Who We Are

On June 29, 1915, 14 homeless children found a home at 904 Newton Street NE, Washington, D.C. This marked the official opening of the National Center for Children and Families (formerly the Baptist Home for Children, a local orphanage founded by the DC Baptist Convention of churches). These children inspired the early beginnings of this private, nonprofit organization whose mission has always been dedicated to serving children in desperate need. John B. Lord, a member of the Brookland Baptist Church in Washington, DC, donated the nine-room house, NCCF’s first site. In November of 1931, First Lady Lou Henry Hoover dedicated newly completed dormitories located on a 140-acre farm in Bethesda, Maryland; the Center’s present day base of operations. Following WWII, NCCF sold all but 13 acres of the farm to generate needed revenue.

In 1999, Mrs. Tipper Gore, America’s Second Lady, served as Honorary Chair of NCCF’s 85th anniversary gala. A year later, under the leadership of Bill Shaw, president and COO of Marriott International, NCCF launched an ambitious and successful capital campaign—called Campaign Caring—which renovated the 13-acre campus in Bethesda to better serve homeless families and abandoned youth. The money raised helped build new dormitories, the John and Penny White Volunteer and Training Center, and the Freddie Mac Foundation Youth Activities Center (YAC), a venue to meet the physical, educational, recreational, social, emotional, and spiritual needs of the young people served by NCCF. The Campaign also allowed for the complete renovations of the two 1930’s administration and emergency family shelter buildings.

For nearly a century, NCCF’s mission has been driven by a great sense of community responsibility for vulnerable children and families who live in the midst of one of the most educated and affluent regions in the world. Today, it has transformed from a historical orphanage to a responsive and flexible community institution which changes to meet the needs of the diverse children, youth, and families it serves. Currently, NCCF’s residential programs serve homeless families, victims of domestic violence, and children and adolescents who have been removed from their families due to abuse and neglect and/or behavioral challenges. A nationally accredited organization, NCCF now propels more than 51,000 children, youth, and families annually into an improved quality of life through a wide continuum of 24 programs: emergency shelters and transitional housing, therapeutic residential care, foster care and adoption, teen parent services, and community-based prevention services, while relying on community education and training, volunteerism, and advocacy.