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About the Learning Centers

Learning Center Locations:

  • NHA Learning Center Office
    20 West Avenue, Norwalk, CT
    Hours: Monday-Friday 12:00-8:00pm
    203.838.8471
    • Wendy Gerbier, Director x641 (cell: 203.803.8581)
    • Tiana Brown, Assistant Director x642 (cell: 475.489.7738)
    • Michael Crafter, Student Success Manager X176 (cell: 203.851.3053)
    • Administrative Assistant x644 (cell: 203.939.0589)
  • 20 West Learning Center
    20 West Avenue, Norwalk, CT
    Hours: Monday-Friday 3:45-7:00pm
    Grades K-5
  • Colonial Village Learning Center
    128 Scribner Avenue, Norwalk, CT
    Hours: Monday-Friday 3:45-7:00pm
    Grades K-5
  • King Kennedy Learning Center
    43 Chestnut Street, Norwalk, CT
    Hours: Monday-Friday 3:45-7:00pm
    Grades K-5
  • Roodner Court Learning Center
    261 Ely Avenue, Norwalk, CT
    Hours: Monday-Friday 3:45-7:00pm
    Grades K-5

For more information about each Learning Center, please visit our Communities page.

Additional Learning Centers Staff:

  • Sheiree Powell, STEM Coordinator
  • Jill Murray, LITERACY Coordinator
  • Constance Manna, ART Coordinator
  • Josiane Charlot, Early Childhood Parent Coordinator 203.644.4720

Photos of Learning Centers Activities

NHA Learning Centers

The Norwalk Housing Authority Learning Centers (NHALC) are committed to providing NHA students with academic support, enrichment programs, school and career guidance, character building opportunities and educational field trips. NHALC's provide safe, comfortable environments, as well as qualified, dedicated staff that help empower children to reach their highest potential. The long-term goal of the overall NHALC Program is to support, guide and assist NHA students to launch successfully into adulthood.

The NHA Learning Centers are committed to:

▪ Providing a safe haven and supervision during after-school hours.

▪ Supporting parents, primarily to provide working parents childcare during the after-school hours.

▪ Supporting development, including the social and emotional development of the child (providing role models, developing positive self-esteem, promoting strategies for conflict resolution, and promoting respect for diversity).

▪ Providing enrichment and recreational opportunities; activities that youth would not be exposed to otherwise or activities that are not offered during the school day.

▪ Providing academic support, including homework assistance, and other activities with the primary aim of improving school outcomes.

The Learning Centers accommodate children with special needs by varying approaches with parent permission. All transportation that is needed for students to participate in NHA enrichment programs or community-based programs is provided by six passenger vans, owned and operated by NHA.

Academic support that the NHALC provides includes homework help, tutoring in reading and math, computer access for research and school projects, and other academic activities. The enrichment support includes Literacy, STEM, Creative Arts, fieldtrips and exposure both within and outside of the learning centers.

 

Norwalk Housing Foundation College Scholarship Program

  • Purpose
  • Impact
  • Recruitment
    Outreach propels our impact and success. Each year we work to increase the number of applicants and successful recipients-our goal each year is a 10 percent increase in student participation matched with a 25 percent increase in fundraising.
  • Program Highlights

Helping Scholarship Recipients Succeed in the Bridge to College and Career Program
One important feature of the program is the support structure we provide to try and make certain that scholarship recipients attend regularly, perform as well as possible in school and understand additional avenues of support and financial aid. All recipients are required to participate in a summer workshop led by Norwalk Housing Staff.

  • New college students participate in a workshop that focuses on self-advocacy, time management, and early creation of an on-campus support system including guidance staff and tutors and establishing positive relationships with professors. Returning scholarship recipients also give advice about what to expect in college and how college is different from high school.

  • Returning college students participate in a workshop that reiterates some of the key points from the new student workshop but also highlights areas important to upper class students. Topics include: business etiquette, interviewing skills, identifying a mentor and why internships are important.

  • We also encourage students to participate in workshops about financial literacy and other pertinent topics held by NH and other partners throughout the year.

We want to prepare students (most of whom are first generation college students) for what they will encounter in college and give them strategies to adapt to their new environment so they can stay on track to graduate. The additional care the scholarship recipients receive creates a bond between the students and the NHF, a connection we hope will carry them through the completion of their degree and beyond.

Program Goals
The NHF Scholarship helps students pay for tuition, books, supplies and transportation so they can focus more on their studies and less on their bills. Our students work hard to earn a college degree so they can better succeed in competitive job markets.

We established three goals for our program:

  • Serve as many residents as possible. Get them into school, matriculate, and do well to earn a degree in a reasonable period of time.

  • Level the playing field, to afford low-income students the same opportunities that middle-and upper income students have. We encourage all scholarship recipients to attend the school that is the best fit for them academically and financially.

  • Reduce or eliminate student loan debt. It's is a huge problem nationally, but even a larger problem for low-income students. And it's especially discomforting here in Fairfield County, the so-called Gold Coast, where the average household income is $134,337. The average annual family income of our NH residents is below $20,000 and below the poverty threshold for a family of four, which in 2016 was $24,250.

Program Outcomes

  • Student Success
    • Scholarship recipients complete their semester successfully (12 or more credits/semester)
    • Scholarship recipients re-apply for the NHF Scholarship until they graduate

  • Graduation Rate
    Scholarship recipients to graduate with a college degree

  • Job Placement After Graduation
    Scholarship recipients find jobs that enable them to move towards self-sufficiency

  • Residents Move Out of Norwalk Housing
    Scholarship recipients are financially stable enough to move out of Norwalk Housing Authority and be financially independent

  • Program Growth
  • Increase in the number of residents who apply each year