A Hard-Hit Valley

For 150 years, the Naugatuck Valley was one of the most industrialized places on earth. But starting in the 1970s, rapid and catastrophic deindustrialization struck the “Brass Valley.”

In the face of economic adversity, several dozen religious, labor, community, and small business organizations formed the Naugatuck Valley Project to help the region’s hard-hit residents address their economic devastation. 

Over the past twenty five years, the NVP has trained hundreds of leaders and organized hundreds of campaigns around jobs, housing, healthcare, education, environment, industrial brownfield redevelopment, youth leadership training, and dozens of other issues that affect the daily life of ordinary people in the Naugatuck Valley. 

People from up and down the Naugatuck Valley, from the cities and the suburbs, and from diverse ethnic, racial, and religious subcultures have participated in the NVP.

The NVP is recognized nationally as a leader in training and empowering community residents to address economic and social problems through their own action. 

The NVP’s twenty-five year history can contribute to thinking about how to meet the economic adversity facing the Valley, the country, and the world today.