Klingberg Family Centers in New Britain officially opened Thursday new satellite quarters in Hartford’s Charter Oak neighborhood from which it has expanded its programs and services to needy families.
The facility at 157 Charter Oak Ave. replaces space Klingberg rented for a decade at Oak Hill School in Hartford’s Blue Hills neighborhood, said President Rosemarie Burton.
The office actually opened back in April, but a formal ribbon cutting was being held Thursday.
Congressman John B. Larson, D-1st District, who secured $400,000 in federal funds so Klingberg could expand its regional programming and services, was also to take part.
“We want to be in Hartford because a lot of people we serve live there and are in tough situations and tough neighborhoods,” Burton said. “These are families who having difficulties managing their children. We help them access the resources so they can stay together as a family.”
Klingberg receives funding from the state Department of Children and Families for its community programming.
In addition to housing field teams, the Charter Oak office offers an outpatient clinic, a visitation center for families with children in foster care, a life-skills program for children in foster care to prepare them for independent living. Also, a portion of the building is used as a training facility for counselors involved in treating physically and emotionally abused children.
Klingberg’s main New Britain campus houses, among other things, a special-education school and a residential mental health treatment center for children.
Founded in 1903, Klingberg also runs group homes in New Britain, Plymouth and Wethersfield.
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