A Tradition Of Caring

The El Paso Center for Children has a rich history of caring for El Paso youth, having provided homes and specialized care for four generations of children and families in need.

The Center's origins go back to the creation of St. Margaret's Home for Children in 1919 and Southwestern Children's Home in 1925, El Paso's first orphanages for homeless and disadvantaged youth. Over the next half century, these homes raised thousands of El Paso's homeless children. In 1982, the Boards of Directors of St. Margaret's and Southwestern wanted to expand and diversify their services to children and families. Recognizing that they had a common mission, they decided to merge the two organizations, creating what is now known as the El Paso Center for Children. Since then, the Center has developed a variety of family support programs and the specialized services needed to care for runaway and homeless youth and their families, homeless teen mothers and their children, and emotionally disturbed youth and their families.

The Center's resources include a seven acre campus in central El Paso, an experienced and highly qualified team of professional and paraprofessional staff, a network of community based foster families with specialized training to meet the needs of troubled youths and their families, and the broad-based governmental and charitable support needed to carry out its mission.

Our active and dedicated volunteer Board of Directors assures the Center’s continuing evolution in response to the changing needs of our community's children and families. As we look to the future, we can be certain that our community will grow and change, and that the needs of children and families will change with it. As they do, the Center's services will also change, but our mission will remain the same – “A Chance For Every Child.”