Nelly Birmingham and Marta Velez are graduating from Southern Connecticut State University with their Bachelors of Social Work. They assisted both with backend and frontend operations of our 266 State Street Drop-in and Resource Center and Olive Street Pantry, engaging with our guests and collecting data to help us better serve our community. Marta helped us create a first draft of our Drop-in and Resource Center’s Community Guidelines. Nelly developed written volunteer training elements and client documentation for pantry procedures. She will be continuing her education at the University of Connecticut School of Social Work to receive her Master of Social Work.
Pravalika Kaminenei will be graduating from the University of New Haven with a Master in Data Analytics. She assisted with the creation of data collection tools, performance analysis, and quality automation.
Kamal Mohamed will complete the requirements for an Associate of Computer Engineering in Applied Science from Gateway Community College. His work building and coding a small computer is the foundation for automating an emergency and service monitor for the Drop- In Resource Center. He said “When I first started, I thought I was going to work on a project that was already going on. But when I talked with Wendy [DESK’s Data Administrator] I realized I had the chance to design the project, which gave me the motivation to be more creative and flexible. And while we were working I realized how big the project is and how important the service that DESK provides for their clients is.”
Janet Fan served as an intern in Summer 2025 but has continued to regularly volunteer with DESK’s data team and with cooking and serving food. She is graduating from Amity Regional High School in Woodbridge, CT, and will be continuing her education pursuing a bachelor’s degree in Social Policy Analysis and Public Health at Rice University. Janet says that “My favorite part of working at DESK is definitely meeting all the wonderful people who have inspired me with their heart and their stories. Working at DESK has inspired me to study public policy and solidified my desire to pursue a career dedicated to public service and public interest work.”
Dozens of interns have learned the tools of making the world a better place right here at DESK over the last decade and have shared their talents with colleges and employers around New Haven and around the country. We’re excited to keep in touch with Nelly, Marta, Pravalika, Kamal, and Janet going forward!
And we don’t speak alone. As a member of the Connecticut Coalition to End Homelessness and the Statewide Harm Reduction Partnership, we add our voice to an array of service providers, policymakers, and people with lived and living experience.
Among those voices is Claudette Kidd, DESK’s Client Engagement Specialist. On top of her day-to-day duties at DESK, Claudette serves alongside advocates and legislators as a member of the End Homelessness Caucus. Last month, as they prepared for the start of the legislative session, Claudette joined the Caucus for a press conference in Hartford, in which she spoke about her lived experience in shelters and how that experience has helped her better engage with her clients, meet them where they are, and connect them to services and resources to improve their lives and overall wellbeing.
With the statewide Cold Weather Emergency on everyone’s mind, Claudette took the opportunity to underscore the dire need to get all unhoused individuals inside. She advocated for $12.3 million in Extreme Weather Life-Saving Funding through the state budget and through S.B. 364, An Act Concerning Extreme Weather Protocols, which would meet the recent rise in unsheltered homelessness with 24-hour low-barrier operations in every community across the state, transportation, warming capacity, and heat response. She says that “the need for support does not stop at 5:00 PM when my shift ends, and staff in this field often work beyond scheduled hours to accommodate the urgent needs of clients who are trying to find a safe and warm place to stay.” Claudette spoke while she also was managing a complex multi-medical client case all day (and she had forgotten her glasses at home!). We are proud of her and grateful for her work at DESK to support and advocate for our guests. With this legislative session only lasting until May, the time to advocate is right now. The bill received a favorable report from the Joint Committee on Public Health and will be taken up soon by the full Senate, while the state budget cycle continues marching forward – making it crucial that DESK’s network of advocates makes their voice heard.
This morning, our Board Secretary, Dr. Caitlin Ryus, joined Mayor Justin Elicker and Amistad Catholic Worker House’s Mark Coville and Suki Godek on WNPR’s Where We Live to discuss new models for providing temporary shelter, as well as the health challenges faced by unhoused people. It’s a robust and moving discussion, with Dr. Ryus’s interview toward the end (starting at 37:20). Listen to the whole interview here.
And in most places around the country, cities rely on shelters to accommodate people who are unhoused. But those who’ve lived there say this model isn’t working. Families are separated. There’s a 90-day stay limit. There’s little to no security for personal belongings. And at dawn, everyone’s asked to leave, rain or shine.
Their tents are provided with electricity. Everyone has lockers for personal belongings. And they say their health has improved. Residents are hoping to live in prefabricated tiny homes set up on site so they can live safely.
Later, we talk about the health impact on people without housing.
GUESTS:
Suki Godek: an unhoused activist living at Rosette Village
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 people. Today, we have 23 people on payroll, as many as half-a-dozen interns at any given time, nearly two thousand volunteers, and a fourteen-member Board of Directors!
To give you a better sense of who works here and how we’re organized, here’s a chart:
A few items to note about this chart.
First, it’s backwards … at least compared to most hierarchical staff structures. At DESK, we put our Board and Executive Director at the bottom of the structure in order to emphasize (and remind us!) that the role of leadership is to support those doing the work on the frontlines.
Second, we include our “Clients” at our Drop-in Center, our “Guests” at our Dinner program, and “Shoppers” at our Pantry program at the top, as those we serve. But, we also include at the bottom. As members of the broader New Haven community, the people we serve help to inform our leadership, so that strategic decisions include all relevant input.
At DESK, we often say that our staff “wear a lot of hats.” We try to avoid being too strict with everybody’s role. Despite our recent growth, we’re still a small organization, and so we really do rely on people to step out of their comfort zone from time to time. That’s why everyone’s job description includes, among their responsibilities, “other duties as assigned.” (And if you don’t believe me, just ask Val, our Warming Center Assistant Manager, about my skills behind the café last Christmas!)
The other duty everyone’s job description here includes is “volunteer supervision.” DESK began as volunteer, grassroots, community-based organization and — even after more than 35 years — much of the day-to-day work on the frontlines is accomplished by volunteers. We’re fortunate to have almost 2,000 volunteers who come through our doors each year, all coordinated by Ashley Burkell, our Volunteer Coordinator. Ashley’s job is to match the right volunteer to the right duties, serving as the liaison between our program staff and the ready-and-willing community. But then, it’s up to our staff on-the-ground to work with and supervise those volunteers.
Finally, our chart includes our Board of Directors (none of whom are paid), as well as our Program Interns, who are receiving either course credit or paid compensation through their internship program.
It’s been wonderful to watch our staff grow in recent years, in terms of both size and roles. I can’t wait to see how we can continue to grow in the years ahead, all in greater fulfillment of our mission!
Got questions? Leave a comment below!
Steve Werlin has been the Executive Director of Downtown Evening Soup Kitchen since 2017.
At DESK, we often say that our staff “wear a lot of hats.” We try to avoid being too strict with everybody’s role. Despite our recent growth, we’re still a small organization, and so we really do rely on people to step out of their comfort zone from time to time. That’s why everyone’s job description includes, among their responsibilities, “other duties as assigned.” (And if you don’t believe me, just ask Val, our Warming Center Assistant Manager, about my skills behind the café last Christmas!)
