Center for Family Life

Center for Family Life Center for Family Life, is a neighborhood-based family and social services organization serving Sunset Park since 1978.

Learn more at centerforfamilylife.org/?utm_medium=facebook

At Center for Family Life, we want everyone in our community to feel warmth, love, and appreciation during the holiday s...
11/24/2025

At Center for Family Life, we want everyone in our community to feel warmth, love, and appreciation during the holiday season and year-round. ❤

Last week, our food pantry team spread the joy by partnering with District 38 Council member Alexa Avilés () and City Harvest () to distribute 175 turkeys to neighborhood families, an annual CFL tradition! 🦃

Programs like our food pantry are only possible with your incredible generosity. Donate and join us today to help ensure our community programs continue to thrive in the new year!

🔗 Learn how you can support our work and read November’s edition of Stories from the Field below:
https://centerforfamilylife.org/november-the-season-of-giving-2/

This past Tuesday, November 11th, we had the opportunity to gather in community for our food-pantry teach-in. We are dee...
11/14/2025

This past Tuesday, November 11th, we had the opportunity to gather in community for our food-pantry teach-in. We are deeply grateful to our clients who shared powerful testimonies that spoke to the significant impacts of the SNAP cuts.

Even though the essential benefits are set to resume, we will continue to advocate for the end of food insecurity for all.

On the last slide, listen to John, one of our clients, share his own story.

Created in collaboration with CFL, Cooportunity Cleaning () is a worker-owned business changing the industry through the...
11/10/2025

Created in collaboration with CFL, Cooportunity Cleaning () is a worker-owned business changing the industry through their approach that is rooted in care, purpose, and dignity 🤝

When you hire Cooportunity Cleaning, you get more than amazing service, you help achieve a more equitable economy! 🗣

🔗 Learn more about the company and book a cleaning today here:
https://coopportunity.coop

Center for Family Life’s food pantry serves thousands of people each year. Since the threat to SNAP benefits, we are fac...
11/07/2025

Center for Family Life’s food pantry serves thousands of people each year. Since the threat to SNAP benefits, we are facing longer pantry lines, and our stock is depleting at a much quicker rate.

In just one day this week, we helped 132 community members access our food pantry services, including many first-time clients and those directly impacted by the SNAP cuts.

We anticipate that the number of daily visitors will continue to rise as the shutdown continues and SNAP funding remains uncertain.

Cathy Vargas, our Community Services Program Director, shared, “Our phones have been ringing off the hook, asking for pantry services. Our lines are increasing. We see more stress in the faces of these families. And to add to the need, we’re now serving federal employees who are working without paychecks since the government shutdown.”

Since 1978, Center for Family Life has been a trusted resource for the Sunset Park community. When families visit CFL for food support, they are also connected to the many holistic services our settlement house offers.

Pictured is the food pantry line this Wednesday at 10AM.

Help us support families though the link below ♥️

https://secure.lglforms.com/form_engine/s/Ksp1yuSJ9g4ZcBVDdmBJ7A?field_62=org&field_61=web&field_60=donate

CFL is hiring 📢We are looking for enthusiastic individuals to join our team! 📄 The Benefits specialist is a new full-tim...
11/05/2025

CFL is hiring 📢

We are looking for enthusiastic individuals to join our team!

📄 The Benefits specialist is a new full-time role at CFL, this individual will work with our Benefits Access team to support families as they increase their economic stability.

💃 The part-time Dance Activity Specialist @ PS 94 will create and facilitate dance activities for after-school participants in collaboration with the larger school-based staff team.

🔗 Learn more and apply here:
https://centerforfamilylife.org/about-us/careers/

We have teamed up with Communities Speak! 🗣Through their survey, we are collecting information on the experiences of New...
11/03/2025

We have teamed up with Communities Speak! 🗣

Through their survey, we are collecting information on the experiences of New Yorkers to inform our city government and community-based organizations about our neighborhood needs!

Make your voice heard by taking this anonymous survey here ➡️
https://sipacolumbia.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_eUTrIrFUihn6D5k?source=29

🔗 Share the link with friends, family, and others in your network. This survey is completely anonymous and takes under 15 minutes to complete.

Visit the Communities Speak website at www.communitiesspeakproject.com, Instagram at communitiesspeaknyc, or Twitter at commspeaknyc to learn more about the project!

