A year ago, the Episcopal Community Services (ECS) community made a commitment to implement a three-year strategic plan. The Board of Trustees, staff, community of friends and donors and program participants accepted the mission to challenge and reduce intergenerational poverty.
PHILADELPHIA (PRWEB) March 05, 2019
ECS Releases FY 2018 Annual Report,
Focusing on Building Better Tomorrows
Episcopal Community Services (ECS) has released its 2018 annual report, titled “Building Better Tomorrows,” which spotlights its extraordinary accomplishments throughout the past year.
A year ago, the ECS community made a commitment to implement a three-year strategic plan. The Board of Trustees, staff, community of friends and donors and program participants accepted the mission to challenge and reduce intergenerational poverty.
For women and children in crisis, ECS offers emergency shelter and supportive services for the 40 families who enter St. Barnabas Mission daily. For individuals and heads of household who have struggled with homelessness, long-term housing is coupled with life skills workshops and financial assistance to keep families stabilized and eventually living independently. Ninety percent of permanent supportive housing families maintained housing successfully for the year.
Afterschool and summer camp services enhance the traditional classroom experience at Out of School Time (OST) sites where STEAM-related activities support each child’s development in grades K-8. Ninety-nine percent of surveyed parents strongly agree that OST is helpful to them and their child/children. There are 903 elementary and middle school OST participants enrolled, up 285 participants from last fiscal year.
The new annual report highlights one participant, Linda, who has had her struggles in the past – but nothing holds her back now. By way of the RISE Initiative, Linda participated in our 10-week-long career readiness program for adults ages 18 and older. In this program, they receive individualized support while working on the basics of getting a job. Upon graduating from RISE, Linda landed an apprenticeship with the housekeeping department of the YMCA, which eventually turned into a job offer.
“We will continue to build out our strategic plan aimed at tackling the fundamental conditions that cause poverty to persist in our city and region. Our strategy is focused on three goals,” says David E. Griffith, executive director for ECS. “First, we have aligned our current programming with a science-based coaching and mentoring model that recognizes the trauma and circumstances that surround persons in poverty. The second goal is to strengthen the agency’s infrastructure, expanding capabilities that support program excellence. The third strategy expresses our commitment to advocacy. In partnership with our participants and stakeholders, we look to drive the changes necessary at all levels of public policy to create environments in which people can become self-sustaining.”
To learn more about ECS, follow this link, or call the ECS office at: (215) 351-1400.
About Episcopal Community Services
Episcopal Community Services (ECS) is a multi-service agency that embraces adaptability and program innovation in order to meet the evolving and diverse needs of Philadelphians who have been disadvantaged by poverty. ECS has a 149-year legacy of transforming itself in times of crisis and providing essential support services for the city’s most vulnerable. Today, its mission is to challenge and reduce intergenerational poverty, and guided by a new strategic plan, ECS’ programs focus on increasing people’s ability to achieve economic independence and mobility.