DESK Blog
News , Updates, and Insights
Strategic Planning Retreat
This past weekend, DESK hosted its annual Strategic Planning Retreat. Board members, staff, volunteers, and other stakeholders came together to revisit our mission, examine our impact, and determine a path forward for future services and programming. This year, our...
NHR: Spike in New Haven overdose deaths prompts expanded harm reduction efforts
The New Haven Register reported yesterday on the recent spike in opioid overdose deaths in New Haven: Officials earlier this week reported that 12 people had fatally overdosed since Jan. 25 — a threefold increase in the number of weekly overdose deaths, which is...
Severe Cold Temperatures: DESK Steps up
Frigid New England temperatures present the most dire threat to those we serve at DESK. While most of us were stocking up on supplies so we could stay home and avoid the worst of it, those experiencing homelessness in our community were looking for a lifeline. Last...
Housing Committee Hearing
Today, the Connecticut General Assembly's Housing Committee held their first ever public hearing on homelessness! DESK's Executive Director, Steve Werlin, joined our partners from across the state to offer testimony in-person for H.B. No. 6554, "An Act Appropriating...
See How We’ve Grown!
DESK has grown a lot in recent years. When I first started working here in 2017, all the work was carried out by one fulltime kitchen staff, one parttime maintenance specialist, an intern, a few hundred volunteers, and a Board of Directors that had shrunk to six...
Rep. Rosa DeLauro Announces $1.4 million in Funding for DESK!
“We’re going to continue to do what we’ve always done: provide basic needs,” said Werlin. “We’re [also] going to have next-level and specialized services offered on site … We will encourage and welcome and affirm all individuals, regardless of whatever hardships they’re bringing into the space when they come.”
Donation Guide
The people I work with will tell you that -- for better or worse -- I hate to say "no" to good intentions. Whenever someone comes to me with a good idea, a bold, new strategy, or a helpful resource, I often can't resist. In fact, I find that balancing our resources...
NHR & NHI on U-ACT & Tent City
Unhoused people were in the local news this week in two separates articles. Yesterday, Mark Zaretsky wrote in the New Haven Register about U-ACT (the Unhoused Activists Community Team). U-ACT is an advocacy group composed primarily of people with lived experience. ...