Duff on NEON: It's the Crisis of the Day Over There

At an "office hours" session arranged by State Senator Bob Duff (D, 25th District) at Cedar Court Senior Housing last Fri. Nov. 15, it did not take long before the topic of Norwalk Economic Opportunity Now "NEON" was raised. 

Duff spoke at length about the troubled anti-poverty agency, saying that he had met with the NEON employees a week earlier.

"They have not been paid," Duff said. "Their checks have been bounced. Their insurance has has been taken out of their paychecks, but human resources have not paid the insurance company, and they're losing jobs. It's almost like the crisis of the day over there."

Marva Petrus, who has lived at Cedar Court for three years, jumped in. "South Norwalk Electric is cutting them off, both buildings, on Monday!" she shouted.

Looking discouraged, Duff shook his head. "I spend about four hours a day on this issue, probably since July," he said, adding that he is in contact with Congressman Himes' office, the Governor's office and Dept. of Social Services.

"The problem is there are so many moving pieces: whether it's CDI with Head start, whether it's ABCD who is doing the fuel assistance program, whether it's the bounced checks or their deficit. They received $300,000 for their early childhood education, and it's gone. We don't know where it is. And they lost their department of corrections (contract)...but there's a limit to what authority I have personally...I'm getting very frustrated."

Listing his concerns about NEON, Duff said he was worried about people who rely on the services, the children in Head Start and the staff of NEON. 

Duff said he recently learned food wasn't being delivered because there was no money and staff were even bringing in their own paper for the copy machine. 

"So, we didn't have milk, we didn't have food, we didn't even have paper. And some of the staff also have kids in Head Start, which is a double whammy."

"I got into this business because I like to fix problems," Duff said, adding that some people assume senators receive a magic wand and that he wished it was true.