WASHINGTON, March 30, 2022– Community of Hope (COH) relocated their Family Health and Birth Center, opening to patients on March 30, 2022. The Center provides primary medical and emotional wellness for the whole family as well as being the only free-standing birth center in Washington, DC.
Located just 1.5 miles from the previous health center, this new Center is over 20,000 square feet including the first floor with 14 medical exam rooms and two integrated emotional wellness consult rooms for team-based medical care. The second floor features the birth suite with two home-like birth rooms with an accompanying family room; six emotional wellness rooms; a multipurpose room to host CenteringPregnancy® group prenatal care and other health education sessions; family supports suite; and a pharmacy which will open in late summer. The third floor will be home to the call centers, maternal and infant health teams, and other COH staff.
The $22 million project was funded through a new markets tax credit, with JPMorgan Chase as the investor, Harbor Bank of Maryland and Partners for The Common Good as Community Development Entities, and City First Bank as the lender. Over 300 foundations and individuals supported an $11.7 million private fundraising campaign – The Healthy Beginnings, Hopeful Futures Campaign. Lead gifts included the $7.5 million investment from the A. James & Alice B. Clark Foundation and a $1 million pledge from the Developing Families Center (DFC).
“Community of Hope could not be happier to be expanding the Family Health and Birth Center. Community of Hope works to address inequities in health care, which were even more evident during the pandemic. We are thrilled to be able to stay in Ward 5 and to be able to serve more people in this bright and beautiful building,” says Kelly Sweeney McShane, Community of Hope’s President and CEO.
“Seeing families walk through the doors of this striking new center is a huge milestone for our vision of a DC where all children have the opportunity to grow, learn, and reach their full potential. Community of Hope has taken our investment and grown it into not only a remarkable facility but a comprehensive and integrated healthcare approach where families will thrive,” says Ryan Palmer, Director of DC Community Initiatives at the A. James & Alice B. Clark Foundation.
“When government, private institutions and nonprofits work together, nothing is out of reach,” said Courtney Nolan, Vice President, Community Development Banking, JPMorgan Chase. “We’re proud to provide a $20 million New Markets Tax Credit investment to support the Community of Hope Family Health and Birth Center in improving access to the high quality and compassionate healthcare services that mothers, babies and other family members in DC need and deserve.”
An official grand opening celebration will be held on April 30th, including the ribbon-cutting ceremony and HopeFest: a family wellness festival. This family-friendly event will provide the first opportunity to welcome not only current patients but our new neighbors to see the center of hope and healing.
The development team included Forrester Construction, Gensler Architects, Rosewood Strategies and Montage Development Group. With this team, Community of Hope purchased the facility in September 2019, started construction in January 2020, and pressed through the pandemic to complete in a timely manner. Community of Hope also procured art from 20 artists, primarily DC-based and people of color, including Zsudayka Nzinga Terrell, James Terrell, David Amoroso, Aziza Gibson Hunter, and Camille Mosley Pasley, among many others.
ABOUT COMMUNITY OF HOPE
Founded in 1980, Community of Hope is a rapidly growing, innovative, and mission-driven nonprofit. Our team of over 300 caring, dedicated staff members provides housing, healthcare and supportive services for low-income families in Washington, DC. We work to improve health access and equity in Washington, DC. We operate three community health centers, offering medical, dental and emotional wellness as well as extensive patient supportive services which reached over 13,000 people in 2021. We also work to end and prevent family homelessness in Washington, DC and are the only nonprofit in DC providing all services along the homelessness continuum, having impacted over 1,240 families in 2021.
