CRI Welcomes Althea Marshall Brooks

CRI is pleased to welcome Althea Marshall Brooks as Director of STRIVE Connecticut.

Althea will be starting March 10, and will be based in the STRIVE New Haven office. She will also oversee the STRIVE programs in Bridgeport and Hartford.

Althea served in the cabinet of Mayor John DeStefano, Jr. from 2012-2013 as the Community Services Administrator (CSA), one of the highest-ranking positions in city government. As CSA, she was responsible for an annual budget of $16 million and five city departments including Health, Elderly Services, Youth Services, Homelessness Services/State-Administered General Assistance (SAGA), and Reentry. Before serving as CSA, she served briefly as the City of New Haven’s New Haven Reentry Initiative Coordinator. 

Prior to entry into city government,  Althea served as the President/CEO of Empower New Haven, implementing  the 10 year federal round II empowerment zone initiative, from 2003 until 2012.  She directed the implementation of the strategic plan submitted for this designation and administered more than $30 million in public and private funding, focusing on job creation, workforce development, and improved quality of life, including home ownership, public safety, youth, and education.

Althea was also responsible for overseeing and implementing the City of New Haven’s Values Based Initiative (VBI) , an initiative funded by the U.S. Department of Justice Community Oriented Policing Services Office.  VBI was an effort to create a crisis prevention network of community stakeholders, clergy/faith communities and police to address issues regarding youth gun violence and domestic violence.

Additionally, she serves on numerous regional non-profit, faith based and philanthropic boards and committees and serves as adjunct faculty at Gateway Community College. She has a Bachelor’s of Science degree in Family Studies from the University of Connecticut, a Master’s of Science Degree from Southern Connecticut State University in Sociology, and a Master of Divinity degree from Yale University.

Welcome Althea!