North/Oak NRZ Turkey Drive Helps Families At Thanksgiving

Group Holds Meeting To “Re-Brand” For 2023 Organizing

Staff Reports

NEW BRITAIN – Resident leaders of the North/Oak Neighborhood Revitalization Zone (NRZ) held a “rebranding” meeting on November 17th at the Howey House on North Street to plan outreach activities that will engage more neighbors in 2023.

Led by NRZ President Manny Sandoval, participants discussed organizing a round table community forum at Smalley School next February that will involve partner agencies and organizations and development of a mural project for displays of public art in the North and Oak Street area. Concerns were shared about access to food pantries via mobile vans or church-based sites for any residents in need. Ahead of Thanksgiving the the NRZ conducted a giveaway of donated turkeys on a first come, first serve basis.

The North/Oak NRZ regularly organizes neighborhood clean ups and partners with the New Britain Police and Fire Department representatives about public safety issues. It also collaborates with with other organizations and institutions on neighborhood issues, including New Life II, the Friendship Center, the Center for Community Engagement and Social Research at CCSU, New Britain Racial Justice Coalition, Neighborhood Housing Services, New Britain Public Schools and the the Opportunities Industrialization Center (OIC) of New Britain.

CCSU’s Center for Community Engagement, for example, has teamed up with the Institute for the Study of Crime and Justice (ISCI) in an “Amplifying Neighborhood Voices” project surveying North/Oak residents on public safety issues. CCSU students are engaged in clean up days in the North-Oak area to promote a sustainable environment. Last August the New Britain Racial Justice Coalition (NBRJC) sponsored a “Back To School Fest” providing school supplies and necessities to 300 individuals and families, In October NBRJC organized a Halloween Party for children at Willow Street Park.

Three Neighborhood Revitalization Zones (NRZs) — North/Oak, Arch Street and the East Side — are recognized under the aegis of the city and were created under a state law enacted in 1995 to revitalize neighborhoods through the collaborative involvement of residents, businesses and government to determine the vision and priorities of the individual neighborhoods.