The Center for Urban Families (CFUF), a nonprofit organization that helps low- to moderate-income individuals and families enhance their skills and become self sufficient, cut the ribbon and opened the doors on its spanking new headquarters located at 2201 N. Monroe Street.
The Harry and Jeanette Weinberg building is larger and will enable CFUF to provide expanded services for its clients and former clients.
CFUF provides families with a selection of services to help them build skills and confidence to find the personal power to change. The organization's primary programs are Family Services, Workforce Development and Responsible Fatherhood. The new 31,953 square feet of commercial office and training facility will meet the needs of a significantly increasing number of individuals and families benefiting from CFUF's services.
"The purpose of constructing the new building was to allow us to increase our capacity. Over the last 3 to 4 years we've gotten the opportunity to add additional programming but we didn't have the space to house these services. We originally decided to look for a place to relocate and weren't considering building a new facility from scratch," says Joseph Jones, Jr., founder, president and CEO of the Center for Urban Families.
"But, this new facility gives us the opportunity, not only to expand services but to look at the types of partners we want to have to engage the folks most disconnected from the labor force and acquire the hard skills necessary to be more marketable and move up the wage scale," he continues
The new building will house the CFUF's family housing service as well as the organization's expanding list of programs to support its alumni.
PNC Bank contributed more than $5.5 million in financing to construct the new headquarters building in West Baltimore on the site of the old Baltimore Coliseum. PNC's investment consisted of a $4.2 million loan and $1.32 million in equity provided through the New Markets Tax Credits (NMTC) program. NMTC attract private capital investments to assist in financing economic development initiatives in low-income communities. This project is one of PNC's significant investments since the company acquired Mercantile Bankshares Corporation in March 2007.
"We are extremely grateful for PNC's investment," says Jones. "With this financial support, we are embarking on a pivotal period of growth and expanding our ability to connect low-income Baltimoreans to their families and the workplace."
The construction of this facility is expected to bring additional investment to this area of Baltimore that has benefited from redevelopment activities by the New Shiloh Baptist Church and improvements to the Mondawmin Mall.
"It is incredibly gratifying to be involved with a project that is so meaningful to the community," said Steve Palmer, PNC business banking relationship manager. "Thanks to a dedicated team of professionals, we have created a financing solution that will benefit the Center for Urban Families and demonstrate PNC's commitment to strengthen families and communities in Baltimore City."
Source: Joseph Jones, Jr., Center for Urban Families
Writer: Walaika Haskins