Cardinal Wilton Gregory joined officials from Catholic Charities of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington, District of Columbia representatives and Kennedy School staff to break ground Oct. 2 on a new facility that will serve students and young people with autism, intellectual and emotional disabilities and other special learning needs.
The Conway Education Center will be built on Buchanan Street in Northeast Washington adjacent to the Kennedy School and Child Development Center. Originally named the Lt. Joseph P. Kennedy Institute, the Kennedy School was established in 1959, and serves children and young adults with learning differences.
Once the new building is completed, the Kennedy School and Child Development Center will transition into the Conway Education Center. The facility will be “a vital education center” that will serve students “who not only have special needs, but who share their special gifts with the Church,” Cardinal Gregory said prior offering a blessing at the groundbreaking.
The $24.1 million project was partially funded by a $5 million donation from the Bedford Falls Foundation established by William E. Conway Jr., a co-founder of The Carlyle Group, and his wife, Joanne, who died last January. The remainder of the permanent funding for the new facility will come from the sale of 4.7 acres of the old school property. The old school will be demolished, and a townhome community will be built on the property.
Conway said he was reluctant at first to have the new facility named after him.
“I’m not looking for any special attention in this world, but I would like to be taken care of in the next,” he quipped.
He added that “in my life, I didn’t always do what I could have done and should have done,” but said he has been inspired by the “Who is my neighbor?” question posed in the Gospel of Luke (10:29). “It is a question of ‘who is my neighbor,’ and so I say, ‘you are all my neighbor.’”
Thanking Conway for the donation, David DiLuigi, chairman of Catholic Charities Board of Directors, said, “We would not be standing here today without Bill’s generosity.”
“We’ve needed a new location, a new building – this (current) building cannot meet the needs of our students and staff,” DiLuigi said. “The Conway Education Center will carry our child-caring into the future ... the scope is incredible.”
Jim Malloy, president and CEO of Catholic Charities, said the new facility continues Catholic Charities’ “deeply held commitment and mission to caring for children.”
He said the building “represents a promise of a future where our children will thrive.”
The new Conway Education Center will be 36,300-square-foot, two-story facility housing both the Kennedy School for students ages six to 22 years and the Child Development Center for children ages six weeks to three years with and without developmental disabilities. It will include a dining hall/multipurpose room, library, administrative offices, classrooms, a science lab and a music/art room.
“The Conway Education Center will allow us to expand our capabilities and help young adults and children with disabilities reach their highest potential,” Malloy said in a prepared statement prior to the groundbreaking. “This is a milestone in Catholic Charities’ more than 90-year history. We are filled with anticipation about what a new state-of-the-art school will mean for our students.”
The project is the result of cooperation between The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington, Catholic Charities, the District government and Kennedy School officials. “We are working together, and that collaboration is what engenders enthusiasm,” Cardinal Gregory said.
Brian Schwalb, the District of Columbia’s attorney general, applauded Catholic Charities and the Kennedy School for their “great service to our community,” adding that “we are not only celebrating a groundbreaking, but we are also celebrating the future of our children.”
“This organization stands up for people who are too often unseen and who are vulnerable,” Schwalb said. He said the Conway Education Center “will help students learn and explore and grow and flourish.”
Matthew Putu, executive director of Catholic Charities’ Developmental Disabilities Services, praised the Kennedy School for its “nurturing environment ... which for the last 65 years has seen many critical transformations in our students’ lives.”
He said that as the Conway Education Center was being planned and designed, “every detail was considered with the best interest of the needs of our students.”
The new building was designed with input from faculty and staff and will feature a shaded, safe courtyard where children can play, an outdoor classroom, amphitheater and dining terrace, a ramp to enable students of all abilities to easily circulate through the building, and a kitchen in the dining space that will allow students to prepare simple meals as they learn life skills.
Adenrele Davis, a mother of a student in the Kennedy School’s child development center, said, “My son has learned so much and received so much since attending here.” She added, “I am so happy to see my son thrive, and the Conway Education Center will bring so many opportunities to our students.”
The new Conway Education Center is scheduled to open in fall 2025, and the existing school and Child Development Center will remain open during construction.
