Lived Experience Interview:
Doreen Abubakar — Community Placemaking Engagement Network (CPEN)

JCEC:
Tell us a little bit about your non-profit, CPEN.

Doreen:
CPEN stands for Community Placemaking Engagement Network and we just say CPEN http://CPENInc.com. I named it that because it takes a village to support a community and I chose Newhallville (a community within New Haven, Connecticut) as the place to do the work. I chose it because it is a post-industrial neighborhood, which means there are tons of different living spaces — buildings and apartments and things like that. But usually, post-industrial spaces don’t have livable resources. What I mean by that is that it doesn’t have a medical institution, it doesn’t have a library, it doesn’t have a community center — these assets that help people engage in community.

Doreen:
[Newhallville] is a densely populated area with over 7000 people within a 1 mile radius. So, when I took on focusing more on helping community, I decided to go into Newhallville because I felt that there are people there that need access to these things: access to information, access to resources.

Everything that you can think of that would be something to hurt a neighborhood was happening in Newhallville, and I realized that me growing up in the Hill section of New Haven and having lived in neighborhoods that were challenged, I felt that I could go into a new neighborhood. and help them. At first, I can say that I was not welcomed by everybody because I was working on a change opportunity and some people were settled in things and the way that their neighborhood existed at that time. But in 2014, we started out with community beautification in a place that was called by the neighborhood, “The Mudhole.” The Mudhole is a recognizable spot in Newhallville that had been identified by government as a “hotspot” — meaning a high crime area. It was so bad that there was an article written in the New York Times about the 1990s in that same spot. And we have taken it over and repurposed the space as the “Learning Corridor” and the city put up the money. So that makes me really feel good in that we created it to be more of a community hub.

In Newhallville we wanted to first identify all the assets that that neighborhood had within a mile radius and the asset was The Mudhole, which was a fairly large one-block lot directly connected to the Farmington Canal Heritage Trail trail that runs to Massachusetts. A lot of people who work in the city would use that trail for transportation. As a matter of fact ,we are the second largest trail in Connecticut and the largest being used in the state of Connecticut. So, with that being said, we took over The Mudhole space because that would make it more usable to transform it into a place for people to gather – that was the first concept. So we started out with beautification projects and then the alderwoman at that time was Delphine Clyburn and she helped us rally for some funds that the city had that they were returning back to parks, the funder that they had had. And she lobbied for us to get those funds, which was $100,000 to now create what I call the Learning Corridor. And I was able to explain it to an engineer at the city, David Moser, he has since passed, but he actually drew up the plans in color and everything of what I had envisioned that this space could be turned into to help the community.

JCEC:
What are some of the other things you are doing in the Learning Corridor?

Doreen:
CPEN uses an Environmental Placemaking Lens to establish the organization’s 4 pillars: Education, Health and Wellness, Economic Development and Leadership. We’ve been able to weave 12 programs out of those four pillars. If you go to our website, http;//cpeninc.com, you will see the programs.

For the Education Pillar, we have an outdoor growing program that’s a four by four salad garden program. New Haven is a food desert. This program teaches families how to plant the seeds in their little seed trays and wait for them to grow and then transfer them into a four by four what I call “salad garden.” So we’ve been doing that for three years. We do About 10 families a year. This year, we’ll be able to go on a wider spectrum in regards to having these classes.

We do Watershed Education. Under Watershed Education, we started something called the Conservation Crew – a citizen science kind of project to build connection to the urban West River watershed. Over the last two years, we have taken kids, about six kids or so, down there, clean it up, organize it and usually try to do two workshops down there, you know, to engage the people that live around the watershed, and also that helps us get in contact with people who could come to the Water Festival that we have the second week of July.

We also do family literacy. I remember my daughter had gone through the diploma program that they have, the high school diploma program which allows a young adult or 16 and up, who is not going to school, who is working, to get their GED — get their high school diploma. And what’s really nice about this high school diploma program is it allows them to do packet work or online work at their own pace. And when they’ve completed everything, they then qualify for a high school diploma. A lot of people don’t know about that, but when my daughter was in the program, probably over 10 years ago, I was able to get involved with them and recruit others to go into that program. And one of the stories that really stands out was an older gentleman who said his son would never finish high school. He had gone through that that program, got his diploma, and now he is enrolled at the Connecticut State Community College at Gateway. That was so inspiring, because the way I operate is, if it’s only for one person, I will do it, but I impacted many through that program. Now we’re working with kids because of COVID doing literacy at King Robinson School.

For the Economic Development and Leadership Pillars, we’re focusing on the agriculture business and so the Hydroponics Program teaches entrepreneurship. We had hosted some trainings with UCONN and some trainings with Gather New Haven or some of our NCC to work with BIPOC people in New Haven to learn about farming, really to sell. First, we’ve got to learn how to grow something, and then the goal is to transfer them into selling. You really haven’t seen any minorities participating as farmers in the farmers’ markets, even though we have over 50 community gardens just totally filled with people of color growing food for their homes. I wanted to take on what it would look like to move people who know how to grow food, because even if it is a food desert, growing food for the farmers market gives more representation of our urban city there.

