The Polish American Foundation of Connecticut (PAF) was founded and incorporated in 1996. Our charter includes cultural, social service, educational and humanitarian purposes.
Humanitarian initiatives included our facilitating the community effort to raise funds for Poland’s flood victims in 1997 (transferring nearly 121 thousand dollars in aid), as well as subsequent fund drives to aid an orphanage, a children’s acute care center (both in Poland), as well to assist individuals with acute medical problems.
In the cultural arena, the first year of the PAF’s operation saw the establishment of the Connecticut Virtuosi Chamber Orchestra under the direction of Adrian Mackiewicz. Dedicated to presenting traditional and contemporary classical chamber works with special emphasis on the musical heritage of Eastern Europe this professional orchestra through subsequent nine seasons has offered over 20 performances per year in New Britain, Hartford, New London, Kensington and New York, as well as several CVCO concerts in NYC educational presentations annually for schools in New Britain, and numerous related educational and cultural programs.  CVCO conceting in NYC |
The orchestra’s mission also includes showcasing local talent and education, by sponsoring lectures, a young artists’ concerto competition, providing free tickets to local schools, and performances at local schools. This year, having attained the status of one of Connecticut’s major artistic institutions, the Connecticut Virtuosi Chamber Orchestra has been spun-off and incorporated as an independent organization.
Chopin Recital 2006 |
In 1998 the PAF established the Fryderyk Chopin Society of Connecticut sponsoring two to three yearly performances by renowned pianists. In 1999 the amateur theater group “Teatr Wyobraźni” joined the PAF and has since produced several minor and one major (“Drogi do Wolności” - in 2005) productions. In 2005 the Polish Artists Association was formed under the PAF auspices and offered lessons for children in the plastic arts and sponsored a major art exhibit at the Foundation’s Sloper-Wesoly mansion.
Exterior July 2006 |
Wooden Floor Renovation 2006 |
In 2000 the daughters of the late Dr. Andrew Wesoly donated to the PAF an historic Queen Anne style mansion in New Britain. After essential renovations largely funded by the Community Block Development Grant funds from the City of New Britain and partially by donated funds and in-kind services the mansion was named the Sloper-Wesoly Immigrant Heritage and Cultural Center.
Aside from housing the offices of the PAF and the Connecticut Virtuosi Chamber Orchestra, it serves as a venue for numerous activities including: art, photography, and historical exhibits, piano recitals, art & music classes for children, the Paderewski young artists concerto competition, theater performances, lectures on history and business, yoga classes, various community organization meetings, and a young mothers' support group meetings. Among the more memorable exhibits hosted at the House were a John Paul II Exhibit, and the Emotionalizm art exhibit. The Sloper-Wesoly House is on the National Registry of Historic Places and the PAF is committed to preserving this beautiful example of New Britain’s architectural heritage, investing considerable resources in its renovation and upgrade.
Our first social services and educational program was in Citizenship Education, for several years located in the New Britain Public Library. Initiated in 2000 this program has assisted approximately 500 individuals to become citizens.
In 2003 the PAF received the “Opening Doors” grant from the Capital Region Education Council (CREC) funded by the US Department of Labor (DOL), to serve as a “portal” to the CT Works One Stop Career Center System (the state employment office).
 Job Counselor working with client |
The role of the “portal” organization is to recruit and intake clients into the One Stop caseload, and provide for these clients basic workforce and employment assistance services including basic assessment, ESL and employability instruction, helping clients find work, and follow-up job coaching. The special focus of this program is to reach out to limited English proficiency populations, which have been underserved by the One-Stop system. In our case this meant serving the Polish-speaking community, especially recent immigrants. To best serve this population we opened an office on Broad Street in New Britain in November 2003, and since then have served approximately 700 clients (over 90% Polish-speaking), helped 88 clients find employment, enrolled over 200 in ESL classes, and 200 in employability training.
Additional funding was provided by the American Savings Foundation, the Community Foundation of Greater New Britain, a second year DOL grant through the Capital Workforce Partners. This year we had successfully applied for a grant to the DOL’s Employment and Training Administration to continue providing this important service.
For maximum effectiveness and to avoid duplication of services the PAF has entered into close collaboration and resource sharing arrangements with Opportunities Industrialization Center of New Britain (OIC) and especially the Spanish Speaking Center (SSC). Among other things this involves joint outreach, providing each other with interpreters, sharing instructors, and specializing in specific training programs. We have established close cooperation with the New Britain One Stop Center. We have cooperated on outplacement projects, translated materials, and provided interpreters for One-Stop clients. Our links with the One-Stop Center have been further enhanced by one of our staff having been hired full-time by the Center and delegated to work at our Broad Street office one day a week. Our cooperation with the One Stop Center was recognized with a Community Collaboration Award.
An outgrowth of the “Opening Doors” project was our extensive, self-financing English as a Second Language (ESL) program initiated in 2004, which has served over 200 clients, and a computer literacy program. We have also offered modest scholarship awards (in music, and the Maria Skłodowska Curie award in science) to deserving students.
Advocacy on behalf of immigrants has been another activity of the PAF from the beginning, and the PAF is a founding member of the Connecticut Immigrant and Refugee Coalition. We are one of the sponsoring organizations of the Connecticut Annual Immigrant Day celebration.
In 2005 the PAF was one of the sponsoring organizations of the POLAM Federal Credit Union which opened its doors the same year on Broad Street.