Coalition for Hispanic Family Services

CHFS emplyees posing for a group photo. They are smiling and making peace signs.

About Us

Coalition for Hispanic Family Services (CHFS) is a not-for-profit community-based family service agency located in New York City. We primarily serve the North Brooklyn communities of Bushwick, Williamsburg, Brownsville, Bedford Stuyvesant, and East New York; along with the Queens communities of Ridgewood, Glendale, Jackson Heights, Elmhurst, Corona, and surrounding areas.

Group of people smiling and posing inside a gymnasium or community center with a black banner behind them.

Our Mission

Our mission is to empower children, youth, and families with opportunities for success and self-reliance while reinforcing their sense of culture and self-identity. This is achieved through a holistic, culturally competent, family based approach.

People at an outdoor event, some handing out red bags, and adults talking and distributing materials.

Our History

The organization began in 1986 as a sub-committee of the Committee for Hispanic Children and Families. It consisted of a group of child welfare professionals who were concerned about the state of child welfare services to Latino children and families in New York City. Then, in 1989 the Coalition was established as a not-for-profit organization in New York State.

In 1990, through a legislative initiative sponsored by Assemblyman Albert Vann, the Coalition was awarded a start-up grant from the New York State Department of Social Services to provide community-based foster care services to Hispanic families. Over the years the agency’s services have expanded to include mental health, primary health care, after school education, HIV/AIDS case management, youth and parent training, youth leadership development, fatherhood support, family support, homelessness prevention and community service internships.