{"id":327,"date":"2025-06-02T16:35:20","date_gmt":"2025-06-02T20:35:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/digitaljournalism.uconn.edu\/hartford-north-end-chronic-flooding-sewage\/?p=327"},"modified":"2025-07-11T12:33:32","modified_gmt":"2025-07-11T16:33:32","slug":"cynthia-jennings-lifelong-north-end-resident-advocates-for-change","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/digitaljournalism.uconn.edu\/hartford-north-end-chronic-flooding-sewage\/2025\/06\/02\/cynthia-jennings-lifelong-north-end-resident-advocates-for-change\/","title":{"rendered":"For Cynthia R. Jennings, Lifetime of Flooding Fuels Fight for Environmental Justice"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p><strong>By Julianna D\u2019Addona<br>UConn Journalism<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>Cynthia R. Jennings, a life\u00adlong res\u00adi\u00addent of Hartford\u2019s North End, remem\u00adbers wad\u00ading through stand\u00ading water to do her laun\u00addry. She later devel\u00adoped an ill\u00adness her doc\u00adtor attrib\u00aduted to mold. And she has chan\u00adneled those expe\u00adri\u00adences into help\u00ading her com\u00admu\u00adni\u00adty deal with envi\u00adron\u00admen\u00adtal prob\u00adlems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Her expe\u00adri\u00adences bring to life the impact of Hartford\u2019s flood\u00ading prob\u00adlems on res\u00adi\u00addents who have for gen\u00ader\u00ada\u00adtions endured floods from untreat\u00aded waste mixed with water from storms that, in recent decades, have inten\u00adsi\u00adfied due to cli\u00admate change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>On a sunny February after\u00adnoon, Jennings opened &nbsp;the front door to her house at 86 Hartland Street, in the Blue Hills neigh\u00adbor\u00adhood, with a smile. She wore a floor-length blue and black dress. She thanked a group of jour\u00adnal\u00adism stu\u00addents for step\u00adping in as the next gen\u00ader\u00ada\u00adtion to address cli\u00admate change. Her pas\u00adsion for advo\u00adca\u00adcy radi\u00adat\u00aded through her kitchen and neat din\u00ading room.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThis is very tan\u00adta\u00admount to the sur\u00advival of many peo\u00adple in this city, this state, and this coun\u00adtry,\u201d Jennings said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Starting many decades ago, the base\u00adment floor of her family\u2019s pre\u00advi\u00adous house on Cambridge Street was always cov\u00adered with a foot and a half of water.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe had our wash\u00ading machine up on a pal\u00adlet so that it would not get wet,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd we would walk through the water to put our clothes in the wash\u00ading machine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>About 30 years ago, Jennings became ill. Her doc\u00adtor sug\u00adgest\u00aded the ill\u00adness was due to the mold that grew from bac\u00adte\u00adria in the sewage water.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI), a divi\u00adsion of the National Library of Medicine (NLM), has linked res\u00adpi\u00adra\u00adto\u00adry ill\u00adness and some can\u00adcers to black mold.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignright size-large is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"683\" height=\"1024\" data-attachment-id=\"242\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/digitaljournalism.uconn.edu\/hartford-north-end-chronic-flooding-sewage\/photo_cynthia-jennings_sofia\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/digitaljournalism.uconn.edu\/hartford-north-end-chronic-flooding-sewage\/files\/2025\/05\/Photo_Cynthia-Jennings_Sofia-scaled.jpeg\" data-orig-size=\"1707,2560\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;7.1&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;Canon EOS REBEL T5&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;1740159365&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;32&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;3200&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0.025&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;1&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"Photo_Cynthia Jennings_Sofia\" data-image-description data-image-caption=\"<p>Cynthia Jennings meeting with journalists in March in the dining room of her Hartland Street home. Photo by Sofia Acosta<\/p>\n\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/digitaljournalism.uconn.edu\/hartford-north-end-chronic-flooding-sewage\/files\/2025\/05\/Photo_Cynthia-Jennings_Sofia-683x1024.jpeg\" src=\"http:\/\/digitaljournalism.uconn.edu\/hartford-north-end-chronic-flooding-sewage\/files\/2025\/05\/Photo_Cynthia-Jennings_Sofia-683x1024.jpeg\" alt class=\"wp-image-242\" style=\"width:400px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/digitaljournalism.uconn.edu\/hartford-north-end-chronic-flooding-sewage\/files\/2025\/05\/Photo_Cynthia-Jennings_Sofia-683x1024.jpeg 683w, https:\/\/digitaljournalism.uconn.edu\/hartford-north-end-chronic-flooding-sewage\/files\/2025\/05\/Photo_Cynthia-Jennings_Sofia-200x300.jpeg 200w, https:\/\/digitaljournalism.uconn.edu\/hartford-north-end-chronic-flooding-sewage\/files\/2025\/05\/Photo_Cynthia-Jennings_Sofia-100x150.jpeg 100w, https:\/\/digitaljournalism.uconn.edu\/hartford-north-end-chronic-flooding-sewage\/files\/2025\/05\/Photo_Cynthia-Jennings_Sofia-768x1152.