Farnam Neighborhood House

Henry Farnam (1803-1883) established Farnam House in the middle of the 1800s. In the 1900s, Farnam was known as a settlement house for older adults. A settlement house is an institution providing various community services especially to large populations. Now Farnam House plays a different role in the community. Farnam has a major responsibility for kids and their actions and words.

In 1963 Farnam House added “neighborhood” to the name to represent the community. In 1968, other members of the Farnam family gave Farnam Neighborhood House to New Haven. Ever since then, Farnam has been known as a great recreational center for children and adults.
Today, Farnam Neighborhood House offers preschool and afterschool programs that include supervised play, homework help and tutoring. Such programs benefit not only children but also their over-burdened parents. Farnam, for example, offers a GED class for adults while providing daycare for their children.

Frank Redente, who has been a big part of Farnam for 28 years, is quick to talk about Farnam’s successes. Farnam is mostly known for basketball, but there are other great activities that are not often given credit such as nutrition classes, girl scouts, dance, and drama. Farnam even does special performances on main holidays. “Last year we did a Christmas performance at Betsy Ross Magnet School called The Scrooge,” Frank said. “We even go to the Mary Wade Home three times a month to support all of the elderly people who live there.”

Kids learn a lot from being at Farnam. They learn self-respect and respect towards one another. That helps them interact with each other. They also learn about different ethnic backgrounds to catch up on their history.

Farnam is also known for its charity drives. About twice a month they help cater food for a church called “The Star of Jacob.” Farnam gets about 400 kids and adults to donate food for the food drive and toys and other great gifts for Christmas.

Farnam and the Q House, another long-standing community organization, are very similar. There are both known as the biggest recreational centers in New Haven. The only difference between the Q House and Farnam is that they offer different programs. The Q house offers housing and other financial programs. Since the Q House is shut down for now, Farnam has a bigger responsibility to take care of. “Ever since the Q House shut down we’ve had twice as many kids coming in, so for now our main focus is what we can do to keep these kids out of trouble,” Mr. Redente added.

Farnam has a long, important history. Farnam has made a big difference in a lot of kids’ lives, whether they live in Fair Haven and in the rest of New Haven. Hopefully Farnam will continue on for as many years as it has already been around.

- Mary Alvarez