We have the first and only urban Native Plant Nursery of over 4000 plants. People from all over come and get our plants. We’re very affordable. The young people from the neighborhood, we hire about six. They come, and they’re running that whole system of growing, nurturing, selling – everything. Audubon has partnered with us on this.

We also are adding something called the Maker Shed, a program that I put together so that we could get tools and supplies and allow people in a neighborhood to have the opportunity to practice with tools and stuff and make something. What has been so exciting about that program was that we’ve been trying to do it for two years, fully finished and worked out. And me, I am patient. I believe things come when they’re supposed to, and for me not to get all bent out of shape. I wanted a woodworking person, a carpenter, to volunteer .. not volunteer.. but to work because we have money to pay them. We pay $25 an hour. Do you know, for two years I could not find anybody to do it one day a week for two hours? So we, we went out to the Eli Whitney Museum, and they became a partner with us and whenever they had extra room, like classes weren’t filled out or whatever, they would invite CPEN and we would be able to take some of our high school students to learn different equipment and to learn how to build things. In the project they built an Adirondack chair. That was huge, because it’s not so much something we could sell in our community, but it is something that we could sell to others.

Under the Health and Wellness pillar, we started a bike program, too. I went around for years asking the biking community, I’m talking about their organization, and we got, we have 26 bikes and do a bike ride with the kids. I couldn’t get on the calendar to do it, but Rock to Rock brought me in. Let me see … I think it was like maybe six years, maybe 10 years. But anyway, they have a set group of organizations that are looked at to be the planning committee, and they invited CPEN to be in that and my goal has always been to get more of us riding in that Rock to Rock as a fundraiser. And over the years, it would be me, my sister, and maybe two other people. When the city allowed us to go from one rock to the other, we decided that we’d make the ride, the family ride, from the Learning Corridor. Again, that was me advocating, since we were on the trail, we had it that people meet [at the Learning Corridor] to ride the last leg to be the Family Ride. Last year was the first year we did that and, let me tell you, all the other riders came to the Learning Corridor to pick up the Learning Corridor people. It just was so exciting to see…It was like 100 people ascend onto the Learning Corridor coming up the trail to pick us up. We’re in the planning meetings this year. My goal is to grow that. What we’ve done since April is we launched our Bike Social program and launched a Learn to Ride program.

As part of this, in 2024 we also launched a Cycling Adventure Program. CPEN partnered with the Bradley Bike Co-op collaborating on their shared vision of bringing bicycles, tools, bike repair services, and education to the Newhallville neighborhood at the Learning Corridor and the Farmington Canal trail. 15 youth completed the 6-week, twice-a-week program and received a refurbished bike, helmet, and lock. Three of those youth learned how to ride a bike for the first time and 1 trained to be a bike technician. That is definitely one of our big successes. All of our other programs this year already have dates and our goal now is to have information about this on a four by eight-foot Billboard of the Learning Corridor events for the spring through fall this year.

JCEC:
Amazing that you and CPEN are doing such great work. How do you figure out whom to collaborate with, and how do you think about collaboration in these kinds of projects?

Doreen:
I really start with the spiritual part. I could talk to someone and I could see if they’re interested or not interested. I could see if the person is compassionate to, I guess, the efforts that we’re going forth with in Newhallville at that time. I also sometimes will do it through cold calls and just start explaining the plight of the neighborhood and how we need the help of people who are willing to help.

We normally don’t go by finding people who are, you know, known for this, known for that, or whatever. We might go after those people to try and start with a relationship, right, some kind of connection. But we look for those who, say, who come and volunteer. We look for those who do anything to empower CPEN.

The only thing I’m trying to make sure that stays in the front is that we don’t have to ask to be at the table, we are the table! So it’s all about getting other people coming to our table. And we don’t believe in having our hands out, expecting people to do this, that and the other. When we have partners, the organization brings what stuff they have, and we bring what we have, and what we have is a connection to environment, a connection to place making, and a connection to minorities. So, if you really want to do something, partnering with CPEN gives you a wide range of access to over 7000 people at one time.

Along with the asset map, we try to focus on getting into the schools, working with the businesses, working with the organizations that do little things in Newhallville to help us connect to things that we could do for economic development.

JCEC:
Clearly, you’re bringing together different community members, different organizations, different groups, and people who are both new and well-established. What challenges are there? How do you overcome the challenges?

Doreen:
Being a minority-Black-woman-led nonprofit, we have run into some obstacles with people who don’t understand how I’m able to do the things that I do, and a lot of times you’re sort of on the down low, but then all of a sudden we turn around. Our latest thing is the $250,000 grant that we were awarded to do the Kid Hydroponic Growing Program!

