August 6, 2024 • 10 mins
We spoke with Mary Young, Program Director and Treasurer of the Upper Albany Neighborhood Collaborative, about the organization's mission to empower the residents of Upper Albany through the establishment of block clubs, job initiatives, educational programs, youth council and initiatives and economic development.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Community Access. This is Meredith KROPPK. Today I have with
me Mary Young, who represents the Upper Albany Neighborhood Collaborative
out of Hartford. Welcome, Mary, thanks for being here. Tell
us a little bit about what you do well.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
We have been around since nineteen ninety.
Speaker 3 (00:17):
We were part of the a Ford Foundation research project
that they did in the nineteen nineties where there were
four locations picked for promise zones and.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
Upper Albany was one of them. So we got.
Speaker 3 (00:31):
Started that way through this Ford Foundation grant and the
study was for ten years and it was taking a
neighborhood and then building it up with the local government.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
And it worked. It worked very well.
Speaker 3 (00:44):
But ten years came and left, and the funding came
and left, as it often does, but the board never dissembled.
It just turned into a volunteer organization. And so that's
what we've been all the time. We are deeply seated
in Upper Albany. We are there for the residents. We
(01:07):
do things all through the year where we sometimes hold classes.
Speaker 2 (01:11):
There are just so many things that we have done.
Speaker 3 (01:14):
What kind of classes, well, we've done financial literacy. They're
targeted normally for the seniors because the financial literacy sometimes
as a senior gets older, the skills for.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
The computer phones.
Speaker 3 (01:28):
Those are things that senior citizens really need to grasp
and I've been the teacher of those and it's wonderful.
Speaker 2 (01:36):
It's wonderful. How big are your classes? Usually about six people?
How often we group?
Speaker 3 (01:43):
Well, the classes are about a six week class. But
we have not resumed them since the pandemic. We will be,
I mean, that is something we are thinking about getting
back to. But we do taxes year round. We are
one of the top VITA sites for this area. Vita
Sights that is an IRS program for doing taxes for
(02:06):
free for individuals that are of a certain income.
Speaker 2 (02:11):
But you know, we do a lot.
Speaker 3 (02:14):
But I'd rather be out there with the folks getting
them ready, checking their stuff and making sure that tax
preparers have everything they need. I am the first person
you get to see, so I want to make a
good impression.
Speaker 1 (02:26):
Thank god, you look great.
Speaker 3 (02:28):
Tax season takes us usually from January to April, and
then from May and June.
Speaker 2 (02:34):
We actually get a little break.
Speaker 3 (02:37):
We start gearing up in September, bringing up our young
people to be entrepreneurs and stuff like that.
Speaker 2 (02:44):
Sancheray Cicero, an amazing woman.
Speaker 3 (02:47):
We team up with her organization to do an annual
book bag book drive what you Need to Get for
School that will be coming up in August after National
Night Out, and then September we start gearing for the
holidays so that we have We do gift certificates for
Christmas to the community who sign up. We also do
(03:12):
Thanksgiving Turkey giveaway where we get food from food Share
and through an organization and we make sure we give
them out to the community. So those are the things
that we do on that end. But then the other
part of us is we are the fiduciary for about
twenty four youth programs throughout Hartford and some neighboring towns
(03:34):
as well as we're the fiduciary for I would say
events that come up that you know need some funding, and.
Speaker 2 (03:41):
We also do that.
Speaker 3 (03:43):
And this year we did about nineteen events where we
were able to assist in having that event get off
the ground or if they had a problem. You know,
we may not be all of the funding, but we
are an important part of the funding. But it's it's
wonderful because there have been so many programs that we
(04:03):
have been able to get involved in and make.
Speaker 2 (04:06):
Sure that prosper that it's like a liquid drug.
Speaker 3 (04:10):
I could do it every day, all day, which is
one of the things that Marry.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
I tell you.
Speaker 3 (04:18):
You want to know how to make yourself feel really happy,
and I do you actually help somebody else. I've been
involved in the organ I would say about twenty two.
Speaker 1 (04:28):
Years and you're only twenty five, so you started young.
Speaker 3 (04:35):
I wish I could agree with that one, but I
I started. I was introduced by Upper Albaney Neighborhood Collaborative
by Patricia Williams, who used to be I should say
the late Patricia Williams, who used to be the Deputy
manager of Hartford and Upper Albany. Was something she was
heavily involved with and in her retirement, ended up being
(04:56):
one of her focal points.