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/digitaljournalism.uconn.edu\/hartford-north-end-chronic-flooding-sewage\/files\/2025\/05\/Photo_Cynthia-Jennings_Sofia-1024x1536.jpeg 1024w, https:\/\/digitaljournalism.uconn.edu\/hartford-north-end-chronic-flooding-sewage\/files\/2025\/05\/Photo_Cynthia-Jennings_Sofia-1365x2048.jpeg 1365w, https:\/\/digitaljournalism.uconn.edu\/hartford-north-end-chronic-flooding-sewage\/files\/2025\/05\/Photo_Cynthia-Jennings_Sofia-1200x1800.jpeg 1200w, https:\/\/digitaljournalism.uconn.edu\/hartford-north-end-chronic-flooding-sewage\/files\/2025\/05\/Photo_Cynthia-Jennings_Sofia-1980x2970.jpeg 1980w, https:\/\/digitaljournalism.uconn.edu\/hartford-north-end-chronic-flooding-sewage\/files\/2025\/05\/Photo_Cynthia-Jennings_Sofia-scaled.jpeg 1707w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 683px) 100vw, 683px\"><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><em>Cynthia Jennings meet\u00ading with jour\u00adnal\u00adists in March in the din\u00ading room of her Hartland Street home. Photo by Sofia Acosta<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>Jennings\u2019 old house on Cambridge St. was prone to con\u00adstant flood\u00ading. Its foun\u00adda\u00adtion was often wet along with the base\u00adment. The fire depart\u00adment would not pump out waste\u00adwater, she said, and her fam\u00adi\u00adly did not have the money to hire a con\u00adtrac\u00adtor. She said they lived with the water.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But the house where she lives now on Hartland Street and where she raised her son and daugh\u00adter stands on slight\u00adly high\u00ader land and did not flood dur\u00ading the child\u00adhoods of her chil\u00addren. Her son, Sean Brown, is now 58 years old and lives in North Carolina. Her daugh\u00adter, Shirene Brown, is 55 and lives in Florida. But in recent years, mixed waste and stormwa\u00adter flood\u00aded this base\u00adment. After one storm, Jennings was dev\u00adas\u00adtat\u00aded to find that valu\u00adables belong\u00ading to her moth\u00ader had been destroyed. These includ\u00aded irre\u00adplace\u00adable pic\u00adtures, clothes, and shoes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As of today, a sub pump and back\u00adflow pre\u00adven\u00adter were put in about eight months ago. This is a tem\u00adpo\u00adrary fix until the storm water and sewage water are sep\u00ada\u00adrat\u00aded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the past two decades, Jennings has watched storms in her neigh\u00adbor\u00adhood become more intense, a doc\u00adu\u00adment\u00aded effect of a chang\u00ading cli\u00admate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cFlooding is out of con\u00adtrol and plac\u00ading peo\u00adple out of their homes,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Cynthia Jennings shows equipment in basement smaller\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/gjdCV_TuUWU?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>She chan\u00adneled her expe\u00adri\u00adences with flood\u00ading into her career as a civil rights attor\u00adney and an envi\u00adron\u00admen\u00adtal activist. The activism dates to the 1990s, when she and other res\u00adi\u00addents of the North End wor\u00adried about the health effects of dump\u00ading trash in the city land\u00adfill in the North Meadows area, about a half mile from her neigh\u00adbor\u00adhood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Jennings moved into pol\u00adi\u00adtics. She served six years on the Hartford City Council, until 2018, when she had to resign after chang\u00ading her party affil\u00adi\u00ada\u00adtion. She ran unsuc\u00adcess\u00adful\u00adly as an inde\u00adpen\u00addent for Secretary of the State in 2022. She ran for office out of a sense of loy\u00adal\u00adty to her com\u00admu\u00adni\u00adty. She said she would say, \u201cYou are not going to ignore us and take our tax money. We pay the same taxes as every\u00adbody else.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>According to the Connecticut Data Collaborative and Liberal Arts Action Lab, north Hartford is a pre\u00addom\u00adi\u00adnate\u00adly African American com\u00admu\u00adni\u00adty in Hartford. As a mar\u00adgin\u00adal\u00adized pop\u00adu\u00adla\u00adtion, Jennings said the North End is encum\u00adbered with pover\u00adty, racial dis\u00adcrim\u00adi\u00adna\u00adtion, low employ\u00adment rates, and low lev\u00adels of home own\u00ader\u00adship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The state report\u00aded in October 2024 that 100% of chil\u00addren in the Hartford pub\u00adlic schools qual\u00adi\u00adfy for free and reduced lunch\u00ades.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Jennings con\u00adnects this sta\u00adtis\u00adtic to the \u201cToxic Wastes and Race in the United States\u201d study con\u00adduct\u00aded by The United Church of Christ Commission for Racial Justice, which con\u00adcludes that minor\u00adi\u00adty groups inhab\u00adit the most envi\u00adron\u00admen\u00adtal\u00adly risky places in America.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Jennings\u2019 for\u00admer col\u00adleague and fel\u00adlow found\u00ading mem\u00adber of the Connecticut Coalition for Environmental Justice, Dr. Mark Mitchell, described Jennings as a pow\u00ader\u00adful force.