Alders, Neighbors, Yalies Clean Fair Haven

by Abiba Biao The New Haven independent

So long, trash.

With a swift motion of his trash picker, Fair Haven Alder Frankie Redente picked a metal hubcap up off the street and placed it on the sidewalk — as he amassed a new pile of litter to clear from the English Street Mall. 

The efforts, while seemingly small at first, led to the filling of 10 bags worth of trash, all as part of Redente’s efforts to show others just how beautiful his home neighborhood is. 

Redente and nine fellow cleanup volunteers did that work Saturday at Clinton Avenue and English Street. 

Participants included fellow Fair Haven Alder Sarah Miller, Downtown/ Yale Democratic alder nominee Elias Theodore, and affiliates with the nonprofit Flynn Project, among others. 

The cleanups, organized by Redente twice a month, are a way to uplift community spirit and beautify the neighborhood. For Redente, serving as alder is a ​“full circle” moment. With his grandmother moving to Fair Haven in 1953, three generations of his family have lived in the neighborhood.

“I made a living for the last 31 years on helping other people with their problems. It’s just natural now, you know?” he said about the twice-a-month cleanups. ​“This is how you rebuild a community; it’s by getting out here, being visible and showing that even the alder is not afraid to get his hands dirty.”

Redente highlighted the negative connotation surrounding Fair Haven, referencing a Yale police union memo in 2023 warning them about the dangers of New Haven. ​“One of the things I wanted to do was kind of break that bubble down between not just Yale and New Haven, but Yale and Fair Haven, because I represent one of the most beautiful wards in the city,” he said.

For Kyle Romans, a junior political science major at Yale, breaking out of the Yale bubble is one of his top goals this academic year. Encouraged by his professor James Hatch, lecturer at the Yale Jackson School of Global Affairs, Romans decided to come out to Fair Haven Saturday morning, noting that it was his first time doing volunteer work in the city. 

Mending broader community relations and debunking negative stereotypes around New Haven doesn’t just start at a macro, institutional level, he argued, but also begins at a micro level among Yale students. 

He described some of these efforts could look like improving information circulation of city news and events within the university and for students to interact with cultural spaces in the city. Romans has also taken his advice of ​“bringing my friends out” to heart, recounting an anecdote of visiting StretchMed in Wooster Square last Friday alongside a friend. He said that these small interpersonal efforts don’t have to be big and can gradually increase over time.

“We can’t just say ​‘Oh Yale doesn’t do this’ or ​‘The greater media doesn’t do this.’ For those of us that are actually taking that step out of New Haven, rather than just saying ​‘Oh, lets go get pizza at Yorkside,’ maybe, ​‘Lets go get pizza at a different restaurant.’ or you go to a cafe that’s maybe on Orange Street instead of, you know, right there next to Yale’s campus.”

Romans also mentioned how continuous stretches of not being involved can be a deterrent for students who may feel guilt over their late involvement. He encouraged students to explore the broader New Haven community, underlining that cultural awareness and competency only begins when people are willing to take the chance to learn.

“I think it’s really important for people to just realize that everybody starts from somewhere, and the most important step is the first one,” he said, ​“and it doesn’t matter whether you take that on your first day that you got to Yale, in your junior year, in your senior year, or what have you.”

For James Flynn, a longtime friend of Redente’s and the founder of The Flynn Project — Fair Haven Matters, community cleanups are part of a higher calling of civic engagement. A Fair Haven native, Flynn was incarcerated at 20 years old, and served a total of 32 years in prison, getting out in 2024. It was during this time that he experienced a period of self-introspection, guided by his faith in Islam and commitment to his neighborhood.

“When I was locked up, I was like ​‘You know what? I got to give back to my community,’” he said. ​“And I was like, ​‘Inshallah, [when] Allah lets me get out, I know what I’m gonna do: I’m gonna go back to my community and clean up the streets that I dirtied as a youth.’”

In October 2023, the Flynn Project was born. Flynn’s visions for the nonprofit include becoming a prominent community resource, gaining more involvement among high school students to earn volunteer hours, and expanding partnerships with other groups. Currently Flynn has done cleanups on behalf of the City Angels Baseball Team as well as partnering with Redente.

“It’s about helping people in the community, knowing that there’s people [around]: I see you, I here you, I’ll be there… I want it [people] to be like ​‘Hey, I heard about The Flynn Project.’ ”

Prior to starting The Flynn Project, Flynn was a library production associate for the nonprofit Freedom Reads, which works to expand book access to incarcerated individuals by establishing libraries in prisons nationwide. While Flynn is the sole person running the nonprofit and has no direct staff, he doesn’t do this work alone, getting ample help and collaborations with community members. He listed supporting figures behind his nonprofit, such as Reginald Dwayne Betts, CEO and founder Freedom Reads, who paid for the Flynn Project banner proudly displayed on the fence of Clinton Avenue park, as well as Hatch, who paid for t‑shirts and promotional material for the organization.

Flynn has no plans of slowing down, and is currently planning on cleaning Chatham Square Park or Dover Beach Park in the coming weeks. 

In the midst of picking up garbage Saturday, Theodore was silently taking notes on initiatives he could bring to Ward 1 if he’s elected in November. Currently, Theodore said he’s interested in beautification projects. He underlined how projects like cleanups can serve as avenues for social connectedness. 

“Observing what Frank is doing in Ward 15 and what other alders [are] doing in the city is definitely giving me ideas, but, I think my goal and how I will brainstorm is, like, what can I do as alder to bring as many people in?”

Theodore also highlighted how he wants his term to be involved with the community. He listed items such as building the committee infrastructure and co-chairs for Ward 1 and getting involved on boards and commissions as ways to achieve community engagement.

“I want to be an alder who asks things of my constituents. Like, ​‘Let’s brainstorm what public art could look like on the New Haven Green’ or ​‘I want to host an event this month. What do you think is a good idea?’”

Ward 1 Democratic alder nominee Elias Theodore.

Yalie Kyle Romans: Doing his part to break town-gown bubble.

The Flynn Project’s James Flynn.