Speaker 1 (04:58):
Patricia was a special person.
Speaker 2 (05:00):
All I can say is to Hartford she was an angel.
She she was a go getter.
Speaker 3 (05:06):
She could get things done, and she believed in community
and education and through her vision of that we all
you know, formed ours.
Speaker 2 (05:16):
But she's with us, She's.
Speaker 3 (05:18):
Watching us and making sure that we are guiding things
the right way.
Speaker 2 (05:22):
She was the head.
Speaker 3 (05:24):
She she was, she was humble, yeah, probably a little
humbler than I. But she was humble and you know,
you would have never known it. Yeah, she was amazing.
Speaker 2 (05:34):
She got things she did. Let's talk about the award.
I know that came out of the blue. Pet I
had to ask her. I said, you sure, you mean me?
Speaker 3 (05:45):
But yeah, I was awarded the W. E. B. Du
Bois Talented Tenth Award from the gala was the Martin
Luther King Gala for Learning and Literacy that happened on
June twenty second of this year. This award is important
and I just want to read what this award stands for.
The concept of the Talented tenth Award was used to
(06:08):
incorporate the idea that those people in institutions that have
been afforded with abundant opportunities and access are responsible to
give back to worthy causes as a conscientious action toward
bettering the human condition. So you can imagine why I
was flabbergasted. But there were three awards given out that night,
(06:29):
one for educational innovation and justice. There's a Harry Belafonte
Award that's given out for activist work, and then there
is the Talented tenth Award, and all three people that
received the award were absolutely amazing. I mean I felt
like I was sitting with royalty and I just want
(06:51):
to mention that one of them was Miss Losandro Samuels okay,
and she is with the New Britain Youth Football and
Cheer okay. And the other one was she Shelley L. Carter,
and she is a trailblazer leading in the fire service.
I'll read this because I would not want to do
her not the Justice Chief. Carter is one of the
small number of black female officers in Connecticut, with less
(07:14):
than two percent firefighters being African American. She's also a
pioneer in her own right, being the first African American
female instructure hired at the Connecticut State Fire Academy and
first black female captain in suppression of the Hartford Fire Department.
Speaker 1 (07:29):
So you have a really important event coming up, can
you tell us a little bit about it?
Speaker 3 (07:34):
On August sixth, from five to eight pm, there is
the Hartford, a national Night Out of which we are
a part. This is a festival that's been going on
taking the community in.
Speaker 2 (07:48):
A night off of crime. It's national, It's all over
the country.
Speaker 3 (07:52):
It's always on the first Tuesday of the month, and
this year it's going to be in Kinney Park.
Speaker 2 (07:58):
For North Hartford and South Harford it'll be at Goodwin Park.
Speaker 3 (08:02):
So we are always looking for volunteers when we have
things that come up, h you know, events that come
up where we need volunteers.
Speaker 2 (08:12):
We I'm in.
Speaker 3 (08:14):
I'm calling you. But it's a great organization, like a family.
There are just a few of us. I would be
remiss if I didn't mention Dorothy Biggs. She's our office
manager and she is the lifeline of the organization. Everyone
knows her, she has been there forever in the day.
(08:37):
She's the most humble, sweetest person I have ever met.
She's smart, excites yeah, yeah, oh correction, she's uh, she's
a real community person, you know. Then there's Irma Davis.
She works in the office with us when when we
have things going on, and she's associated with the North
(08:58):
United Methodist Church and she is she's a gem. And
then there's Naomi McCoy. She has been with Upper Albany
for about as long as you know Pat and Miss
Dot and probably was one of the original folks there.
And she totally organizes the tax program and make sure
it runs smoothly, and you know, does a lot of
(09:21):
things with the other tax sites that she also manages
to so she's in a very integral part of the
tax program. But I do want to mention that in
twenty twenty two Upper Albany we received the Community Service
Award from the United Way and that is the largest award,
I mean, the most prestigious award that you can receive
(09:42):
for an organization. And keep in mind we're a volunteer organization.
We don't have paid staff.