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cShe is tena\u00adcious. Obviously, very intel\u00adli\u00adgent. She is pas\u00adsion\u00adate, and she\u2019s not afraid to con\u00adfront those in power,\u201d Mitchell said in an online inter\u00adview in March 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When Mitchell was health direc\u00adtor for the Connecticut Department of Public Health,<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Jennings was a block cap\u00adtain in the North End. Mitchell recalls how Jennings, along\u00adside Larry Charles and a for\u00admer neigh\u00adbor\u00adhood group called ONE\/CHANE Hartford, led oppo\u00adsi\u00adtion to the landfill\u2019s expan\u00adsion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWhenever the Department of Environmental Protection tried to crack down on the land\u00adfill, they would pass laws exempt\u00ading the North Hartford land\u00adfill from the reg\u00adu\u00adla\u00adtions and rules. But it was because of Cynthia Jennings and ONE\/CHANE that EPA became involved and that they were able to hold the land\u00adfill oper\u00ada\u00adtors to account because of their oppo\u00adsi\u00adtion and their com\u00admu\u00adni\u00adty orga\u00adniz\u00ading,\u201d Mitchell said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>One com\u00admu\u00adni\u00adty par\u00adtic\u00adu\u00adlar\u00adly impor\u00adtant to Jennings is renters. According to Housing Data Profiles, cre\u00adat\u00aded in col\u00adlab\u00ado\u00adra\u00adtion between the Partnership for Strong Communities and the Connecticut Data Collaborative, 63.9% of units in Hartford are renter- occu\u00adpied.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Jennings advo\u00adcates that renters get renters\u2019 insur\u00adance and that build\u00ading own\u00aders make sump pumps avail\u00adable to renters, because the own\u00aders must give per\u00admis\u00adsion for res\u00adi\u00addents to apply for the state\u2019s grant pro\u00adgram that cov\u00adered repairs and back\u00adflow pre\u00adven\u00adters for home\u00adown\u00aders. That pro\u00adgram allo\u00adcat\u00aded about $9 mil\u00adlion over two years and is now on hold.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Renters\u2019 and ten\u00adants\u2019 insur\u00adance poli\u00adcies \u201cwill mean that they can live in a hotel with their fam\u00adi\u00adlies while repairs are done to their units,\u201d Jennings said. \u201cOther than that, they face the real pos\u00adsi\u00adbil\u00adi\u00adty of liv\u00ading in a shel\u00adter.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\">\n\n\n\n<p><em>TOP PHOTO: Cynthia Jennings talks with jour\u00adnal\u00adists in her home dur\u00ading an inter\u00adview in Spring 2025. Photo by Christine Woodsid<\/em>e<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Julianna D\u2019AddonaUConn Journalism Cynthia R. Jennings, a life\u00adlong res\u00adi\u00addent of Hartford\u2019s North End, remem\u00adbers wad\u00ading through stand\u00ading water to do her laun\u00addry. She later devel\u00adoped an ill\u00adness her doc\u00adtor attrib\u00aduted to mold. And she has chan\u00adneled those expe\u00adri\u00adences into help\u00ading her com\u00admu\u00adni\u00adty deal with envi\u00adron\u00admen\u00adtal prob\u00adlems. Her expe\u00adri\u00adences bring to life the impact of\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1075,"featured_media":352,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wp_typography_post_enhancements_disabled":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[18],"class_list":["post-327","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-stories-from-the-north-end","tag-north-end"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/digitaljournalism.uconn.edu\/hartford-north-end-chronic-flooding-sewage\/files\/2025\/05\/Cynthia-Jennings-min-scaled.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitaljournalism.uconn.edu\/hartford-north-end-chronic-flooding-sewage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/327","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitaljournalism.uconn.edu\/hartford-north-end-chronic-flooding-sewage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitaljournalism.uconn.edu\/hartford-north-end-chronic-flooding-sewage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitaljournalism.uconn.edu\/hartford-north-end-chronic-flooding-sewage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1075"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitaljournalism.uconn.edu\/hartford-north-end-chronic-flooding-sewage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=327"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/digitaljournalism.uconn.edu\/hartford-north-end-chronic-flooding-sewage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/327\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1192,"href":"https:\/\/digitaljournalism.uconn.edu\/hartford-north-end-chronic-flooding-sewage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/327\/revisions\/1192"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitaljournalism.uconn.edu\/hartford-north-end-chronic-flooding-sewage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/352"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitaljournalism.uconn.edu\/hartford-north-end-chronic-flooding-sewage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=327"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitaljournalism.uconn.edu\/hartford-north-end-chronic-flooding-sewage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=327"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitaljournalism.uconn.edu\/hartford-north-end-chronic-flooding-sewage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=327"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}