{"id":521514,"date":"2026-01-17T00:02:13","date_gmt":"2026-01-17T00:02:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/521514\/"},"modified":"2026-01-17T00:02:13","modified_gmt":"2026-01-17T00:02:13","slug":"financial-troubles-force-childcare-provider-in-one-of-n-j-s-poorest-communities-to-close","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/521514\/","title":{"rendered":"Financial troubles force childcare provider in one of N.J.\u2019s poorest communities to close"},"content":{"rendered":"

A human services non-profit abruptly ceased childcare services operations<\/a> in Camden earlier this week, citing financial difficulties.<\/p>\n

The closure came just days after the organization, Respond, Inc., underwent inspections, according to a statement posted to the organization\u2019s website on Friday. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe decision to cease operations at Respond, Inc.\u2019s Child Development Centers was made jointly by the organization\u2019s Board of Directors and executive leadership following careful review of Respond\u2019s financial position and operational capacity,\u201d Michael Butch, president of Respond, Inc.\u2019s board of directors, and Vance Lofton, the organization\u2019s executive director, said in a statement.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis decision was not unilateral or impulsive,\u201d the announcement said. \u201cIt was the result of serious deliberation and reflects the Board\u2019s fiduciary responsibility to ensure the safety of children, the protection of staff, and the responsible stewardship of the organization.\u201d<\/p>\n

The statement added that \u201ccontinuing operations without the ability to reliably meet payroll obligations, maintain required insurance coverage, and ensure fully compliant learning environments would have placed children, families, and staff at unacceptable risk.\u201d<\/p>\n

Respond is a non-profit, primarily funded by public sources, that provides childcare, housing assistance and other services to the Camden Community. <\/p>\n

\u201cEffective immediately, Respond, Inc. has ceased all childcare operations,\u201d the organization\u2019s executive director, Lofton said in an email Tuesday. <\/p>\n

\u201cYesterday, I met with the board of directors to confront the organization\u2019s current financial and operational realities. Despite sustained efforts to keep Respond operating, it became clear that continuing childcare services without the ability to do so responsibly was no longer possible,\u201d Lofton explained. <\/p>\n

Respond is one of many childcare service providers that partners with the Camden City School District to provide services. <\/p>\n

A spokesperson for the district confirmed that Respond notified them about the decision to close their childcare operations on Jan. 13. <\/p>\n

\u201cAs soon as we were made aware, our Early Childhood Department moved quickly to support impacted families,\u201d the district\u2019s spokesperson, Sheena Yera, told NJ Advance Media on Friday. \u201cDistrict staff contacted every affected family directly the same day and offered immediate placement in one of our district-run early childhood programs.\u201d<\/p>\n

The district held open houses and met with families for on-the-spot enrollments, including meeting with families the very next day, to ensure instructional time was not lost, Yera explained. <\/p>\n

\u201cAt this time, the Camden City School District still has available seats in our early childhood programs and remains committed to making this transition as smooth as possible for students and families,\u201d Yera said. <\/p>\n

Respond\u2019s childcare location on State Street in Camden was locked on Friday, with a security door pulled down and padlocked, and a playground on the side of the building empty. <\/p>\n

The non-profit operated three childcare centers in Camden\u2019s Fairview neighborhood, North Camden and another facility on Bank Street. <\/p>\n

Respond logged a more than $282,000 operating loss last year, according to the non-profit\u2019s 2024 tax filings<\/a>, and was primarily funded through about $6.1 million in government grants. <\/p>\n

The organization received additional funding through donations, according to tax documents. <\/p>\n

It was unclear from tax documents whether the grants were from federal, state, county or local sources.<\/p>\n

The childcare program generated just over $111,000 in revenue in 2024, far below the organization\u2019s $282,000 operating loss that year, according to tax documents. <\/p>\n

The non-profit served over 375 children in Camden, including 125 toddlers and infants, and 250 pre-schoolers, 2024 tax documents show. Respond also provided hundreds of thousands of meals to kids in their programs per year, according to tax filings. <\/p>\n

Lofton\u2019s salary in 2024 was $123,457, tax documents show. <\/p>\n

Lofton sent an email to staff notifying them about planned inspections on Monday and Tuesday and said that no staff were scheduled to work those days, according to snapshots of emails shared with NJ Advance Media. <\/p>\n

But on Tuesday, staff received a different email explaining that where staff could pick up separation packets and personal belongings.<\/p>\n

\u201cPlease know this: this decision is not a reflection of your work, your commitment, or the care you showed our children and families,\u201d Lofton wrote in his email to staff.<\/p>\n

\"RespondRespond Inc., a non-profit in Camden ceased providing childcare services on Tuesday, leaving many families confused by the abrupt decision.Matthew Enuco<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A human services non-profit abruptly ceased childcare services operations in Camden earlier this week, citing financial difficulties. The…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":521515,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5132],"tags":[5229,1448,2830,1311,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-521514","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-philadelphia","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-pa","10":"tag-pennsylvania","11":"tag-philadelphia","12":"tag-united-states","13":"tag-united-states-of-america","14":"tag-unitedstates","15":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","16":"tag-us","17":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/521514","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=521514"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/521514\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/521515"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=521514"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=521514"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=521514"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}