Speaker 1 (09:48):
Thank you so much, Mary for being with me today
and for everything you do. You can learn more about
the Upper Albany Neighborhood Collaborative at UA n C Hartford
dot or word give her a visit, all right,
Community Access. This is Meredith KROPPK. Today I have with
me Mary Young, who represents the Upper Albany Neighborhood Collaborative
out of Hartford. Welcome, Mary, thanks for being here. Tell
us a little bit about what you do well.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
We have been around since nineteen ninety.
Speaker 3 (00:17):
We were part of the a Ford Foundation research project
that they did in the nineteen nineties where there were
four locations picked for promise zones and.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
Upper Albany was one of them. So we got.
Speaker 3 (00:31):
Started that way through this Ford Foundation grant and the
study was for ten years and it was taking a
neighborhood and then building it up with the local government.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
And it worked. It worked very well.
Speaker 3 (00:44):
But ten years came and left, and the funding came
and left, as it often does, but the board never dissembled.
It just turned into a volunteer organization. And so that's
what we've been all the time. We are deeply seated
in Upper Albany. We are there for the residents. We
(01:07):
do things all through the year where we sometimes hold classes.
Speaker 2 (01:11):
There are just so many things that we have done.
Speaker 3 (01:14):
What kind of classes, well, we've done financial literacy. They're
targeted normally for the seniors because the financial literacy sometimes
as a senior gets older, the skills for.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
The computer phones.
Speaker 3 (01:28):
Those are things that senior citizens really need to grasp
and I've been the teacher of those and it's wonderful.
Speaker 2 (01:36):
It's wonderful. How big are your classes? Usually about six people?
How often we group?
Speaker 3 (01:43):
Well, the classes are about a six week class. But
we have not resumed them since the pandemic. We will be,
I mean, that is something we are thinking about getting
back to. But we do taxes year round. We are
one of the top VITA sites for this area. Vita
Sights that is an IRS program for doing taxes for
(02:06):
free for individuals that are of a certain income.
Speaker 2 (02:11):
But you know, we do a lot.
Speaker 3 (02:14):
But I'd rather be out there with the folks getting
them ready, checking their stuff and making sure that tax
preparers have everything they need. I am the first person
you get to see, so I want to make a
good impression.
Speaker 1 (02:26):
Thank god, you look great.
Speaker 3 (02:28):
Tax season takes us usually from January to April, and
then from May and June.
Speaker 2 (02:34):
We actually get a little break.
Speaker 3 (02:37):
We start gearing up in September, bringing up our young
people to be entrepreneurs and stuff like that.
Speaker 2 (02:44):
Sancheray Cicero, an amazing woman.
Speaker 3 (02:47):
We team up with her organization to do an annual
book bag book drive what you Need to Get for
School that will be coming up in August after National
Night Out, and then September we start gearing for the
holidays so that we have We do gift certificates for
Christmas to the community who sign up. We also do
(03:12):
Thanksgiving Turkey giveaway where we get food from food Share
and through an organization and we make sure we give
them out to the community. So those are the things
that we do on that end. But then the other
part of us is we are the fiduciary for about
twenty four youth programs throughout Hartford and some neighboring towns
(03:34):
as well as we're the fiduciary for I would say
events that come up that you know need some funding, and.
Speaker 2 (03:41):
We also do that.
Speaker 3 (03:43):
And this year we did about nineteen events where we
were able to assist in having that event get off
the ground or if they had a problem. You know,
we may not be all of the funding, but we
are an important part of the funding. But it's it's
wonderful because there have been so many programs that we
(04:03):
have been able to get involved in and make.
Speaker 2 (04:06):
Sure that prosper that it's like a liquid drug.
Speaker 3 (04:10):
I could do it every day, all day, which is
one of the things that Marry.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
I tell you.
Speaker 3 (04:18):
You want to know how to make yourself feel really happy,
and I do you actually help somebody else. I've been
involved in the organ I would say about twenty two.
Speaker 1 (04:28):
Years and you're only twenty five, so you started young.
Speaker 3 (04:35):
I wish I could agree with that one, but I
I started. I was introduced by Upper Albaney Neighborhood Collaborative
by Patricia Williams, who used to be I should say
the late Patricia Williams, who used to be the Deputy
manager of Hartford and Upper Albany. Was something she was
heavily involved with and in her retirement, ended up being
(04:56):
one of her focal points.