This Saturday, November 1st, join CFL at PS1 for Día de los Mu***os! 🌸It will be an afternoon filled with music, Zumba, ...
10/30/2025

This Saturday, November 1st, join CFL at PS1 for Día de los Mu***os! 🌸

It will be an afternoon filled with music, Zumba, arts & crafts activities, giveaways, and family fun 🎃

🏫 This event will take place in the PS1 schoolyard from 11AM-2PM

👏💜 Thank you to everyone who helped make Celebrating Community 2025 a massive success! It was a beautiful evening spent ...
10/29/2025

👏💜 Thank you to everyone who helped make Celebrating Community 2025 a massive success! It was a beautiful evening spent with friends of CFL, old and new, honoring Julie Stein Brockway's enduring legacy.

🎶 To cap the night off, current and former "Life Lines" participants and staff - accompanied by maracas of "joyful noise" from the crowd - performed the CFL classic, "The Heat of Sunset Park"! Swipe to hear a snippet.

⭐ Check out the link in our bio to learn more about the event and how you can support the newly established Julie Stein Brockway Innovation Fund.

10/27/2025

CFL is hiring! 📢

We are seeking a full-time Education Specialist for our school partnership at MS 136/821.

🗣️ This is an amazing opportunity to immerse yourself in neighborhood-based work through literacy skill-building programs.

🔗 Interested? Check out our website for more information!

We ❤ Afterschool!💡 CFL school sites had a blast yesterday celebrating  ! This nationwide event highlights the significan...
10/24/2025

We ❤ Afterschool!

💡 CFL school sites had a blast yesterday celebrating ! This nationwide event highlights the significance of afterschool programs as vital spaces for creativity, connection, and learning. These programs are crucial for students, families, and entire communities to thrive. 💪

🎃 Swipe to see some of the exciting activities participants engaged in, including dance, pumpkin carving, and reflecting on what they love about afterschool!

Afterschool Alliance NYC Department of Youth and Community Development

🎤 Listen to Liangliang Han, Program Director of the Family Enrichment Center at the Center for Family Life in Sunset Par...
10/23/2025

🎤 Listen to Liangliang Han, Program Director of the Family Enrichment Center at the Center for Family Life in Sunset Park, talk with Valerie Frost on the Community In-Site podcast!

🔊 In this episode, they explore CFL's very own RISE UP (), a community-driven initiative empowering immigrant families to co-design services, develop leaders, and rethink how funding can meet the needs of communities.

🔗 Check out the podcast here:
https://thrivingfamiliessaferchildren.org/podcasts/

Address

443 39th Street
New York, NY

Opening Hours

Monday 9am - 5pm
Tuesday 9am - 5pm
Wednesday 9am - 5pm
Thursday 9am - 5pm
Friday 9am - 5pm

Telephone

+17184389500

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About Us

Center for Family Life, a program of SCO Family of Services, is a neighborhood-based family and social services organization with deep roots in Sunset Park, Brooklyn.

Our mission is to promote positive outcomes for children, adults and families in Sunset Park through the provision of a comprehensive range of neighborhood-based family and social services. We partner with the community to provide access to resources and opportunities for personal growth and the development of interpersonal relationships that sustain and nurture families, support youth to develop into confident, capable adults and enrich the quality of life for neighborhood residents.

Sunset Park is a densely populated, low-income neighborhood with a large percentage of recent immigrants. Community residents have limited access to the resources needed to grow and thrive. Within this context, we offer a comprehensive range of programs and services that address families’ needs from every angle. These include family counseling and neighborhood-based foster care; cultural, educational and recreational programs at neighborhood public schools, adult and youth employment programs; and an emergency storefront for food and advocacy.

Poverty, inadequate educational and limited employment opportunities are a few of the enormous challenges that Sunset Park residents confront. At the Center, we witness the energy, creativity, and productivity of community residents, as well as the powerful human struggle to overcome these challenges and gain access to the resources needed to sustain a vibrant and nurturing community. The Center’s work is rooted in the daily, lived experience of this community and guided by a vision of families and social institutions evolving over time and contributing to each other’s ongoing growth. We dedicate ourselves to service because we believe that the social inequity that impacts the residents of Sunset Park is deeply unjust, and that when inequity is eliminated, human potential becomes limitless.