‘Shout out to Anthony Allison’

NORWALK, Conn. —Anthony Allison has retired from Norwalk ACTS, four weeks past schedule.

“I genuinely believe that there would be no Norwalk ACTS if it wasn’t for Anthony’s determination and leadership to get this partnership off the ground in the early years and to grow it to what it is today. He has been the heart of this work and truly devoted himself like no one else I know,” Norwalk ACTS CEO Jennifer Barahona said in an email, titled “Shout Out to Anthony Allison!”

Allison, then-Norwalk ACTS Chief Initiative Officer, announced in December that he was retiring but “graciously stayed on for an additional four weeks to help support our work during the COVID-19 crisis,” Barahona said.

“When the membership of Norwalk ACTS elected to embrace the StriveTogether framework for changing community-level outcomes for all Norwalk’s children from cradle to career, no one was more passionate and committed to this new collective impact approach than Anthony,” Cathy DeCesare wrote. “Engaging stakeholders from across the community to work together to agree on a common agenda and use data to drive decisions requires persistence and determination.  Anthony exemplified these qualities and succeeded in creating many workgroups where individuals and organizations looked at data, generated ideas, and created and implemented solutions that changed how we support our children and families.”

This has led to a common Ages and Stages questionnaire to provide a real-time understanding of a child’s early development, she said.

“Our Kindergarten teachers have a profile of their incoming students that helps them create a plan that supports each child.  Parents have information about Summer Programs and the program providers have a forum for organizing and planning.  As a community, we are better at communicating and sharing information and when problems arise, we are able to come together quickly to identify and solve problems,” DeCesare wrote. “Anthony has left a strong foundation to build on.”

Norwalk High School has established The Anthony Allison Community Engagement Award, a scholarship, Norwalk ACTS said. Contributions can be made by mailing a check made out to the NHS Scholarship Fund (with Anthony Allison Scholarship in the memo line) to Norwalk ACTS, 9 Mott Ave., Norwalk, CT 06850.