ANSONIA – A free tutoring service for middle school-aged children is set to open downtown this fall.
Members of the Ansonia Planning & Zoning commission voted 3 – 0 June 30 to approve a site plan for the Valley PROUD Center on 293 Main St., the former home of Goodfellas Barbershop.
The idea for the center, which will cater to LGBTQ+ youth and students of color but is open to everyone, comes from Ansonia native Patricia Nicolari.
She said the center is funded by grant money from a family foundation which supports charter schools in both New York and Connecticut. She told The Valley Indy she’s contractually forbidden from naming them.
Nicolari is also the founder of PROUD Academy, Inc., a nonprofit which hopes to establish a charter school in Ansonia.
The charter school won approval from the state board of education in January, but it didn’t get funding from the state legislature this year. Nicolari said the center is a way to provide educational services while she waits for money to come from the state.
“By maintaining visibility within the community and gathering data with academic success for the students who attend this, we’re hoping to close any gaps from Ansonia Middle School students, or Seymour or Derby students who come to this center,” Nicolari said in the meeting.
The center will focus on providing homework assistance and tutoring in math and English for students in fifth through ninth grade, Nicolari said. She told The Valley Indy that she later hopes to expand it into a full-fledged resource hub for LGBTQ+ youth, pointing to similar hubs in New Haven, Bridgeport, and Norwalk as models.
Other services offered could include parent support groups and tutoring in other subjects, Nicolari said. She said all services will be free.
“We’re offering free academic assistance geared for LGBTQ and black and brown youth, but all are welcome to attend for free educational services,” Nicolari said.
Ansonia Planning and Zoning Chairman Jared Heon said he’s a supporter of the project, and asked Nicolari what the impact on student transportation would be. She said students would be dropped off and picked up by parents or guardians, and there wouldn’t be any use of public school resources – “no yellow school buses,” she said.
Commissioner Ken Moffat also voiced his support, saying he thinks the center is a great idea.
Commissioners Heon, Moffat, and Tony Levinsky all voted in favor of approving the site plan. Commissioner Maureen McCormack abstained, saying she wanted to do more research.
“I get a little concerned about segmenting people, separating people, when we should be trying to mix everybody together, so that’s a concern,” McCormack said. “I’m not saying that that’s definitely what you’re doing. I know you did say everyone is welcome. I would just like to do a little bit more research.”
Nicolari told The Valley Indy that students wouldn’t be turned away from the center. She said one of its goals is to create an educational environment free from discrimination.
“Everybody is invited here, regardless of sexual orientation and gender identity. But if anybody comes here, people need to know that there will be nonbinary or transgender people here, and everybody needs to be okay with that,” Nicolari said.
The Ansonia Board of Aldermen voted 7 – 5 on July 8 to waive $1,400 in permit fees for the center.
Nicolari said she hopes to open the center in August or September.