Dixwell Day Brings Out The Neighborhood

Parents and kids waiting in line to receive school supplies. Abiba Biao Photos.

As volunteers unwrapped boxes of brand-new school supplies, a line of parents and children wrapped around one side of Scantlebury Park, savoring the back-to-school joy in the air. Across the park, boxes of crayons and pencils multiplied, the aromas of wax, wood and graphite fresh and faint. Nearby, pencil pouches appeared in a variety of colors. As they scanned pouches that ranged from forest green to bubblegum pink, kids could be sure to find a color that fit their mood.

Some serious back-to-school joy flowed across Scantlebury Park last Saturday, as the Dixwell Community Management Team (DCMT) launched the first ever Dixwell Neighborhood Day for kids and families in the area. The Dixwell Community Management Team is a resident-based organization that hosts community events and informs people on community news.

Dixwell Community Management Team Treasurer Lindsey Ruminski, Assistant Secretary Roxanne Condon, Chair Crystal Gooding, and Vice Chair Jerome “Jerry” Tureck.

Because it was the team's first annual event, DCMT members came in style, sporting yellow t-shirts proudly adorned with the words “Dixwell Neighborhood Day.”

Crystal Gooding, chair of the DCMT, said that the inspiration from the event came from wanting to help kids get back to school with the resources they needed. For years, community management team members have put together annual coat drives, and Gooding wanted to increase that community impact. She pointed to how the beginning of each school year is an influential marker in a child’s development.

“On that first day of school, I remember how I felt with my new book bag, [and] my new lunch bag,” Gooding said with a smile. “I want that feeling for them.”

In total, members collected over 200 backpacks, accompanied with folders, notebooks, glue, pencils, and pencil pouches to have kids feel ready to take the school year on.

New Haven Old Black Rugby President Nikita Guryakov and Treasurer Anthony Geritano posing with a child.

It didn’t happen in a silo, Gooding added. Throughout the day, event volunteers with the New Haven Old Black Rugby Football Club paraded around the park with bright yellow vests, setting up craft supplies and throwing rugby balls around with pint-sized attendees. They kept up the livelihood of the event. .

New Haven Rugby Treasurer Anthony Geritano, who is running against Alder Jeanette Morrison in Ward 22, brought President Nikita Guryakov and the rest of the group out to help with the festivities. Together, they arrived early to help set up vendor tents and equipment, with Geritano spreading awareness about the Dixwell CMT to attendees.

“We are constantly trying to get more people involved,” he said. “The community is better served when everyone gets a chance to participate. So we have monthly meetings [and] we want to encourage as many people to come and have their voices heard and meet their neighbors. Everyone should know who lives around them and enjoy their company.”

Guryakov handing out gluesticks to parent Vanessa Eichler.

While setting up crafts for kids and tabling at booths, New Haven Rugby also had another agenda—to spread an infectious love of rugby to young people present.

“I mean, they say it's one of the fastest growing sports in the world,” Guryakov said. “In America, it's a little bit tougher because you're dominated by [the] NFL and other sports, but we're just doing our part to spread rugby around.”

Guryakov added that the neighborhood day helped highlight resources in the Dixwell neighborhood that people sometimes “just don’t hear about it.”

“It's a good way to utilize all the resources that we have around here," he said. "You know, New Haven Reads, Cornell Scott [Hill] Health Center … [this is] a way to put them all together in one space and have the community use them.”

Tracey and Michael Massey.

At a tent labeled with the words “Everything is Art,” kids filled the tables to capacity, painting worlds, throwing glitter on coloring sheets, and trying their hands at new canvases. The booth is the brainchild of Tracey and Micheal Massey, artists who started the business back in 2021 and celebrated its two-year anniversary on June 15.

“Over 40 years ago, I grew up in the same community that introduced art to me and dance and theater,” Tracey Massey said. “And at the age of 51, I'm back in the communities giving it back to our children, to give them their creativity that they need to keep them inspired and keep the generation growing with the artistic skills that they have.”

For Massey, art has been a way to heal internally from life situations and improve her own mental health and the mental health of others around her. She said she sees the need to teach kids emotional regulation and coping skills through artmaking.

Massey placed a large emphasis on the importance of art therapy, saying that it’s “close, near, and dear to my heart” and that “We see a lot of sip and paint, but I see a bigger need [for art therapy].”

Ariana, a rising third grader at ACES Wintergreen Interdistrict Magnet School.

“As an artist, I like to lay on the floor. I like to sit on the floor. Sometimes I want to feel the earth and sometimes we have to give choices in the way we create our art,” she said. “Some may want to sit, some may want to lay, some may want to stand, so I want to be able to give them the choices to make all their ideas and creativity come to life.”

Seven-year-old Ariana practiced that mantra as she gravitated toward a small easel while standing. While she didn’t know what she was painting at first, she said, she let her thoughts flow. The process took her away; she spread brown paint onto the canvas beneath her bright blue sky, a stark contrast to the overcast, rain-filled grey clouds above her.

On the field, Vanessa Eichler stood tentatively as organizers went over raffle tickets. When her ticket number was called, her son Imari Blake dashed to the stage, retrieving the red bag full of goodies and returning back to his mom. Both seemed delighted by the surprise.

Top: Vanessa Eichler with kids Zuri and Imari Blake.

For Eichler, the festival was a way to unwind and destress. Despite two afternoon downpours, she noted that at times, kids “danced in the rain.”

The giveaway bag wasn't all that she secured. By the end of the day, Imari was outfitted with a book bag filled with pencil pouches, folders, notebooks and glue. As Guryakov added a handful of glue sticks, she added them to the bag plump with supplies and headed out, with Imari roaring behind her.

Amidst the volunteers were longtime friends Jocye Sawyer and Fred Christmas, who grew up on Ashmun Street. Sawyer said she felt compelled to join in on the efforts because community members had done the same for her when she was young. She described the event as “beautiful,” noting that she wanted to replicate the collaborative spirit she felt while growing up.

“Back then, it was really really nice. Really nice,” she said. “We interacted with each other, there was no gun shootings ….We got along with each other.”

Joyce Sawyer and Fred Christmas.

Sawyer pointed to gun violence as devastating to the community. For her, she wants to see youth redirected away from violence by community initiatives.

“These young people need to start focusing on life,” she said. “What you're here for, what are you on this earth for? What's your purpose? If they know what their purpose was not to kill—God did not make us to kill each other. The purpose is to help each other out. Give out love. That's why he made each and every one of us no matter what color we are.”

She mentioned that events like the community management team’s are “really encouraging” because they allow kids to be themselves and look up to adults to see how they can continue the cycle of caring.

“I thank everyone for being here for these children,” she said looking at the line of kids grabbing their new supplies. “Things have changed so much since the pandemic and this [communal connection] is really, really nice.”

Abiba Biao is a graduate of the Arts Council's Youth Arts Journalism Initiative and has stayed on with the Arts Paper as a freelance writer and photographer. She is currently a rising sophomore at Southern Connecticut State University (SCSU).