Hartford schools meet myriad needs
Milner Market, partnerships help with food, uniforms, child care, martial arts, mindfulness
Upon coming back from spring break, Doris Smith’s first call was to a family displaced following a fire at their home.
Thankfully, nobody was hurt, the family told Smith, who is family and community support service provider at Hartford’s Thirman L. Milner Middle School. The family was stable on food and other essentials. But the children’s school uniforms were lost.
Milner officials were able to replace the uniforms through Milner Market, a newly opened food pantry located within the middle school that provides food assistance and other essential goods to families. It’s the latest development in the longstanding relationship between Milner and Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Hartford, which provides afterschool programs and a wide array of wrap-around supports to the school community.
“We all come together. Families will tell us what they need, and we’ll take it to them,” Smith said.
Milner Market, which had its grand opening on April 6, is one of four pantries of its kind that have opened across Hartford schools since the beginning of the pandemic amid heightened need for goods and services among low-income communities. Parents and caregivers can shop for food supplies, from nonperishables to frozen meats, as well as other essentials, such as cleaning supplies and hygiene products.
“I never want to hear a child or family say, ‘I don’t have...’” said Leanardo Watson, principal at Milner. He said he’s always looking for ways to supplement what’s accounted for in the budget, adding: “Money only goes so far.”
The market is made possible by a $500,000 grant from Cigna Corp. as part of the Bloomfield-based company’s global Healthier Kids For Our Future initiative, which aims at reducing food insecurity in high-need areas.
About 1 in 7 children in Connecticut faces food insecurity, according to Connecticut Foodshare, a regional food bank. Communities of color were hit hardest following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, which disrupted job security and supply chains.
Though some progress has been made at curbing Hartford’s “food desert” status, the census tract surrounding Milner Middle
School is one of two within the capital city in which a significant number of residents live more than one mile away from a supermarket, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
In the first year of the grant, Milner tapped Catholic Charities to coordinate Cigna’s “Full Cart” program, which delivered meal boxes straight to homes.
Milner used the grant award to sponsor mindfulness training among school staff, which will be complete by the end of the year. The school also created a training class for parents and caregivers called “Healthy Bodega,” which teaches community members how to shop for healthy, nutritious food at their nearby grocery store.
Milner Market’s name was intentional, said Sahar A. Hakim, Catholic Charities’ community school director. Organizers want to give families the impression that it’s no different from any other grocery store, and avoid the stigmas unfortunately attached to food pantries and similar sites.
Similarly, the shopping process is structured to maximize discretion. Family members pick up their supplies in the back of the school, and only one family is allowed in the market at a time during shopping hours. It’s a shame-free zone, but they let the families be in control of their own narratives.
As in the case of the family displaced by the residential fire, the market is already making a difference.
“There have been times when I ran out of food or personal hygiene products, and I was so happy that the Milner Market existed,” one parent wrote in an email. “I want to say thank you for the help and hope that this continues to help more people like me.”
Milner is what’s known as a “community school” — a model that uses a lead outside agency to provide much-needed supports without depending on fulltime staff employed by the district. The model hinges on four components: family engagement, collaborative leadership and practices, student support, and extended learning opportunities.
It’s essentially an extension of the school day, Hakim said: “Extended services, extended hours, extended partnerships.”
Beyond Catholic Charities, Milner also has partnerships with The Village,
a youth mental health organization, and Hartford Knights, a local youth organization.
“We’re engaging several stakeholders, all at the same time, to coordinate services to remove barriers for students as well as families,” said Nuchette Blackburke, the district’s chief outreach, community partnerships and family engagement officer.
Hartford Public Schools has been using the community school model for “about 14 years,” according to Black-burke. Participation has grown from just seven schools with embedded partners to include all 39
within the district, which fall along four different tiers depending on need.
Milner is a tier four school — the highest tier — as identified by the state Department of Education’s accountability index, which indicates the highest need and most services.
Catholic Charities is embedded into the building, with staff on site. The organization runs daily afterschool programs until 6 p.m. each evening, with transportation provided. Students can participate in sports, mentorship opportunities or participate in a wide variety of activities like barber shop lessons and
martial arts.
Alexx Dennis, Catholic Charities program coordinator at Milner, is fond of the cooking class — on which he serves as a taste-tester.
“Yeah, I run the program, but I’m also getting to see the kids progress,” Dennis said.
“How can we come together to provide all the different types of services a student may need? It goes beyond academics . ... It’s focused on the whole child,” Watson said.