CCDA - Jeffrey Wallace Award

The Connecticut Community Development Association annually bestows the Jeffrey Wallace Award to recognize a Connecticut housing and community development professional who has shown an extraordinary commitment to the human side of the housing and community development enterprise. It is given in honor of Jeffrey Wallace, a Community Planning and Development Representative with the U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Hartford Field Office who especially valued the important role that social services, addressing basic human needs, played in improving the quality of life of low- and moderate-income persons. Jeffrey was an integral member of the Connecticut Community Development Association, a member of the Board of Directors for many years and a Past President, who died of cancer at a young age.

Merle Berke-Schlessel, Esq.,

Merle Berke-Schlessel is the President and Chief Executive Officer of the United Way of Eastern Fairfield County (UWEFC), a regional United Way serving the six-town area of Bridgeport, Easton, Fairfield, Monroe, Stratford and Trumbull. Like many United Ways around the country, the UWEFC has refocused its mission in recent years.

“We recognize that our society and its needs have changed, so we have adopted a new mission,” said Ms. Berke-Schlessel. “We are working to improve people’s lives by mobilizing the caring power of our communities. To do this, we will energize and inspire people to make a difference.”

Specifically, each program the United Way funds – either with dollars or volunteers – will address needs in one of six areas:

  • Nurturing children and youth
  • Strengthening families
  • Supporting older people
  • Providing basic human needs
  • Promoting health, wellness and safety
  • Increasing self-sufficiency

In practice, this commitment has been brought forth in Ms. Berke-Schlessel’s personal advocacy on behalf of the homeless and the many homeless assistance agencies and providers that form the Greater Bridgeport Area Continuum of Care. Through funding for their Destination Home program the UWEFC has shown an extraordinary commitment to end homelessness in the Bridgeport region and Ms. Berke-Schlessel’s advocacy has taken her all the way to the White House to advocate on their behalf. It is for this commitment, this dedication and this basic understanding that the lack of affordable housing in this region and indeed, throughout Connecticut, requires an approach that addresses the needs of all of our citizens to have a decent place to live, that the Connecticut Community Development Association is pleased to present its 2007 Jeffrey Wallace Award to Merle Berke-Schlessel.

Jeff Wallace Award Recipients

  • 2009 Richard Schuster, Executive Director, Saint Luke’s LifeWorks (Berlin Meeting)
  • 2008 Curtis O. Law, Executive Director, Norwalk Housing Authority (Norwak Meeting)
  • 2007 Merle Berke-Schlessel, President, United Way of Eastern Fairfield County (Bridgeport)
  • 2006 Mary Ellen Morgan, HUD retired (Norwich Mtg)
  • 2005 Lydia Brewster, North End Action Team, Middletown (Middletown Mtg)
  • 2004 Ralph Paolillo, West Haven CD (Hartford Mtg)
  • 2003 Paul Christie, City Center Churches for Peter's Retreat (HIV Shelter) (New London Mtg)
  • 2002 Pat Williams
  • 2001 Ellen Isidro, Stamford United Way (Hartford Mtg)
  • 2000 AIn the Making@ of Waterbury. Sister Marie Burke, Executive Director (Meeting location?)
  • 1999 Norwich Social Services Dept. - Job Training Program (Foxwoods Mtg)

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