Side By Side Charter School opens its new William O. Murphy Upper School!

Carver partners with Side By Side Charter School to bring its students after school programming. The new school year begins at Side By Side on August 29, 2018, and we are excited for all that awaits our students there. 

The start of the 2018-19 school year also marks the official opening of the new William O. Murphy Upper School at Side by Side! This will be an exciting year for all of us as we prepare to make use of a brand new, state-of-the-art Upper School facility.  

This new building will be the primary location for all of the content area courses for all grade 6-8 students, the students in Carver's after school program.  Also, in addition to housing the middle schoolers, all Side by Side students in grades Kindergarten through 8th will now be participating in Art class in the new Art/Multi-purpose classroom in this new facility.  The school's Special Education department, Student Services offices and Collaborative Learning Center will also be located in this new building.  

This new building is the grand result of mighty effort and generosity on the part of many advocates, not least William Murphy and his family. St. Joseph's Parish is of course at the center of this new beginning. The CT Office of School Construction Grants, Mayor Harry Rilling, Stein/Troost Architecture, AV Tuchy Builders, and especially CT State Senator Bob Duff worked in concert to make this new building possible. 

Congratulations, Side By Side Charter School!

Carver Day, 9.20.18, 3-6PM!

Support the Darien Road Race on 9/16/18!

September 16th is the 39th annual Darien Road Race for the benefit of the Community Fund of Darien, a longtime Carver donor! Please considering participating in this fun family event.

Everyone is welcome! The Darien Road Race is The Community Fund’s largest fundraiser, and they would love your support – not to mention a lot of fun in a beautiful setting.

Please see the Darien Road Race details here!

This fun event begins at Pear Tree Point Beach in Darien at 9AM for the "fun run" and at 9:30AM for the 5 mile run. 

Thanks everyone who supports this important charity and their most important annual event!

Natarsha Garcia brings her Star Maker Tour to Carver, September 7-9!

Final day of summer 2018 at Carver and Columbus!

See images of the final day at Columbus Magnet School here at Facebook.

See images of the final day of summer 2018 at the Carver Community Center here at Facebook. 

Thank you everyone for a summer for the memory books!

Images of Parent Night at the Carver Community Center Summer Camp!

See all the images at Facebook here!

During each summer, our campers learn and play and discover new fields of interest inspired by field trips near and far. We take the learning very seriously, though for the kids it feels like play.

One other objective is for each age group to prepare for Parent Night! They learn skits and dances and other performances to delight their families. Here are a few images at Facebook of the great time everyone enjoyed yesterday evening at Parent Night at the Carver Community Center! 

Images of Parent Night at Columbus Magnet School Summer Camp!

See the images at Facebook here!

During each summer, our campers learn and play and discover new fields of interest inspired by field trips near and far. We take the learning very seriously, though for the kids it feels like play.

One other objective is for each age group to prepare for Parent Night! They learn skits and dances and other performances to delight their families. Here are a few images at Facebook of the great time everyone enjoyed yesterday evening at Parent Night at Columbus Magnet School! 

Images of the last days of summer 2018 at Carver!

Here are images at Columbus Magnet School and at the Carver Community Center today (stored in Facebook albums) of our campers at play and preparing for Parent Night this evening. 

Carver’s Summer Enrichment Programs at the Carver Community Center and at Columbus Magnet School are among the most affordable and high-quality programs available to (200) Norwalk students ages 5 through 13 years old. The program offerings range from swimming to project-based and hands-on personalized learning to prepare students for the coming school year. The summer literacy program, facilitated by certified teachers, uses the myON and Lexia Reading Core 5 software to provide personalized learning. NPS certified teachers also teach math sessions, the two primary programs are TimezAttack and ThinkCentral. TimezAttack is a computer-based math fact game that strongly supports fact fluency. ThinkCentral is the online component of the GO Math Common Core math program used in NPS K-5 classes. A Computer Adaptive (CAT) intervention targets individual strengths and weaknesses. Summer camp program partners include Girl Scouts, The Center for Contemporary Printmaking, Norwalk Grassroots Tennis and The Norwalk Seaport Association. Noteworthy also are the age appropriate field trips that reinforce learning such as to the Peabody Museum, CT Science Center, Discovery Museum, NBC Studio Tour, Stamford Nature Center, Beardsley Zoo, Bishop Orchards, New York Botanical Gardens and Maritime Aquarium. Fun outings included trips to the beach, Lake Compounce, Playland, My Three Sons, and New Roc City.

The summer of 2018 was a great one for everyone! Learning and friendships will endure into the new school that gets underway this fall. 

Community Fund of Darien generously renews its support of Carver programming!

(L-R) The Community Fund of Darien's incoming Board President, Frank Huck; the Board Chair of Grants, Cindy Banks; Nikki LaFaye, Carver's Director of Philanthropy; and the Community Fund of Darien's Director of Development, Laurie Orem.

Carver is deeply grateful for the long-term and generous annual support we receive from The Community Fund of Darien.  Here is a photo of Nikki LaFaye receiving the 2018-2019 grant award of $40,000 for our after-school Youth Development Program and our Summer Enrichment Program. 

For more than 68 years (almost as old as Carver!), The Community Fund of Darien’s mission has been to help Darien and their neighbors in Stamford and Norwalk by investing in programs aimed at improving the quality of life for all.

In addition to its community initiatives, The Community Fund of Darien awards grants to local nonprofits helping to address a broad spectrum of vital human services including mental health, substance abuse, at-risk youth, homelessness, hunger, child abuse, special needs and more.

The Community Fund of Darien is made possible by many generous people changing lives with their investments of time, expertise and support. They improve the quality of life for their many beneficiaries through responsible, conscientious and strategic grantmaking through annual grants, small and emergency grants and their Touch a Life Fund. Through their initiative and leadership, The Community Fund of Darien brings social service professionals and Darien town leaders to assess needs, evaluate services, identify and pursue solutions. 

Thank You to all the donors and staff who make The Community Fund of Darien so insightful and generous!

Inner-City Foundation For Charity & Education supports Carver's Middle School Summer Transition Program

The Inner-City Foundation for Charity & Education awarded Carver a competitive grant of $10,000 for our middle school summer transition program. 

Here are photos of our students attending our summer transition program at Roton Middle School.

Carver offers a comprehensive summer program to help incoming middle school students to each of Norwalk's four middle schools to be positive and look forward to the coming year. Led by each school's certified teachers, Carver's summer program helps students form a realistic expectation of what middle school will be like, it provides a positive and successful first impression, and it insures a successful introduction to the middle school experience. Parents, too, have their concerns and questions answered about their children's transition from elementary to middle school. 

Carver's summer transition program involves all the stakeholders: students, school personnel, and parents. Incoming middle school students experience a variety of activities preparing them for middle school. They have the opportunity to meet other middle school students and their teachers. Educators provide activities for students that lessen their concerns, build their confidence, and reduce their anxiety. 

The Inner-City Foundation for Charity & Education has consistently supported Carver through the years. The Foundation has awarded over $29 million in grants to many worthy charities such as Carver since 1992, including $15 million in scholarship aid for inner-city school students, and $6.4 million to social service agencies that provide food, clothing, health services, counseling, transportation and shelter to those in need. In addition, the Foundation has awarded another $7.7 million to support programs for students with learning disabilities, recreation and education programs for children, and adult literacy and job-training programs that empower individuals to become self-sufficient.

The Carver community is deeply grateful for the crucial financial support and encouragement it receives from the Inner-City Foundation for Charity & Education.