AHNA New and Views for December 2021

December 2021

Greetings!

Your copy of the Asylum Hill Neighborhood Association 'News & Views' has arrived! You will find that you can easily go to any subject in the table of contents by just clicking on it or just browse through the articles as you wish. Please have a look.

Next Meeting

The next meeting is Monday December 6th at 6:15 PM. The meeting will be held utilizing Zoom software.

The Zoom e link for that meeting will be:

Zoom link

Dial-in Phone#: 1 646 558 8656

Meeting ID: 452 191 5370 Passcode: 897273

Agenda

Annual Meeting Minutes

From The Executive Director

David MacDonald

AHNA is very thankful this year

for all who volunteered

to help Asylum Hill

2021 has been a challenging year, but we are thankful to be seeing the beginning of a return to “normal.” Since this edition falls between the major holidays of Thanksgiving and all the year-end celebrations that include Christmas, Kwanzaa, Chanukah, and New Year's to name a few, it seems fitting that my column highlights events that inspire gratitude and hope for the future. We are thankful for all the great volunteers in Asylum Hill who still came out despite COVID to make 2021 a very successful year.

From The House

Our Children's Mental Health Must Be A Priority

By Rep. Matt Ritter

One of the many things we have learned during the COVID-19 pandemic is that our children's mental health has greatly suffered as remote learning and limited socialization exposed the fragile nature of childhood development.

Exploring Asylum Hill - Hartford Public Access TV

By Bernie Michel

Hartford Public Access Television has been at Veeder Place in Asylum Hill for more than 20 years, so when AHNA hosted their Community Partners Appreciation Breakfast November 17^th it was great to have Gil Martinez, their Executive Director attending. It didn’t take long for Gil and I to find synergies between their communication efforts in Hartford and AHNA’s efforts in Asylum Hill. The photo above shows just some of the progress that has been made by them in the seven years since Gil arrived.

Asylum Hill Then And Now

224 EcoSpace

Volunteer Of The Month - AHNA’s Strategic Plan Effort

In January of this year, AHNA began the effort to update the Asylum Hill Strategic Plan. The existing one was approved 11 years ago, in 2009. That plan required more that 15 months of meetings and the assistance of Aetna and Reid & Reige attorney Robert Reichert, and when it was completed it did not include an action plan.

Things To Be Thankful For

by Bernie Michel

Every article in this month’s edition is a reason to be grateful, but it is far from an exhaustive list. Here are just a few more, and many are items in our Strategic Plan.

This year we had our first harvest of pears from the Caritas Pear Orchard near Niles Community Garden. It was truly rewarding to see how well the trees are doing and the bounty of pears after only two years.

Fall Leaf Collection for Hartford

The City of Hartford Fall Leaf Collection Program is designed to allow residents to dispose of fallen leaves prior to the first heavy snowfall. During the Program, residents are asked to identify the disposal options that work best for their household as listed on the website and follow the zone schedule for curbside collection.