Justin Nijuan (right) and Mayor Elicker had a conversation about homelessness in New Haven: “We’ve got a lot more work to do, but I appreciate your question especially because it comes rom a place of really caring about people that you see in the community that need help. Thank you,” Elicker said. Credit: Adele Haeg photos Thirteen-year-old Justin Pijuan stood up in front of a panel of city officials Saturday afternoon and asked: How and why does homelessness happen in New Haven? “I just want to know how come we can’t get housing,” he said, addressing the mayor, several alders, state representatives, and other New Haven leaders.  Mayor Justin Elicker answered Justin’s question briefly, explaining that the city, like many across the country, needs more affordable housing and resources like Elm City Compass to support people experiencing homelessness. Before other panelists answered, Justin’s mother Diana, sitting several rows behind him in the Career High School auditorium, told them that this question hits particularly close to home for her family. She said her son had asked that question because, since losing her job last year, her family of four has been “in the process of becoming homeless.”  Pijuan said she worries her family will have to leave New Haven if she cannot find employment, and her priority is to keep her son in New Haven Public Schools. “He might be separated from his classmates, the town where we are from,” she said, tearing up as she spoke. He is currently an eighth grader at Beecher Museum School in Beaver Hills, and wants to attend the Sound School next year.  After Pijuan spoke, Elicker and State Rep. Juan Candelaria as well as Elm City Compass advisor Thretha Green told her that there were resources her family could use — once the meeting concluded, Deputy Director of Youth Services Ron Huggins approached Pijuan, thanked her for coming, and said he would help her however he could.  The Pijuans were one among dozens of New Haven families who attended the Saturday “Youth Speaks” panel at Career High School. Hill Alder Angel Hubbard planned the event weeks ago, hoping to provide a “safe space for youth to express their wants and concerns.” Hubbard held a moment of silence before the event for the teenage victim of a shooting on Dixwell Avenue Friday who as of Saturday afternoon remained in critical condition at Yale New Haven Hospital, as well as all of “our fallen children that have lost their lives tragically,” she said. Friday’s shooting shows “why it’s so important that we have events like this, that we can collab, come together, and make sure that this is preventable instead of coming together for funerals,” Hubbard said.  After Justin, another NHPS student, Alivia Martin — a sixth grader at Roberto Clemente Leadership Academy — asked the panel why in many schools students can participate in sports for free but have to pay for some arts programs, like theater or dance. Martin told the panel that she uses art to “cope with some of the things I’ve been through,” and said she believes more funding should go to art programs as well as athletics. In response, panelists brought up free arts programs across the city, like Alliance Children’s Theater in New Haven, and mentioned magnet arts schools like Betsy Ross Arts and Design Academy. Alivia and her mother said they hope for drama programs at Roberto Clemente, too. “She’s asking not just for herself. She’s asking for her school,” her mother Corinna Martin said.  Leilani Nuñez, a senior at the Sound School, asked the panel if there were any plans to improve HVAC systems at several New Haven schools. If there is a plan, she asked, “will any measures be taken to make sure that this is implemented into schools?” She said she has heard about “unsafe” conditions in schools around the city, and wanted to know how “bad it can get” before it is taken as seriously as many students and parents hope. As far as funding for those improvements in New Haven schools, Elicker said “we are trying to work at the state to fast track that because it’s an emergency. It’s an emergency, we need to see it that way.”  “This is about connecting the dots. A lot of times people don’t know how to navigate certain systems,” Huggins said, referring to resources within the city and support that groups like United Way or Cornell Scott Hill Health Center provide. He said Saturday’s event “brought the systems to the community.” “Let’s figure it out together, and let’s really connect.” At Saturday’s “Youth Panel.” The post Students Speak, Leaders Listen, At Alder-Organized Youth Panel appeared first on New Haven Independent. ...read more read less