Hope Haven Center

1101 Barataria Blvd.
Marrero, LA 70072
Telephone: 504-347-5581
Mr. Issac Raferty, Principal

Facility Snapshot

Hope Haven Center was designed in the Spanish Colonial Revival style.

Hope Haven Center (formerly Hope Haven and Madonna Manor) is a residential center for abused, neglected, and delinquent youth. It provides on-site schooling, clothing, meals, and on-the-town outings for troubled youth ages 5-18. An orphanage until 1980, the Center was converted into an N/D institution that provides services for children and adolescents under the auspices of Catholic Charities Archdiocese of New Orleans.

Hope Haven is a co-ed, institution serving children who are neglected, delinquent, or abused. The Center has self contained classrooms to provide instruction to children who reside there and it is liscenced to care for children ages 5 to 18.

There are four facilities in all at Hope Haven. Madonna Manor is the main building for boys and the children in its honor program, while across the street is an all-girls unit. There is a homeless shelter for the entire parish that feeds into the parish school system, run by the center, and

Hope Haven also offers an Independent Living program for its former residents.

Hope Haven has an extensive teacher training program for teachers, and has even higher hiring requirements than Jefferson Parish because the school population has more needs. Most teachers are certified by the state, the parish, or have a temporary certification. Currently, the Center is transitioning from a non-graded institution to a graded one, in part because of new No Child Left Behind guidelines.

Hope Haven Center is using Title I funds to provide students and staff access to technology. Recently, the Center began developing a computer lab which will provide students and staff with access to the internet to conduct research and obtain information. The new computers will be used to enhance the Center's reading program and will also allow teachers to more easily obtain technical training. The new technology is part of the INTECH (Intensive Technology) component of the Center's curriculum, which aims to effectively integrate the use of technology within a classroom environment.

All children entering the Center undergo intake testing, administered by teachers at the center. The Metropolitan Achievement Test (MAT) is used at center to assess students' academic performance, and each student also receives a psychiatric consultation. In addition to a GED program, Hope Haven Center offfers an independent living curriculum in which all students participate.

Hope Haven Center is a privately funded institution.

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