Welcome to the Franciscan Center
Answering the call. Adapting to the need. In the heart of the city since 1968.
Recruiting Now
For the 12th Cohort of our Culinary Program.
Be a part of it
Our new social enterprise, opening the B&O Cafe!
Helping Baltimore
The mission of the Franciscan Center is to provide emergency assistance and supportive outreach to persons who are economically disadvantaged in an effort to assist them in realizing their self-worth and dignity as people of God.
Nutrition
A healthy, good tasting meal is a critical foundation for those struggling to make their way. Culinary Services oversees a lunch (M-F) and dinner (T, W) program that feeds 400 to 600 people per day. Meals are made from scratch using fresh ingredients, some provided through partnerships with farms in the city and the region. An emergency food pantry also helps clients to make ends meet when they find themselves in difficult times.
Connection
For many indigent, homeless and working poor, the next biggest challenge after finding something to eat is knowing where to get help. Responsive Services provides intervention, advocacy, and resource information. Every service that clients need – from applying for benefits to securing housing to lining up a job – requires some type of government-issued identification, so this is a critical first step. Also available to clients: case management and counseling, eviction prevention and mail service, dental care, eyeglasses and more.
Education
A steady job can provide an enormous boost to a person’s sense of dignity and hope. Empowerment Services focuses on the building blocks of successful employment: counseling, computer training, job-readiness classes, work attire and network building.
The Dignity Plates Training Academy provides basic culinary instruction to prepare students for entry-level culinary jobs, offers assistance to overcome barriers, and provides an example of passion for the culinary arts.
And You
Volunteers and donors are force multipliers. Working side by side with staff and contributing when and what they can, they enable the Franciscan Center to offer thousands of Baltimoreans in need a continuum of care that includes food, clothing, counseling, health care, housing, and training in the culinary arts and technology.
Capital Campaign
Renaissance campaign set to create “An Environment Worthy Of Our Guests”
It’s been a quarter century and nearly four million meals since the last major renovation of the Franciscan Center. Time and hard use—nearly 20 percent of those meals were served just in the two years of Covid lockdowns—has taken its toll.
Naming Rights
1st Floor
Dining Room Chairs (85 Available) – $500 each
Bathrooms (4 available) – $5,000
Dining Room Tables (6 Available) – $10,000 each
Barber Shop – $25,000
Elevator – $25,000
Donation Intake Room – $25,000
Computer Lab – $100,000
– Work Stations (11 Available) – $5,000
Client Choice Pantry – $150,000
– Tables – $5,000
– Shelving – $2,500
Training Kitchen (CLAIMED)
– Tables (4 Available) – $5,000
– Chairs (16 Available) – $500
Main Kitchen – $200,000
2nd Floor
Chairs in Lobby (25 Available) – $500 Each
Offices (5 Available) – $10,000
Conference Room – $25,000
3rd Floor
Offices (6 Available) – $10,000
Open Space – $25,000
Donate
Other Ways To Give
Financial Giving
Planned Giving
In-Kind Donations
and more
Make A Difference
Your gift at any level makes a big difference to the working poor, indigent and homeless Baltimoreans we serve every day, at the Center and where they live.