New Haven Open House Celebrates Family and Community

From the Winter 2004 issue of Voice, the quarterly publication of Casey Family Services.

Casey Family Services welcomed more than 200 people to the official opening of its new administrative offices on Church Street in downtown New Haven, Connecticut. Community leaders, politicians, local business owners and child welfare advocates joined Casey staff and executives from the Annie E. Casey Foundation in the event, which marked the observance of National Adoption Month and National Family Week. A quartet of violinists from the city's Neighborhood Music School provided entertainment during a buffet lunch.

Casey Executive Director Raymond Torres welcomed the guests and presented New Haven Mayor John DeStefano Jr. with a Distinguished Service Award for his commitments to early childhood development programs and for his efforts in lobbying for affordable housing and building public-private partnerships within the community.

"This isn't a celebration of built space. It's a celebration of values," said Mayor DeStefano, before a standing-room-only audience. "And this reminds me that our resources come from communities like New Haven and are best vested in the real assets of the community, which are our families and children. ... It's good to look forward to strengthening partnerships and visions and possibilities."

"Our relocation to the Exchange Building and the heart of the city represents a welcomed and unprecedented opportunity to play a role in the city's renaissance," said Torres. Guests were invited to tour the building, which has undergone extensive renovations, and experience through various wall displays and video presentations the vast and dynamic work of the Annie E. Casey Foundation and its direct service arm, Casey Family Services.

"Over the next months we will be engaging in talks with colleagues and leaders from across the city to see how Casey staff, Casey experience, Casey research and Casey resources can become a meaningful asset in this city's efforts to strengthen the families that live here," said Doug Nelson, president of the Annie E. Casey Foundation.

The event also provided an opportunity to recognize adoptive parents and honor two Connecticut couples, Anthony and Jacquelyn Barrows and James and Carol Parker Strong, who were presented with awards for their commitment to helping disadvantaged children.

The Barrows have worked with Casey for the past seven years and recently received the 2003 Congressional Angels in Adoption award during a ceremony held in Washington, D.C. In addition to raising their biological children, the couple has adopted a child and is caring for a foster youth.

Joseph Tranfo, co-chairman of Casey's Board of Managers for more than 20 years, dedicated the organization's training room to Jim Casey, founder of United Parcel Service, the AECF and Casey Family Services. Tranfo was then presented with the agency's Distinguished Service Award.

"[Jim Casey] had a vision to do something for the most vulnerable children in our midst. This training room is designed for child welfare workers to build up themselves and others," said Tranfo.

"We are eager to begin this new era of collaboration and partnership with the City of New Haven," said Torres.

Board of Aldermen President Jorge Perez welcomed the agency. "New Haven is on the upswing, but it still has problems. [Casey's presence] will help ensure that as the city progresses, we will not forget those families that still need help."

New Haven's oldest commercial building, built in 1833, may be best known for housing the attorney, Roger Sherman Baldwin, who defended the captives of the slave ship the Amistad.