Lots going on this week (weather permitting)

CNNA meets at 7 p.m. Monday, Feb. 23

The monthly meeting of the Coalition of Norwalk Neighborhood Associations (CNNA) is scheduled for 7 p.m. Monday, Feb. 23, at at Norwalk City Hall 1st Floor Lounge.

Agenda items include:

Continued discussion on Land Use/Planning in Norwalk, including public outreach
2015 priorities and committees
Discussion on position statements for current issues

The CNNA seeks to provide a common voice on larger Norwalk issues by providing information to members on important issues, meetings and events and to solicit fair and equal participation of neighborhood association and residents.

Member associations are encouraged to attend, and all Norwalk residents are always welcomed. For more information see the website.

Public meeting to discuss work Walk Bridge set for Tuesday

There will be a public scoping/informational meeting concerning the replacement of the subject bridge. At 7 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 24, at Norwalk City Hall’s Community Room.

Members of the public, local officials, organizations, commuters and citizens who may have an interest in this improvement may attend.

Scoping is an early and open process for the public and agencies to provide input on the project’s purpose and need, the alternatives under consideration, and areas of key environmental concern. To learn more about the project visit the project website.

NCC to host public forum on hazard mitigation plan

In an effort to proactively identify hazards and vulnerabilities and the steps that can be taken to reduce these risks, Connecticut State Colleges & Universities (ConnSCU) recently began to develop a Multi-Campus Hazard Mitigation Plan.

The purpose, according to a press release, is to assist the campuses in identifying and reducing risks from natural hazards, identify actions that can be taken to prevent damage to property and loss of life, and prioritize funding for mitigation efforts.

The Hazard Mitigation Plan will describe each campus’ vulnerability to the various natural hazards that are typically present, along with an array of actions and projects that can be undertaken to reduce key risks. While natural disasters cannot be prevented from occurring, the continued implementation of mitigation strategies identified in the plan will make ConnSCU campuses more sustainable and disaster-resilient.

Officials at Norwalk Community College plan a public forum from 4 to 5 p.m. Feb. 25 in Room E-212 (East Campus building) to discuss the plan’s development, describe the work completed to date, and highlight some of the hazards that could present the greatest risks to campus operations.

This meeting is designed as an open house where students, faculty, staff and members of neighboring communities are invited to attend the forum to gather information and provide feedback.

This project is being funded by a grant allocated by the Connecticut Department of Emergency Management and Homeland Security and funded by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

For more information, call (203) 857-7286 or email bsmith@norwalk.edu.

Maritime Aquarium plans open house for teachers

Educators are invited to a free after-hours open house from 4 to 7 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 25, to learn how The Maritime Aquarium at Norwalk’s programs and resources – including its new research vessel – will enhance lessons to their students.

The event, called “Fish School,” is to show teachers the many ways they can connect their students and curricula with the Aquarium’s unique educational programs, which help to fulfill state, Common Core and Next Generation Science standards.

“Our goal is for the Aquarium to be an extension of every classroom in Norwalk, and in the entire region,” said Tom Naiman, the Aquarium’s director of education, in a prepared announcement. “We consider teachers and students to be our priority audience, and our catalog of brand-new programs is designed to support and extend the school curriculum.”

The research vessel Spirit of the Sound, a $2.7 million, 63-foot catamaran, is equipped with a larger touch tank and larger classroom space than the previous vessel, a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) for viewing the sea floor and microscopes connected to a large TV monitor, and other assets for teaching marine science out on Long Island Sound. R/V Spirit of the Sound’s initial outings – for school groups and the public – begin in May with the Aquarium’s 2015 season of Marine Life Study Cruises.

“Fish School” also gives Maritime Aquarium educators the opportunity to demonstrate some of the Norwalk attraction’s most popular educational programs, from microscope discoveries to squid dissections.

IMAX movies can be incorporated into classroom lessons through educational guides created by the films’ producers. On Feb. 25, teachers can preview two opportunities in free screenings in Connecticut’s largest IMAX Theater. Showing on the six-story screen will be “Island of Lemurs: Madagascar” at 6 p.m. and “Humpback Whales” at 7 p.m.

Admission, a light dinner and parking are all free for “Fish School.” However, space is limited and advance registration is required. (As this is a professional event for educators only, no children or spouses, please.)

Reminder: Mayor’s Night Out returns Wednesday at City Hall

Mayor Harry Rilling will host his first Mayor’s Night Out of 2015 from 7 to 8:30 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 25, in the Community Room at Norwalk City Hall. As always, department heads and elected officials are invited. The mayor invites Norwalk residents for their comments and input on city services.

Cost-saving information available to Norwalk senior citizens

Norwalk senior citizens will receive a brochure in the mail highlighting cost-saving local, federal and state programs for them in areas such as health care, prescription coverage, energy assistance and tax relief.

The brochure was published by the city in cooperation with the Senior Umbrella, Norwalk Senior Center, and the Mayor’s Energy and Environment Task Force. It was printed and mailed to Norwalk seniors through the generosity of the Energy Efficiency Fund at no cost to taxpayers.

Mayor Harry Rilling urged seniors to read the brochure.

“Please take a look at this brochure, which is designed to highlight programs that address some of the expenses seniors face,” he said in a press release. “I want to call your attention to the new senior tax relief guidelines passed by the Council last fall, in particular. They increase the income range by $5,000 so that more people will be eligible – and they raise the benefit by 10 percent. The impact on taxpayers is minimal. There is a great deal of other information here, and I hope it will be helpful to you and your loved ones.”

Norwalk Sister City Project awarded grant

Children in Nagarote, Nicaragua, and their families will be enjoying healthier diets this year, thanks to a $12,000 grant awarded to the Norwalk Nagarote Sister City Project, (N/NSCP) for the Healthy Children Program by the International Foundation in December.

According to a press release, the program includes a series of five two-hour nutrition workshops for N/NSCP’s 14 teachers, nine college interns and a cooking teacher. The teachers and college interns will then share the information with children and parents in the town’s preschool and those participating in the group’s two afterschool programs.

The teacher, a chef at a Nagarote restaurant, will provide cooking classes for 200 of the project’s teens and their parents at the N/NSCP Community Center, and they will develop a cookbook of inexpensive, appealing and nutritious recipes featuring fresh produce which will be distributed to Project families.

In addition, 20 families will receive instruction and supplies to plant and cultivate kitchen gardens so they can grow their own produce.

The project will culminate in a banquet for 200 participants using fresh vegetables grown on the N/NSCP farm and kitchen gardens — using recipes from the cookbook.

The Healthy Children Program was designed to address the issue of malnutrition in Nagarote. According the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, 19 percent of Nicaraguans suffer from malnutrition. The children enrolled in N/NSCP programs are all from low income families and most fall into that 19 percent category. Their diets are often limited to rice and beans with few fresh vegetables or fruit.

Now it ins 29^th year, the project works with more than 400 severely disadvantaged children in Nagarote, offering an afterschool program for 178 teens in computers, English, sewing, art, theater and sports; supporting a preschool where enrollment has grown from 4 to 52; providing afterschool tutoring and enrichment to 98 children ages 6 to 11; affording scholarship for 82 students from first grade through college and creating a model sustainable farm as a laboratory for area farmers who want to adopt sustainable agriculture methods and a service learning opportunity for the project’s teens who take home produce they harvest to enrich their meager diets. Find more information on NNSCP’s website.