This is a picture of Bernadine Silvers in a Hartford Courant article. She was featured along with six other Hartford residents receiving neighborhood service awards in 1994 at the fourth annual ceremony held by SINA. In the article she was credited for serving as Vice President of the Sheldon Oak Co-op, the chairwoman of the Coalition to strengthen the Sheldon Charter Oak Neighborhood (CSS/CON) and President of the Citizen Research Education Network(CREN). 

Bernadine‘s family connections to Hartford go back over a century. Her mother’s oldest sister was born in Hartford in 1902. Bernadine’s mother was born in Hartford in 1918 after her grandparents moved to the city from Philadelphia. Bernadine grew up in the north end. She lived on Kennedy Street, a street that no longer exists when it was destroyed with the development of Sands Apartments just north of Dunkin Park. Later, she moved to Oakland Terrace off of Albany Avenue. Many of her neighbors were Irish and Jewish but were moving to other areas of the city and surrounding towns. She remembers wanting to go to Weaver High school which was one of the highest ranked schools in the country. Her upbringing was positive. “I was born to love this city,” Bernadine said. “I was taught I was born in the best city, in the best state, in the best country in the world.”

As an adult, Bernadine was living on Mansfield Street with her children when she learned of an opportunity to move to housing just developed near downtown. As part of urban renewal efforts of the 1950s and 1960s, tenement housing and many other structures were destroyed between Main Street and the Connecticut River and replaced with office buildings, parking garages, and retail. In response to this, the Capital Region Council of Churches advocated for the construction of housing accessible to lower income residents. In response, the Sheldon Oak apartments were built on Prospect Street, Sheldon Street, and Charter Oak Avenue by Sheldon Oak Central. After a year, Sheldon Oak Central transferred the property to become a co-op. Residents didn’t own their unit, but owned a percentage of all the buildings. Since it was a co-op they had a governing board. Bernadine, with her charisma and powerful presence, became Vice President of the board the representative of the co-op in public. 

Bernadine‘s experience living at Sheldon Oak co-op was irreplaceable. She described it as like living in a suburb in the middle of the city. The community was tight knit and worked hard to provide enriching opportunities for neighborhood children. Many kids attended after school programs run by Central Baptist Church on Main Street. Residents organized trips for the children to visit Washington DC. They worked with the community policing program to address quality of life issues. “Living at Sheldon Oak I learned that poverty and crime don’t always go hand-in-hand,” she said.  “Although Sheldon Oak was located in one of the poorest areas of the city, it had one of the lowest crime rates,” Bernadine added with pride. 

From the beginning, residents of Sheldon Oak Co-op suspected the powers pulling the strings on urban renewal only saw their homes as a temporary development. They speculated leaders hoped to tear down the buildings and construct something more in line with the rest of Constitution Plaza. Eventually this suspicion came to reality when the board of the co-op was approached by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). They were told that the buildings were in disrepair and there were only three options: (1) the buildings get knocked down and residents move out with Section 8 vouchers (2) the residents come up with $7.3 million to renovate the buildings or (3) find a developer who could raise the money. Undaunted, Bernadine and other residents chose option three. 

After a lot of effort,  the residents voted to to have Sheldon Oak Central repurchase the properties and secure the funding needed for repairs. Sheldon Oak still owns the properties to this day and has a property management company contracted to manage day to day operations.  (Apartments pictured below). Sheldon Oak Central has gone on to become one of the city’s largest affordable housing developers.

Prior to the threats of demolition, the members of the Sheldon Oak co-op were well aware they were going up against very powerful people and needed to build a stronger coalition. They were intentional about meeting up with the residents of the Martin Luther King apartments and Dutch Point. This is what became the Coalition to Strengthen the Sheldon Charter Oak Neighborhood (CSS/CON). This coalition brought together residents, neighborhood planners and other officials to help create a plan for the neighborhood. It was founded by Bernadine along with Maxine Stewart, Sally Gaston, Eric Anderson, Angelina Ortiz, Linda Osten, and many others. They also worked with Citizens Research Education Network that did grassroots research. CREN in collaboration over several years produced reports CSS/CON used inform decisions. 

CSS/CON was the model for what is now known as a Neighborhood Revitalization Zone (NRZ). The state created a law (“An Act Establishing A Neighborhood Revitalization Zone Process”) in 1995 giving blighted neighborhoods benefits as long as they created a local governing group. Each neighborhood had to create an NRZ to create a strategic plan. In a few neighborhoods like CSS/CON, who already had a strategic plan, they just used an existing organization and created an action plan instead. The city of Hartford then let these NRZs in 1996 direct what the city requested in their application for State Urban Act funds which funded capital improvement projects.  This gave the NRZs a little more momentum. In essence, the City was the administration and its planners were members of the NRZs.

As the NRZs were working with the city to inform how the Urban Act money would be spent they started meeting with other NRZ leaders. Prior to this, the various neighborhoods tended to work competitively, advocating for resources to benefit their pocket of the city. With these regular meetings, NRZs learned they faced many of the same issues and when they spoke with a collective voice that they were heard in high places. Informal monthly meetings led to the formation of an organization named Hartford 2000. Given her belief in bringing people together to ensure voices are heard to plan our collective future, it is no surprise Bernadine spearheaded this effort. In 2019, Hartford 2000 changed its name to Hartford Next. Today they continue to bring together NRZs on a monthly basis to learn from one another, advocate on collective issues, and provide leadership development for residents.  Hartford NEXT, in honor of Bernadine’s long term commitment to Hartford and the NRZs have named her Board Chair Emerita.

Where is she now?

Bernadine is still living in the same apartment she fought to save decades ago and is volunteering and a board member for Sheldon Oak Central. She still remains active with the City’s Redevelopment Commission, but has had to step back from some civic groups as she tends to health issues. If you were to talk with her about all of these previous accomplishments, Bernadine would be quick to tell you that none of this happened solely because of her. “I was at the right place at the right time, ”she said. “I was surrounded by people who cared about the city and had the skills to make things happen.” She would speak highly of people like Edie Lacey, Pat Williams, Linda Bayer, Madelyn Colon, Emily Wolfe, Joe Barber, Danny Merida, Kim McClain and too many others to mention.  “I love people who still care about the city and are willing to invest,” Bernadine said. Luckily for all of us, Bernadine is one of those people, a woman who has truly invested. She has built tables that will allow people who love Hartford to keep investing in its future for years to come.