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Center for Urban Families Launches $7.5 Million Capital Campaign. Center Also Announces New Name, Web Site

Nearly $4 Million Already Donated to Fund New Building, Programs

Baltimore – Formerly known as the Center for Fathers, Families and Workforce Development, the Center for Urban Families announces the launch of a campaign to raise $7.5 million to purchase and renovate a new headquarters building in West Baltimore and to expand programs serving low-income families throughout the city.

The campaign launch coincides with the organization’s announcement of its new name – Center for Urban Families – and its new web site: www.cfuf.org, which will go live on Nov. 1.

The Center for Urban Families already has received nearly $4 million from generous Baltimore partners, including:

The fundraising effort, called the Second Decade Campaign, aims to fulfill the organization’s vision of serving 20,000 people by 2012, doubling services provided to Baltimore residents on an annual basis. About $5.3 million will pay for the Center’s new location at 2201 North Monroe Street, easily accessible by public transportation in the Mondawmin neighborhood. The new headquarters building will allow the Center to serve more parents and families, including many ex-offenders, with more offerings, including additional computer training and job search services, literacy programs, GED preparation classes, on-site career fairs and specialized skills training. The remaining $2.2 million will create an endowment for program operation and expansion.

“We are extremely grateful to the generous funders who have provided the foundation for Our Second Decade Campaign,” says Joseph Jones, founder, president and CEO of the Center for Urban Families. “With their support, and the support of many others, we are embarking on a pivotal period of growth and expanding CFUF’s ability to connect low-income Baltimoreans to their families and the workplace.”

The Second Decade Campaign will celebrate its launch with an event on Tuesday evening, Oct. 30, at the Lutherville home of Chip and Rhona Wendler. Reporters are welcome to attend the event. For details, contact Jamie McDonald at 443-850-7459. The start of the campaign coincides with the launch of the Center for Urban Families’ new name and web site, www.cfuf.org, which goes live on Nov. 1. The new name was chosen to better capture the breadth of the organization’s work in connecting men and women to career paths and strong family models. The Center’s programs are all targeted at improving the lives of urban families with a work-first approach. Among CFUF’s notable programs are STRIVE Baltimore, which offers job training and career development, and the Baltimore Responsible Fatherhood Project, which supports low-income fathers in employment and developing positive, engaged relationships with their children. The Center also offers the Building Strong Families program, which promotes healthy relationships and marriage among low-income African-Americans in Baltimore.

Since 1999, the Center for Urban Families has served Baltimore’s most challenged communities, changing the lives of men, women, and their children by preparing healthy adults to enter the workforce, making career path connections and exposing parents to strong family models. The organization has provided services to 14,000 people–the majority of whom are now employed, productive citizens passing these new-found skills on to the next generation.

The Second Decade Campaign is being led by a committee that includes David Warnock, George and Betsy Sherman, Dr. Edward Cornwell, Jan Houbolt, Freeman Hrabowski, Donald Manekin, Jamie McDonald, and Stephen Palmer.

 

Since its inception in 1999, the Center for Urban Families has been committed to its mission of assisting individuals in regaining the personal power to benefit their families and communities. For more information, visit www.cfuf.org.