Highlights From the Past

Tribute to Xion Davidson

Please click on the link below to view a moving tribute to Conard student Xion Davidson who was murdered this past summer.  His friend and classmate Ashley Little (Conard '09) has created a beautiful piece in his honor. To view the video tribute click here. (7 MB)

HopeWorks Community Conversation:
What is the Truth About "Mean Girls"

Click here (30 MB) - Right click and Save As if you are on a slow connection to download the video conversation starter produced by HopeWorks intern Tara Smollen. Open with Windows Media Player

A group of over 100 community activists gathered on Monday, April 23rd at Bristow Middle School to discuss the "Truth About Mean Girls".  After a great dinner, provided for by the Graustein Foundation, Tapas, Big Y, Trader Joes and the Crown Supermarket, an evening of conversation followed.  All ages were represented as five groups of twenty people discussed the issue of girls' relational violence. Grandparents, mothers, fathers, students, school personnel, ministers, mental health professionals and concerned citizens all came together to build a better future for our children.

Cruger Phillips, Executive Director of Hope Works, kicked off the evening with a brief presentation outlining the issue.  She told the group that "National trends regarding girl-to-girl aggression are alarming.  Over time, overly aggressive responses can compromise a young woman's future.  West Hartford is experiencing an escalation in serious problems between girls."  She added, "However our outstanding community wants to be proactive, to turn this around for our girls; we hope to lead the way for other communities."

This issue is bigger than the schools alone can address.  The group explored what parents and the community can do to empower our girls to be assertive in healthy ways.

A riveting 10 minute video created by Tara Smollen, a Hope Works intern from the University of Connecticut School of Social Work, was shown to ignite and focus the conversations.  The video featured West Hartford students and Professor Vivian Carlson from St Joseph College, who had a senior seminar and did a local research project on the subject in the fall of 2006.

The Community Conversation is designed to provide opportunities for people from diverse backgrounds to speak openly in a safe environment and to clarify personal views on important issues through discussion.  Participants were asked to brainstorm and find common ground for action that bridges differences and will lead to wise community action

Comments from the participants included, "I enjoyed the small group discussion and the opportunity for my voice to be heard", "Each part was important and helped to facilitate the next step in the evening", "My favorite part was hearing from the young girls who have been affected" and "This conversation was a great start, thank you."

On June 4th community activists met again to start creating action plans and broke the issue into three areas to work on: 1)  Early (preschool - early elementary) intervention  2) Empowering parents and 3) Devising effective programs for older girls who are personally affected by girls relational aggression, both as victim and as aggressor."  The next meeting will be Tuesday, July 17 th at 7:00 p.m. at the First Baptist Church in West Hartford.  All are welcome.

West Hartford Community of Concern 

Click here for more information at The Grounds Website.

Click here for the Community of Concern Website.