Global City Norwich goes on hiatus. What happens now?

NORWICH — Even though Suki Lagrito has resigned from the role that she may be best known for, liaison for Global City Norwich, she said it’s a good time to determine where the organization goes next.

Last week, it was announced during the Norwich Community Development Corporation (NCDC) meeting that Lagrito would resign and the organization would go on hiatus while the NCDC and the Chelsea Groton Foundation assess the organization’s progress, and decide on its future.

Since there were events sponsored by Global City Norwich almost constantly, there hadn’t been the time to properly see how things are going, Lagrito said.

“I like long-term planning and long-term results,” she said. “Nothing shortsighted, because (then) we’re not doing ourselves any justice to the dollars and hard work (the Chelsea Groton Foundation) has put in.”

A ceremony rededicating Norwich's peace poles this month was the last Global City Norwich event before the break. None of the organization's major events, such as the street festivals and flag raisings, have yet been canceled, as they typically take place during the warmer months. No clear end date for the hiatus been set.

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"What better time to take a pause, access the results, and make sure we are achieving everything we should be achieving," NCDC President Kevin Brown said.

What does a Global City Norwich hiatus mean?

Global City Norwich's overall goal of supporting culture and business to help revitalize downtown Norwich and the city as a whole won't go away, Brown said, even after the hiatus. The name and some of the program focuses could change.

The program will maintain funds already awarded to it, which includes grants and American Rescue Plan funds from Norwich, Brown said.

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The hiatus lets Lagrito visit family back in Vancouver, where she grew up. Since Canada’s travel rules were strict throughout the pandemic, it would have been too challenging for her to go and visit, she said.

“That would mean if I wanted to visit my family for one week, I would have to quarantine (for more than four weeks),” Lagrito said. “The program would have completely bombed if I said I’m taking a whole month off.”

It’s important to keep the organization going, to make people of different cultures comfortable in the city, and to help revive the downtown, City Councilor Swaranjit Singh said.

“We need people from other cities and other states to come to downtown Norwich, explore our city, and that’s the only way we can build trust,” he said.

Lagrito has been important in Global City Norwich's success in making "our multicultural city feel like everyone is welcomed, and they're welcomed in the business community," Brown said.

What has Global City Norwich done?

Through Lagrito’s time leading Global City Norwich, the organization became known for holding the various different street festivals and flag raisings for different cultures around the city, as well as helping facilitate entrepreneurship in the city.

Global City Norwich's business impact led directly to helping create 10 businesses, and two courses of the organization's Working Labs taught entrepreneurial skills to 20 people, Brown said.

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Before Global City Norwich, events in the city about cultural diversity were mostly small and in the library, said Otis Library Multicultural Services Coordinator Bassem Gayed.

“Instead of just doing a program for Hispanic Heritage Month in the library, Suki and the program would organize that on a bigger scale, with performers, and food trucks and vendors,” he said.

Events came to focus on specific cultures, like Peruvian and Dominican culture. For others, these events became opportunities to learn, dispel stereotypes, and come together, Gayed said.

Global City emphasized the city’s cultures in this way to be truly accepting, not just accepting bits and pieces. For example, Lagrito brought up how some people mistakenly homogenize Spanish-speaking cultures, even though they have their own unique culture and tradition.

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“It’s like saying (to an American) ‘oh yeah, you’re Canadian or British or something,’” Lagrito said.

In turn, Global City Norwich's co-operation with different communities, and the volunteers that wanted their culture celebrated, has made the organization more than a brand, "but an actual sentiment to be recognized," Brown said.

Lagrito has been known to keep working after hours to help stage the events, said Gary Wolinski, who regularly volunteered for Global City Norwich, and was on the Polish Fest Committee.

“I know that Suki was the main component to the whole operation, so for somebody to take that over could be a major undertaking,” he said.

Alderman Derell Wilson also said Lagrito has contributed a lot of time to Global City Norwich, and she deserves a break to see family.

“I am always of the motto ‘family comes first’,” he said.

What happens next?

Lagrito said that she’ll still be active in the community and more available through the Norwich Street Art Collective, the Norwich Rotary, and running The Main Plug, a streetwear store.

“The community here is a part of the fabric of my being, and it’s really grown on me,” she said.

Whatever path revitalization takes in downtown, Lagrito said she wants to be a part of it. However, she said city and community leaders need to step up to keep positive change going.

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“The negativity needs to stop, but the community has to make the change,” Lagrito said.

While more people have come to the city over the years, it was still a culturally diverse place even in the 1960’s and 1970’s, with Cape Verdeans, Irish, Polish, and others were there, Woliski said. However, what needs to be done next, whether or not it builds on the work of Global City Norwich and Lagrito.

“It’s all meant to be a positive push to build it back up,” Wolinski said.

This article originally appeared on The Bulletin: Global City Norwich on hiatus, Suki Lagrito resigns