HISTORY SoHu began to organize in October 2007 with just 10 members from Clark, Pleasant, and Pearl streets. We began with a cookies and community gathering, and by summer 2008 were fully organized with monthly block watch meetings attended by community members as well as special guests such as the Director of Public Works, Police Chief Lewis, and Mayor DeStefano.
Community collaboration in this and the greater East Rock neighborhoods has strengthened considerably in this short span of time, impacting our safety, landscapes, the environment and overall quality of life. In 2008, we applied for a Greenspace grant through Urban Resources Initiative (URI) and in just 8 weeks we planted a record 44 trees all throughout SoHu. We received an $800 grant from the Community Foundation to help fund our 1st annual block party to celebrate this achievement and to bring together long-time residents with new neighbors with much success.
In 2009, we held a 4 month long fund raiser and donated $5,000 to the New Haven police department in support of the new narcotics dogs, Nia and Orvis. We received a new grant from URI and planted another 20 trees. A $1,000 grant from Community Foundation, along with generous donations from Christopher Martins, Amatos Pizza, Modern Pizza, C.O. Jones, and the Bottle Shop allowed us to hold our 2nd block party. Check out the photos on our Photo Archives link. We also held two outdoor movie events in the College Woods section of East Rock Park. These movies were made possible by generous donations from: Cafe Romeo (Orange & Pearl St) Amadeus Center for Health (Bradley St) Nica's Market (Orange St) and P. & M Market (Orange St) as well as from East Rock community members.
At the end of 2010 we'd planted a total of 77 trees, saw the birth of the FIRST annual Orange Street Festival, celebrated our neighbors with another block party, and in collaboration with Friends of East Rock Park (FERP) and with support from the community, continued the outdoor movie night. We also sponsored a Stockings for Soldiers drive and sent off 125 stockings to Afghanistan for distribution to our deployed troops.
2011 brought tree planting totals up to 92. We also put together a second fundraiser for the NHPD K-9s and raised another $5,000. We sponsored a Stockings for Wounded Soldiers drive and sent 99 stockings to Bradley Medical Center in Ft Sam Houston, San Antonio Tx. Sadly, the outdoor movies in the park came to an end - though we had great plans for a Scary Saturday night costume parade for both kids and pets. Alas, the weather was not in our favor. We had a snow storm that dumped a good 6 inches of snow. But there is 2012 to look forward too. .. so stay tuned for updates!