breaking the cycle of poverty. together

two organizations. two countries. one community.

The Center for Working Families (C4WF) is the U.S. arm of The Center – A Family of Families in Quito, Ecuador. Hands and feet of the same work.

The Center – A Family of Families was founded in Quito, Ecuador in 1964, answering the call to serve vulnerable families by meeting them where they are. The Center walks alongside families, opening doors to education, job training, food security, medical care and more. Programs grow and evolve to meet changing needs and families choose what doors to walk through. That work happens in community, with volunteers, staff, families and supporters building lasting change together- grounded in love, solidarity, justice, faith, and dignity.

The Center for Working Families (C4WF) exists to make sure the work in Quito continues. We raise funds, build awareness, and connect people here to a community that has been showing up for families in Quito for more than sixty years. This happens in three ways. Year-long volunteers live and serve at The Center on site. Service-learning trips bring groups to Quito for shorter immersions. And our fundraising and awareness work in the U.S. provides the financial support that keeps the day-to-day work going. The Center depends on the people who keep this work going. Giving, volunteering, traveling to Quito, or sharing the story aren't ways to support the work. They are part of it.

A hungry child can't focus in class. A parent without education struggles to make a living wage. The needs in front of any family rarely come one at a time, so neither does the work. What started with shoeshine boys in Quito in 1964 has grown with families' needs ever since. That's what comprehensive programs looks like at The Center: programs that address the many needs of the entire family.

Education- Pre-K through high school, and adult education
Job training, skills, and trades
Food security- meals, meal kits, urban gardening and nutrition support
Medical care
Mental health and counseling
Faith and spiritual support
Social services and legal support

Comprehensive. Everything is connected.

There are more than 325 families in the Center’s care.

Since the beginning of its work with the most vulnerable, more than 6,000 families have left the cycle of generational poverty because of the Center’s support.

Creating community is the cornerstone of our work; we accompany and empower families through comprehensive programs.

Together, we are a “Family of Families!”

Let’s get to the center of it… real words, real work.

Walking with. Walking alongside. Accompanying.

Picture a singer at the front of a stage, and a pianist behind. The song belongs to the singer. The piano isn't there to lead, compete, or take over. It is there to make the song fuller, to give it depth, to honor the voice that is already singing.

That is what accompaniment means at The Center. Each family writes their own life. The Center is the music underneath, helping that life sound richer, more dignified, more like the song the family always meant to sing.

And without C4WF and supporters like you, who keep this work going, there is no piano.

Community Support

Empowerment can sound like an organization handing power to a family. At The Center, it's the other way around.

A toolbox doesn't build the house. The builder does. The Center hands families the tools they need to build the lives they choose, but the vision, the work, and the choices belong to them.

Families set the goals. They choose the path. They build the life.