New Haven has any number of resources that might help with the completion of this project. If this project is being done outside of New Haven, then I would look for familiar institutions in your local community. The director of education at the New Haven Museum (www.newhavenmuseum.org), Michelle Cheng (educationnewhavenmuseum.org), has offered to be a contact for school groups coming into the museum. This makes the museum a valuable and easy to access resource. The museum's current exhibit regarding Wooster Square provides an interesting perspective on local history. It is worth a visit so students can see the value of personal testimony, objects as artifacts, and get a larger perspective of New Haven's history. The museum's exhibit also connects the stories of the people to the themes and ideas discussed in class.
The museum is an important resource for its archives which they can open to students. As students research the background of their neighborhoods, the archives of the museum can provide a different insight into than what is easily available on the internet. Taking your kids to the archive would be a great exercise for them to understand the work of historians. In this theme, visiting a local library or historical society might also provide the same experience. There will usually be staff at these locations willing and able to help students connect with needed resources.
The most important message regarding local resources and help should be that as the teacher. Your job is to connect students with different kinds of resources that can help them finish this project. As such, reaching out to these institutions can help make any project successful. While collaboration is not a necessity, it can help students better understand what you are asking of them and provide them with multiple perspectives to understand their city and their neighborhoods.