to be picked up:

1. Call Customer Service at (203) 854-3200 before 4:30 p.m. on the Monday before your scheduled Wednesday collection, and tell them what items you want picked up.  Be sure to tell them about all of it, because items that you don’t mention on the call won’t be picked up.  If Monday is a holiday, call before noon on Tuesday.
2. Put the stuff out for pickup by 7 a.m. on Wednesday.  Don’t put it there more than 48 hours in advance.
3. Group like items together, because there will be separate trucks for bulky items, metal items, and hard plastic items.
4. If the trucks fail to pick up an item, call Customer Service on the following day.

 

More details are at www.norwalkct.org.

 

DMV expands online services

Connecticut motorists no longer have to tolerate interminable long lines at the Department of Motor Vehicles, because the DMV website has added additional capabilities to its menu of functions, according to a press release. Users can now request a duplicate driver’s license, a duplicate non-driver ID, and driving history online.  And as of last month, driver’s licenses and non-driver IDs are renewable at the site in as little as seven minutes, roughly 1/10th of the time it takes to drive past the Connecticut Avenue Chick Fil-A.

“The DMV’s efforts to make sure services are accessible, easy to find, and online are a critical part of our modernization efforts,” Gov. Ned Lamont said. “Our residents deserve a government that is dedicated to changing with new technology and makes transactions as easy as possible. I am pleased to see these updates happening at such a critical agency, and I look forward to providing more streamlined services to our residents soon.”

Take advantage of the new online services, or schedule an in-person DMV appointment at ct.gov/dmv.

 

‘More than 6 figures’

Norwalk ACTS, an extensive not-for-profit partnership of educators, community groups and individuals working to achieve equity for all Norwalk youths, is one of 51 organizations in 26 states receiving a grant from nationwide partnership StriveTogether, according to a press release.

“While we are not disclosing the exact amount due to some sensitivities, I can tell you that it is more than 6 figures and the largest investment in our work to date from any single entity,” Jennifer Barahona, CEO of Norwalk ACTS, said Wednesday.

StriveTogether president and CEO Jennifer Blatz summarized that organization’s mission: “We’re supporting the efforts of communities to transform systems so that they produce more equitable outcomes. Our network members are helping their communities change the systems that fail so many families of color and families experiencing poverty. We’re creating a new normal where race, ethnicity and poverty do not determine opportunity or outcome.”

Blatz, in the release, explained that funds originally earmarked for StriveTogether events cancelled due to the pandemic are being used to accelerate payment of previously awarded multi-year grants, and to extend new pandemic recovery grants.

Multi-year commitments from several long-time investors have enabled StriveTogether to provide $20 million in grants since the onset of the pandemic, plus another $12 million to be awarded by the end of 2021.

“When the pandemic hit, we were fortunate to have existing structures in place that allowed us to hit the ground running,” Barahona said in the release. “Our partnerships with Norwalk’s public school system, health and housing departments, community-based organizations, philanthropic groups and more enabled us to answer needs created by the crisis. However, the pandemic has significantly worsened the disparities in educational and health outcomes for low-income families and children of color. Our ability to continue leveraging key partnerships and to build unified, effective strategies will be critical to the recovery as well as to addressing those inequalities that cause great hardship for so many families. At the same time, Norwalk ACTS will continue to do what it has always done – reduce redundancies, create efficiencies and use data to inform our decisions.”

Norwalk ACTS’ stated priorities and accomplishments include:

• Building an early childhood system that increasingly is seen as a national model, one that includes a city-wide approach to developmental screenings of children birth to 5 in preparation for kindergarten
• Partnering with the school district, city, and numerous community-based organizations to provide critically needed data and support such as:
  • Analyzing student data to optimize the distribution of food during COVID to ensure mobile food sites were within walking distance to low-income students
  • Developing a disaggregated school improvement plan dashboard to capture demographic, assessment, and testing data by school to inform decision making
  • Creating a disproportionality and equity dashboard highlighting under-and over-representation of subgroups in discipline, special education, and academically talented categories
  • Mapping resources and providing resource portals for families of children for out of school time and behavioral health services

 

The complete list of StriveTogether grant recipients:

• Achieve Brown County, Green Bay, WI
• Achieve Escambia, Pensacola, FL
• Alamance Achieves, Burlington, NC
• Aligned Impact Muscatine County, Muscatine, IA
• All Hands Raised, Portland, OR
• Baltimore’s Promise, Baltimore, MD
• Better Together Central Oregon, Redmond, OR
• Boston Opportunity Agenda, Boston, MA
• Bridgeport Prospers, Bridgeport, CT
• Building Our Future, Kenosha, WI
• The Commit Partnership, Dallas, TX
• Cradle to Career, Rochester, MN
• Cradle to Career Alliance, Columbia, MO
• Cradle to Career Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH
• Cradle to Career Fresno County, Fresno, CA
• Cradle to Career Partnership, Tucson, AZ
• E3 Alliance, Austin, TX
• Eastside Pathways, Bellevue, WA
• The Forsyth Promise, Winston-Salem, NC
• Generation Next, Minneapolis, MN
• Graduate Strong, Bremerton, WA
• Graduate Tacoma/Foundation for Tacoma Students, Tacoma, WA
• Harlem Renaissance Education Pipeline, New York, NY
• Higher Expectations for Racine County, Racine, WI
• imPACT East Idaho, Pocatello, ID
• ImpactTulsa, Tulsa, OK
• Learn4Life, Atlanta, GA
• Learn to Earn Dayton, Dayton, OH
• Marin Promise Partnership, San Rafael, CA
• Milwaukee Succeeds, Milwaukee, WI
• Mission Promise Neighborhood, San Francisco, CA
• Northfield Promise, Northfield, MN
• Norwalk ACTS, Norwalk, CT
• OnTrack, Hagerstown, MD
• Partners for Education, Berea, KY
• Promise Partnership of Salt Lake, Salt Lake City, UT
• Raise DC, Washington, DC
• RISE: Treasure Valley’s Education Partnership, Boise, ID
• The Road Map Project, Seattle, WA
• ROC the Future, Rochester, NY
• Rocky Mountain Partnership, Thornton, CO
• Seeding Success, Memphis, TN
• South Bronx Rising Together, New York, NY
• Spartanburg Academic Movement (SAM), Spartanburg, SC
• Stamford Cradle to Career, Stamford, CT
• Stanislaus Cradle to Career Partnership, Modesto, CA
• Summit Education Initiative, Akron, OH
• Thrive Chicago, Chicago, IL
• Tri-County Cradle to Career Collaborative, Charleston, SC
• UP Partnership, San Antonio, TX
• Waterbury Bridge to Success Community Partnership, Waterbury, CT

 

Updated, 2:56 p.m.: More information on grant.