CARES (Citizens Addressing Racial Equity) Meeting
Via Zoom Wednesday, November 2nd
Education Action Team at 6:00 p.m. and CARES at 7:00 p.m.
This month we celebrate our veterans! We thank each and every one of our veterans for their bravery, sacrifice and strength. To you and your family, you do not go unnoticed, and we will always be indebted for all that you have given to the country.
Our guest speakers are Vincent Santilli, CEO/Executive Director, ABRI, Homes for the Brave, and Jeffrey Fletcher, Executive Director, Ruby and Calvin Fletcher African American History Museum, the history of military men and women of color through an equity lens.
Vincent Santilli is currently the CEO/Executive Director of ABRI/Homes for the Brave, a non-profit organization dedicated to providing safe housing, vocational services, mental health treatment and life skills coaching to homeless individuals, almost all of whom are Veterans
ABRI/Homes for the Brave’s Bridgeport, CT Programs include a 42 bed men’s transitional house (Homes for the Brave), a 9 bed permanent house (Waldorf Permanent Supportive Housing), the drop-in/walk-in Tony Cinquanta Veterans Service Center, Homes for the Brave Clinical Program, and the Nicholas A. Madaras Home for Female Veterans, Connecticut’s first and only transitional living facility for female veterans experiencing homelessness and their young children (14 beds). In early 2022, ABRI/Homes for the Brave is also opening two houses totaling 14 beds for male Veterans experiencing homelessness (Homes for the Brave-West Haven) in West Haven, CT.
Previously, he held multiple leadership roles in his 30+ years at People’s United Bank, including First Vice President of the Retail and Business Banking Division and Executive Director of the $51 million People’s United Community Foundation.
Active in his community, Santilli is a Founding Member of Senator Chris Murphy’s Veterans Advisory Council, and a member of the Economics and Finance Advisory Committee for Sacred Heart University’s John F. Welch College of Business, after previously serving as Chairman of the Welch College’s Advisory Board. He also serves on the Board of the (Bridgeport) South End Neighborhood Revitalization Zone and Bridgeport Re-Entry Collaborative, coaches Special Olympics soccer for SOCT-Fairfield and was the Head Girls Basketball Coach at St. Martin de Porres Academy in New Haven from 2014-2020 before becoming an Assistant Coach on the staff of the University of Bridgeport Purple Knights Women’s Basketball Team under Head Coach Mike West in 2020.
Santilli is active with the Knights of Columbus and was Connecticut’s Grand Knight of the Year in 1992 and 4th Degree Faithful Navigator of the Year in 1995. He is well-known from his 19 season run as co-host of College Hoops Talk on WICC radio in Bridgeport. In May, 2019, Santilli received the Distinguished Citizenship Award from the Bridgeport Elks Lodge No. 36 and in March, 2020 was made a Paul Harris Fellow by Rotary International and the Rotary Club of Fairfield.
Santilli holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics and public policy from the University of Pennsylvania and also has a master’s degree in business administration with a concentration in human resources from Sacred Heart University. He lives in Trumbull with his wife Jeanine and children Joseph, Mara, and Thomas.
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87929037875?pwd=bnVPRVEyZGxTODlxUW5pSTVMR0R5dz09
Meeting ID: 879 2903 7875 Passcode: 519534
Meeting Call in Number: 1-929-205-6099