One of the biggest things that I won’t say bothers me, but keeps me on my toes, is a lot of times, if I talk about things too publicly, my idea of what I want to do is taken over by somebody else. One thing we believe in, in the spiritual world, you know, whatever God has for us is for us. In some cases, I’ve had people try to find out how I’m doing it, who’s helping me so that they can get it for what they want to do. And because these relationships I’ve created are those of the heart to heart, usually, when something like that happens, when somebody’s trying to do what I’m doing, the partner lets them know that they’re working with CPEN. Everything that we do, we offer to everybody else.

Mainly the barrier is just fighting against the way that people [stick to] the way that things are normally done. People work a job for umpteen years, or they come into an establishment and they run it a certain way. And to engage minorities and to engage CPEN it usually takes a little step back, which is sometimes a challenge. But if you have the person who is sensitive to the cause, they usually will stay around, and we keep talking, and I keep being able to show them ways that this could work.

One of my first partner relationships has been with the Audubon Society and we found that has been a learning experience!

JCEC:
Could you say more about that?

Doreen:
Sometimes people who are heads of things and have these resources and skills do things a particular way, because that’s almost like the institutionalized way of doing things. But when you’re working with a new, young, passionate African American who is really trying to create a connection in the urban city to nature, my approach is different. So what [Audubon] is finding out, especially as we work with people … is that while I am thinking I’m getting someone to help me, what I have found is that I’m actually teaching the kids how to work. So that’s where some of the restrictions come in, and making sure [the partner] is doing what [the youth and the program] need.

JCEC:
What would you say are some of the gateways to successful collaboration with individuals and groups?

Doreen:
First, I always share my spiritual belief in the practice of utilizing our gifts and talents. So, a lot of people ask questions in regard to “How do you do all these things?” and basically for me it has been step by step utilizing the resources and my abilities to their full capacity each step along the way.

Second, the key is in letting people know and understand how they can engage.

One example is the Southwest District. Last fall, I wanted to do a Water Quality Testing Demonstration — almost like a workshop. And I worked with Sea Grant to identify some people who can come run some booths for us, and the entity that could show us about the water testing, and they suggested [doing the testing in] the Southwest. I was so happy, because for three years I wanted to create a citizen science project around the West River that a community can do. Over the last two years, all we had been doing was going down there and cleaning it up, you know what I mean, and maybe doing some canoeing on the river there and things like that…and the Water Festival. But this year, this organization said “yes.” So they came to a Water Quality Testing Workshop that we had in the fall, and from that, I started talking to them about teaching my high school students. Now we’ve gone there, and seven of my high school students are trained to use their equipment to test water that we collect. So you know, with them, there were only two people doing that, testing all the water throughout Connecticut, and for the Southwest District. I think they’re run by the USDA. I said to them, CPEN could go to the high schools and do little workshops with them, especially the schools on the border, so that they don’t have to try to put it in their calendars, go to a meeting, or, you know, in order to be engaged, which they can’t do, but they keep their name out there. They support us to do what we want to do, and their name, in our whole water testing program, their name is carried in everything that we do.

JCEC:
You have talked about some of your strengths: being very patient, seeing gaps that need to be filled. Thinking about your work and your trajectory, is there anything that you would do differently?

Doreen:
I would say that I am a visionary, an encourager, and a person who understands that sometimes a people need to learn to trust in a person to help them and welcome people to ask for help. So in any way that I can either find resources or connect with other people; I’m that kind of person, I believe in me providing that kind of quality relationships with people that pass through my life.

Every day I wake up, it’s all about doing the best I can do. It’s all about helping whoever I can help. It’s all about my work that I’m doing with the nonprofit to go to the next step and whatever has to be done. My middle name is Faith, so faith is constantly an action with me and if it doesn’t happen right away, I believe it’s delayed but it’s not denied. And you know, I sort of love these challenges, because I even believe that sometimes, you know, our faith level gets challenged and we’re able to go back to relying on faith because of the victories that we have experienced. So that’s pretty much how, you know, I’ve lived my life.

JCEC:
One last question: What advice do you have for people who are trying to undertake collaborative and equitable change?

Doreen:
I think the most important thing for people to realize or really understand is what collaboration means.

Collaboration means “together” to me, so it’s more or less, “This is what we want to do and me and you are going to talk about how we’re going to do this. And from the start of this, every time that this is happening, it’s us.” And that has been, you know, I think something that people don’t understand.

There’s a lot of people having online meetings. Every time you turn around, there’s a new thing. You go to one group and somebody wants to branch off and have another group. I’m trying to connect not so much to what we do on the job or our college background or expertise for any particular thing that we’re doing but, more or less, I want the heart of the person, you know? Do you want to see our kids grow in learning? Are you a fanatic for health and wellness?

JCEC:
Doreen, thank you so much for your time. You have done so much for our New Haven community here and you are a model when it comes to helping people connect. You are so patient, so loving, so welcoming so that people can see the potential in themselves to connect with others and make change. Please keep up the good work! We hope you’ll come back again and let us know some of the other things that you’re doing in in in the neighborhood and beyond!

If you would like to know more about CPEN, or would like to volunteer or otherwise support CPEN, visit http://CPENInc.com.