[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 101 (Tuesday, June 14, 2022)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E616-E617]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   CELEBRATING THE 50TH ANNIVERSARY OF CHAPEL HAVEN SCHLEIFER CENTER

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. ROSA L. DeLAURO

                             of connecticut

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, June 14, 2022

  Ms. DeLAURO. Madam Speaker, it is with great pleasure that I rise 
today to join the residents, families, administration, and supporters 
of Chapel Haven Schleifer Center as they mark the 50th Anniversary of 
this very special organization.
  In 1972 a group of parents who shared the challenges of caring for 
adult children with varying levels of social and developmental 
disabilities banded together to try to find a solution to a common 
goal. As the late Jerry Rossman, one of the Center's co-founders, once 
described, they wanted ``a place where our kids could live and learn 
their independence and then go home.'' Since they could not find an 
existing program to meet their needs, the opened the Chapel Haven 
Schleifer Center as a private non-profit special needs agency. The 
Center was opened on Chapel Street in New Haven, Connecticut with 6 
students, 2 staff, and a dog.

[[Page E617]]

  As word of the program's success spread and enrolled adults chose to 
make New Haven their lifelong home, the agency began to expand and 
needed to move to a larger campus. Today, Chapel Haven Schleifer Center 
occupies a flourishing campus on Whalley Avenue and serves over two-
hundred fifty adults, ranging in age from eighteen to seventy, who are 
living with Down Syndrome, autism, intellectual disabilities, Asperger 
Syndrome and more.
  The program's mission is to empower adults with social and 
developmental disabilities to live independent and self-determined 
lives. A new $41.5 million capital campaign has resulted in state-of-
the-art residential, teaching and community spaces, including the 
addition of a senior living facility, allowing senior members of the 
community to continue to live among friends and with independence.
  Chapel Haven Schleifer Center has been recognized locally and 
nationally with a myriad of awards and commendations. The deep 
partnerships they have built within the New Haven community, 
particularly in Westville community which they call home, have enabled 
the Chapel Haven Schleifer Center to create a safe, nurturing 
environment where their clients and residents can thrive. It is my 
honor to stand today to extend my deepest thanks and appreciation to 
the dedication administration and staff as well supporters of Chapel 
Haven for all that they do to ensure the success of this very special 
organization. Congratulations and Happy 50th Anniversary.

                          ____________________