Abiba Biao Photos. Dormon is pictured at the top.
Beneath the overcast sky, Candice Dormon readied her stance, holding wooden batons in the air. While she usually instructs adult dance classes as the owner of Ekow Body Skincare and Wellness, this time she was tasked with leading a group of little ones. As if she was bringing the sunshine with her, the rain held off, her young students slowly turning Edgewood Avenue into a dance party.
Through hula hooping, bracelet-making, face painting, and dancing, not a single drop of rain fell last Saturday at the annual Edgewood Youth Day Block party, held on Edgewood Avenue between Winthrop and Sherman Avenues. As in years past, the event was organized by Dwight Alder Frank Douglass Jr., New Haven Board of Alders President Tyisha Walker-Myers, and Edgewood Alder Evette Hamilton, with support from a number of community partners like Possible Futures, the Greater Dwight Development Corporation, and the Greater New Haven NAACP among many others.
It also marked the fourth annual Maternal Health Hub, a collaboration with Golden Radiance Village that included resources for birthing people, partners and babies from lactation support to prenatal and postpartum services that are culturally responsive and made by and for Black and Brown mothers.
Collaborators included New Haven Youth and Rec, the League of Women Voters, New Haven Fire Department (NHFD), New Haven Police Department (NHPD), New Haven Coalition for Active Transportation (NCAT), Connecticut Cowboys, and Fatz Cookery, among others.
Top: Alder Evette Hamilton and Greater Dwight Development Corporation executive director Linda Townsend Maier. Bottom: An intense round of mahjong.
While the event featured collaborators who had attended in the past, there were also some new acts. Tucked right outside of Possible Future’s storefront was Esther Chiang, founder of Mahjong Haven. She stared intensely at her tiles, studying her opponents’ next move.
Created in July 2025, Mahjong Haven has the goal of creating and nurturing community through Mahjong, a table game with matching tiles that relies on skill and memory, and has its roots in nineteenth-century China. The group accepts players of all skill levels and has held sessions across New Haven, the state, and the Northeast. While the group has held sessions at Possible Futures, this was its first appearance at the block party according to Lauren Anderson, founder of Possible Futures.
Hamilton gave a shout out to the many community partners and highlighted the efforts of NHFD and NHPD, which block off the street and provide community outreach efforts. The fire department also contributed school supplies.
“We're especially grateful to them for supporting us with everything from boots on the ground to food,” Hamilton said.
Another person behind all the magic Hamilton highlighted was Linda Townsend Maier, executive director of the Greater Dwight Development Corporation. Maier handles payment for the food, school supply giveaway, and vendors, alongside overseeing logistics for the day, Hamilton added.
“No man is an island. Not one person can do this, right? It's a team effort and we are grateful for all the teams, you know, that are here and have supported us,” she said.
Top: Tanisha Hill, who in 2024 purchased an Italian ice cart that she brings to events like Saturdays. Bottom: Edgewood Ave in full, beautiful force.
The history of the block party goes back several years, she and others added. In 2020, it went on hiatus due to the Covid-19 pandemic, but began again in 2023 and has been going on four years strong. Since then, it has become an event neighbors and residents alike look forward to (read past coverage here and here).
“People were out here at 12:30, 12:15, and we had to keep saying, like, ‘It doesn't start until 1, doesn't start until 1,’” Anderson said, “So I just feel like, you know, it's a good time.
It's like, the kids in the neighborhood kind of can't wait.”
The biggest privilege Anderson noted about the event was seeing the growth of residents.
“Kids who were little, and were coming a few years ago, are now, like, big. Kids who were in elementary school are now, like, finishing middle school and going to high school. So you know, that part's just really special.”
Top: Nelani Mejias attending the Possible Futures book stand with Brooke Jones and her 8-year-old son Kenzo. Bottom: The maternal health hub in action.
Browsing through the books on Possible Futures cart was Brooke Jones. While she carefully stared at the titles, her son Kenzo enjoyed a bag of popcorn. In the end, she left with Mahogany L. Browne’s 2018 book Woke Baby and Cedella Marley’s 2023 book Get Up Stand Up, based on Bob Marley’s song.
Jones was a speaker at last year’s maternal health hub, hosted by Shannon Knox (also known as Doula Sha). A Bridgeport resident, Jones returned to the health hub this year as an attendee.
