Hampden Family Center to close over lack of funding

Facility says fewer clients, loss of programs affected its bottom line

After operating for nearly 30 years, the Hampden Family Center said it will close permanently this summer because of a lack of funding.

After conducting a study of its operations and undertaking various changes to its programming, “In the end, we determined that the declining numbers of clients with the greatest needs could be served by other providers in the community — our number one concern, and the viability of the Center is no longer sustainable,” Angela Profili, president of the Hampden Family Center board of directors, wrote in a letter to supporters this month.

The center closed temporarily in August. In the fall, the organization launched a 100-day study and found the number of clients steadily declining, Profili said in the letter. While the center had tried to adapt as demographics changed over the years, the COVID-19 pandemic hit and disrupted the center’s operations, Profili said.

The Hampden Family Center lost the ability to offer after-school programs, causing the center to lose critical funding. The organization said it tried to recoup its losses by seeking more grants, varying staffing and attracting other service providers to share the 7,000-squarefoot building. However, the center couldn’t attract enough clients to maintain operations, Profili said.

“Through it all, our collective care for those in the we have not served has not wavered,” Profili said in the letter.

Profili did not respond to requests for comment.

According to the most recent tax filing available, as of June 30, 2022, the nonprofit was running more than $34,000 in the red. Total revenues were $488,920, and expenses were $523,060.

The previous year, the family center netted a $65,477 profit, with total revenues of $473,443 and total expenses of $407,966.

The Hampden Family Center opened June 10, 1995, according to a history posted on its website.

For more than a quarter century, the organization aimed to strengthen the community by providing such programs as literacy classes for adults, monthly lunches for older adults, and after-school and summer programs for children.

In a Facebook post March 3, the nonprofit’s board said it would suspend operations this summer and is working to relocate a community health coordinator, help its clients find a place to receive mail, and potentially come up with a plan to create a new group that could “serve as a catalyst for improving the quality of life in our neighborhood.”

“Confident that the mission of the HFC will continue on through others, we look forward to seeing it manifest in a new vision that supports the Hampden of today,” the organization said in the post. “Thank you for your unwavering support that has played a pivotal role in serving Baltimore’s one-of-a-kind Hampden.”