Speaker 1 (04:58):
Patricia was a special person.
Speaker 2 (05:00):
All I can say is to Hartford she was an angel.
She she was a go getter.
Speaker 3 (05:06):
She could get things done, and she believed in community
and education and through her vision of that we all
you know, formed ours.
Speaker 2 (05:16):
But she's with us, She's.
Speaker 3 (05:18):
Watching us and making sure that we are guiding things
the right way.
Speaker 2 (05:22):
She was the head.
Speaker 3 (05:24):
She she was, she was humble, yeah, probably a little
humbler than I. But she was humble and you know,
you would have never known it. Yeah, she was amazing.
Speaker 2 (05:34):
She got things she did. Let's talk about the award.
I know that came out of the blue. Pet I
had to ask her. I said, you sure, you mean me?
Speaker 3 (05:45):
But yeah, I was awarded the W. E. B. Du
Bois Talented Tenth Award from the gala was the Martin
Luther King Gala for Learning and Literacy that happened on
June twenty second of this year. This award is important
and I just want to read what this award stands for.
The concept of the Talented tenth Award was used to
(06:08):
incorporate the idea that those people in institutions that have
been afforded with abundant opportunities and access are responsible to
give back to worthy causes as a conscientious action toward
bettering the human condition. So you can imagine why I
was flabbergasted. But there were three awards given out that night,
(06:29):
one for educational innovation and justice. There's a Harry Belafonte
Award that's given out for activist work, and then there
is the Talented tenth Award, and all three people that
received the award were absolutely amazing. I mean I felt
like I was sitting with royalty and I just want
(06:51):
to mention that one of them was Miss Losandro Samuels okay,
and she is with the New Britain Youth Football and
Cheer okay. And the other one was she Shelley L. Carter,
and she is a trailblazer leading in the fire service.
I'll read this because I would not want to do
her not the Justice Chief. Carter is one of the
small number of black female officers in Connecticut, with less
(07:14):
than two percent firefighters being African American. She's also a
pioneer in her own right, being the first African American
female instructure hired at the Connecticut State Fire Academy and
first black female captain in suppression of the Hartford Fire Department.
Speaker 1 (07:29):
So you have a really important event coming up, can
you tell us a little bit about it?
Speaker 3 (07:34):
On August sixth, from five to eight pm, there is
the Hartford, a national Night Out of which we are
a part. This is a festival that's been going on
taking the community in.
Speaker 2 (07:48):
A night off of crime. It's national, It's all over
the country.
Speaker 3 (07:52):
It's always on the first Tuesday of the month, and
this year it's going to be in Kinney Park.
Speaker 2 (07:58):
For North Hartford and South Harford it'll be at Goodwin Park.
Speaker 3 (08:02):
So we are always looking for volunteers when we have
things that come up, h you know, events that come
up where we need volunteers.
Speaker 2 (08:12):
We I'm in.
Speaker 3 (08:14):
I'm calling you. But it's a great organization, like a family.
There are just a few of us. I would be
remiss if I didn't mention Dorothy Biggs. She's our office
manager and she is the lifeline of the organization. Everyone
knows her, she has been there forever in the day.
(08:37):
She's the most humble, sweetest person I have ever met.
She's smart, excites yeah, yeah, oh correction, she's uh, she's
a real community person, you know. Then there's Irma Davis.
She works in the office with us when when we
have things going on, and she's associated with the North
(08:58):
United Methodist Church and she is she's a gem. And
then there's Naomi McCoy. She has been with Upper Albany
for about as long as you know Pat and Miss
Dot and probably was one of the original folks there.
And she totally organizes the tax program and make sure
it runs smoothly, and you know, does a lot of
(09:21):
things with the other tax sites that she also manages
to so she's in a very integral part of the
tax program. But I do want to mention that in
twenty twenty two Upper Albany we received the Community Service
Award from the United Way and that is the largest award,
I mean, the most prestigious award that you can receive
(09:42):
for an organization. And keep in mind we're a volunteer organization.
We don't have paid staff.
Speaker 1 (09:48):
Thank you so much, Mary for being with me today
and for everything you do. You can learn more about
the Upper Albany Neighborhood Collaborative at UA n C Hartford
dot or word give her a visit, all right,
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