The Conway Education Center houses a school for young adults and children with developmental differences and the Child Development Center.
For almost seven decades, a stretch of Buchanan Street in Washington, D.C.’s Ward 5 has been a place of possibility. What began in 1959 as the Lt. Joseph P. Kennedy Institute, a special education school founded by the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur, has educated thousands of children and young adults with developmental differences. In the late 1980s, it expanded to include a center for children aged six weeks to three years of all abilities.
On February 11, that legacy took a transformative step forward with the dedication of the new, state-of-the-art, ADA-compliant Conway Education Center. The new facility honors its past while reimagining what inclusive education can look like in the nation’s capital.
“This Center – like the Joseph P. Kennedy School before it – is more than just a structure,” said Jim Malloy, CEO and president of Catholic Charities DC. “For 67 years and counting, the school and later the child development center, represent the dignity, possibility, and our unwavering belief that every child deserves an environment designed specifically to enable their success and unleash their God-given potential.”
Washington, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser joined Cardinal Robert McElroy and community leaders at the dedication, thanking Catholic Charities for “continuing to invest in Washingtonians – all of us.” She added, “Schools are made up of caring people, and education, education, education is the great equalizer.”
The education center is made possible in part by a generous gift from the Bedford Falls Foundation-DAF, established by Bill Conway. “I was in one of the classrooms and on the wall there is a sign and it says, ‘when you walk into this classroom you are respected, loved, wonderful, extraordinary, special, important, strong, amazing, tough, understood, super, cared for, smart, and you are the reason we are here,'” said Bill Conway. “And that’s the reason we are here today.”
Every design choice, from the new ramp system to the U-shaped courtyard, was made with student dignity and growth as the central focus. Faculty and staff provided critical input throughout the process that came to fruition thanks to A Complete Unknown Architects and Coakley & Williams Construction.
Cardinal Robert McElroy called the facility “a beautiful, beautiful place” that represents “the vision of God…to see everyone, every single person, as God sees them – imbued with human dignity and potential.”
For Matthew Putu, executive director of developmental disabilities services at Catholic Charities DC, the new building represents years of dreaming and planning. “It’s been coming for a long time,” he said during the dedication. “Our children will thrive in this beautiful new space.”
That sentiment resonated deeply with Adenrele Davis, who knows the school and child development center from two perspectives: as a staff member and as the mother of a student. “Watching my son thrive here is a gift that I will always treasure,” Davis said. She praised the new facility because “it opens the door to endless possibilities for our children and young adults.”
On Buchanan Street, nestled between 8th and 10th, where possibilities have lived for over 60 years, a new chapter has begun, one that honors the past while building a future where every child can reach their highest potential.
About the Conway Education Center
The new Conway Education Center is a state-of-the-art, ADA-compliant facility designed specifically to serve students with developmental differences and young children of all abilities, providing them with the dignity and accessibility they deserve.