Help Local Families Celebrate the Holidays with Dignity!
Your donation helps us provide Stop and Shop gift cards to families who face challenges of food insecurity. With your help we can ensure they can put holiday meals on their tables and create lasting memories.
Donate NowLearn about the heart of Bergen Family Center, our staff! This is how we support families across Bergen County every day.
From early childhood education and after school programs to parenting support and services for seniors, our team is committed to walking alongside families through every stage of life.
From HIPPY to our After School Programs to our programs for Parents and Seniors, BFC covers all the bases.
Our comprehensive approach ensures that every member of the family—from young children to seniors—receives the support and resources they need to thrive.
At Bergen Family Center, we empower individuals of all ages—from infants to seniors—to overcome challenges and thrive. As Bergen County's oldest social services agency, we're committed to building a stronger, more equitable community where everyone has the opportunity to succeed.
Every child deserves a strong educational foundation. Through HIPPY (Home Instruction for Parents of Preschool Youngsters), we're empowering parents to become their children's first and most important teachers—creating a legacy of learning that lasts a lifetime.
What started with 20 families has blossomed into a movement—today, we've helped 550 families graduate from our program. This year alone, 80 families and 82 children are building the skills they need for lifelong success through personalized, in-home support and structured learning experiences.
From its founding in 1898 as an organization of boys' clubs, Bergen Family Center has developed into the county's oldest continuously operating family service agency. The Woman's Club of Englewood, which started the boys organization, added a day nursery in 1900 which launched a total family-supportive mission. For the next several decades the agency operated under a number of different names and in varied locations, becoming the Social Service Federation in the 1920s.
The 1950s saw a spinoff of the clinical counseling and family advocacy departments into a separate entity, the Family Service of Bergen County headquartered in Hackensack. In 1997 the two organizations reunited and five years later took the name of Bergen Family Center, better reflecting our commitment to the diverse needs of our county's families.
Just last year we celebrated 125 years of service in Bergen County, we've established ourselves as the recognized leader in delivering social services to families. Our century-plus of experience has given us deep insights into the evolving needs of our community, allowing us to provide the most effective and compassionate support to those we serve.
Memorial House circa 1904