NORWALK, Conn. — The Norwalk Community Services Committee approved over $1.4 million in funding agreements on Wednesday, June 18, authorizing Mayor Harry Rilling to finalize contracts expanding youth and senior services as well as mentoring small non-profits.
The approvals represent a coordinated effort to strengthen Norwalk’s community programs and organizations that provide services to the residents.
“We live in [a] community in Norwalk, and it’s important for us to make investments in things that better our lives,” said Council Chair Nicol Ayers over a phone call.
Among the approvals was a $35,000 state grant for mentoring teens involved in the Juvenile Review Board (JRB). The JRB is an alternative program to the criminal justice system, consisting of various community representatives who help reform Norwalk youths under 18 who have committed a misdemeanor and have no prior arrests. This program focuses on three tenets: personal responsibility, education, and prevention.
$95,520 was also approved by the committee for DCF Youth Service Bureau funding for victim support. This includes $12,992 that will help fund a “youth development program for middle school kids,” said David Walenczyk, the director of Youth Services, in the meeting. The program called Peer Connection is held during the school year and helps middle schoolers develop life, social, and leadership skills.
Additionally, the committee unanimously approved for Mayor Rilling to finalize a $200,000 agreement with the Mid-Fairfield Community Care Center to continue supporting the Latinx Integrated Care (LINC) Program from July 1, 2025, until June 30 of the following year. The LINC Program is designed to provide mental health services to new immigrant students and their families.
A new $30,000 program aimed at helping small non-profits with budgets of $1 million was also unanimously approved. The Nonprofit Capacity Accelerator Initiative will be designed, coordinated, and implemented by Norwalk resident, Chrissy Mahanna of Compass Consulting and Coaching. The program aims to help Norwalk nonprofits develop strategies to attract strong leadership and enhance fundraising efforts.
“As a social worker, I believe deeply in equity, so I think that this program aligns with that very well to elevate these nonprofit organizations and help them to illuminate their strengths and get them to the next level to do the great work that they’re doing in a different way,” said Mahanna in an address to the committee.
Mahanna comes with 20 years of experience, with half of it being in Norwalk, and has previously helped organizations with the goals laid out by Lamond Daniels, Norwalk’s Chief of Community Services. Mahanna plans to return before the committee during the middle and final stages to provide them and the community with updates.
The committee also approved for the Mayor to finalize plans to help senior citizens in Norwalk. This comes in the form of a $163,000 grant to Family and Children’s Agency to serve as the city’s municipal agent for the elderly. This role fulfills state law that requires “municipalities to support income-eligible residents aged 60 plus; provides benefits, navigation, information, referrals,” said Daniels. Some of these services include helping with Medicare, public assistance programs applications, such as Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), and language and technological barriers.
The Norwalk Senior Center will also be awarded $400,000, up from $390,000 last year, for its operational budget to provide services to the city’s elderly community.
In early childhood education, the Connecticut Institute for Communities, INC. (CIFC) will also receive $500,000 a year until June 30, 2028, to provide Head Start and Early Head Start programs for Norwalk. This grant also fulfils a match required by the federal government.
“So many of the actions and the programs and the partnerships that come through the Community Service Committee are those things to bring value to the lives of citizens,” said Council Chair Ayers. “So it’s important, because we don’t live on an island by ourselves, to establish and give support where the city can to those partners that help us make Norwalk better.”
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