“I think the maternal health field, like a lot of things aren't spoken about and it's a taboo in our community,” she said. “So I think we need to be more out there with the resources and to continue to help others.”
After going through a stillbirth, Jones founded Karson’s Gift, a nonprofit that helps families dealing with pregnancy and infant loss and NICU care that serves Fairfield and New Haven counties. In future years, she said she hopes to have more collaborations with Knox or even have a booth at the block party.
“It's a lot of things to do here, and I'm just grateful that I'm invited and I get to be out here and enjoy myself.”
Inside Possible Futures, the last elements of the maternal health hub were underway, and attendees gathered for one last hurrah and group photo. Throughout the day, 35 attendees learned how to grow indoor plants, create immunity honey jars, and took a maternal health quiz using Jenga.
“When we first started off, maybe we had, like, 10 people, but now the community knows who we are,” Knox said. “So they come in, they want to know how to help moms, how to support, so it's really a gift.”
Now, alongside maternal health organizations New Birth Journey, Lotus Doula Group, and Lucinda’s House, her sights are on prepping for the fifth annual New Haven community baby shower. This year, the event will take place October 17 at the Dixwell Avenue Q House. People interested in supporting them can donate items, purchase a t-shirt from their limited-edition New Haven Community Baby Shower Collection or donate directly here.
At the “Bike Road-eo” course, adventurous tiny cyclists could take a swing at practicing their balance. By 3 p.m., 40 kids had signed up and ridden on bikes according to NCAT Assistant Instructor Giulia Gambale.
At NCAT’s rodeo course, students learn bike safety, including how to wear and be properly fitted for helmets and fill their tires with air. On Saturday, the curriculum focused on “striding,” where NCAT volunteers removed pedals from the bikes, so that riders could get a feel for balance and equilibrium. In a U-shaped course outlined with bright orange mini cones, fellow member (and librarian extraordinaire) Kim Rogers stood on watch, encouraging and guiding children along the track.
Gambale also pushed NCAT’s free bike lessons three times a week: Tuesdays at Roberto Clemente Leadership Academy for Global Studies, Wednesdays at Wexler-Grant Community School, and Thursdays at the Fair Haven Library. Accessibility is a big part of programming, Gambale explained, with the lessons lasting for 90 minutes from 5:30 - 7:00 pm.
“If they don't have bikes, we fit them with a bike and a helmet for that lesson,” she said.
Top: Ainissa Ramirez signing books. Bottom: Ramirez taking a photo with Shaccara Fuller and Shlena Morrison.
In the crowd was Ainissa Ramirez, materials scientist and science communicator. After doing a reading of her picture book Spark: Jim West's Electrifying Adventures in Creating the Microphone, Ramirez got her Sharpie ready to sign books. Shaccara Fuller and Shlena Morrison were quick to take her up on the offer, ready to cement a memory by getting a photo with the author.
“I work with kids and I just love seeing new books with new authors,” Fuller said.
Published in October 2025 and illustrated by Ghana-based digital artist Setor Fiadzigbey, Spark is the first installment of Ramirez's Black Innovators series. The book follows the life of acoustic scientist James Edward Maceo West also known by his nickname “Jim.”
In 1962, while working alongside research partner Gerhard Sessler at Bell Laboratories in Murray Hills, NJ, the two patented the foil-electret microphone. This work has set a standard and universal precedent across telecommunications and the acoustic field. The National Inventors Hall of Fame reports that ”90 of the 2 billion microphones manufactured yearly are electret microphones.”
These small contraptions can be found in daily electronics from cellphones, music recording equipment, hearing aids, toys, and baby monitors among others.
In 2001, West retired from Bell Labs, earning the title of Distinguished Member of Technical Staff and Bell Labs Fellow and subsequently joined John Hopkins University as a research professor. Now at 95, he remains sharp as a tack; Ramirez held a virtual discussion with him last year, when the book came out (to hear an interview with the author from WNHH-LP's "Arts Respond,", click here).
For Morrison, the event highlighted the need for third spaces. She also lauded the school supply giveaway, in a year where even back-to-school basics feel more expensive than they’ve ever been.
“Just the community coming together is a good day, because there's so much stuff that's been happening in New Haven,” she said, adding that it’s important for kids “to enjoy themselves and just have a good time.”