* Welcome to the Fair Haven Community Health Center! *
The Fair Haven Community Health Center is a not-for-profit primary health care organization that has been dedicated to serving the greater Fair Haven Community since 1971. We provide comprehensive health care – from prenatal to pediatric, adolescent to adult and geriatric. Our mission is to provide excellent, accessible health care to the residents of our community, regardless of their ability to pay. A consumer and community-based board of directors, the majority of whom are patients, gives guidance and direction to our mission.
History Of Fair Haven Community Health Center
In August 1971, under the leadership of a community advocacy agency called the Alliance for Latin American Progress, the Fair Haven Clinic opened in a local elementary school two evenings a week. With a small group of dedicated nurses, doctors, students, and neighborhood volunteers, the Clinic was able to serve adults and children on a walk-in basis for minor ailments, immunizations, and family planning services. During that first year, we provided 500 visits with an original budget of $5,000 from the Community Foundation of Greater New Haven.
During the 1970s, the Clinic expanded services from episodic care to more comprehensive primary health care. Patients began to consider Fair Haven their medical home and a place where they could come for help. We also acquired our first building in 1976, a handsome old Victorian house, which stands as an anchor on Grand Avenue, the main thoroughfare of our community. We tripled our hours from 16 to 50 per week in 1978 and initiated a clinic at the Bella Vista Elderly Housing Complex.
The 1980s was a time of major expansion and growth with the award of federal funding (330 Grant), assignees from the National Health Services Corps, our first full-time clinical staff, and the opening of a satellite at Wilbur Cross High School. We changed our name from the Fair Haven Clinic to the Fair Haven Community Health Center to reflect the broader range of services we are providing. In 1988, we purchased a second, adjacent building to connect to our current facility. Through the 1990s and into the present, we have continued to expand and grow and now provide care to many 3-generational families in a comfortable, accessible, and supportive environment.
