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File #: 180831    Version: 0 Name:
Type: Resolution Status: ADOPTED
File created: 9/20/2018 In control: CITY COUNCIL
On agenda: Final action: 9/20/2018
Title: Honoring and recognizing Diversified Community Services, on the 50th Anniversary of its incorporation, for the organization's dedication to improving the South Philadelphia Community through education and economic empowerment.
Sponsors: Councilmember Johnson, Councilmember Green, Councilmember Squilla, Councilmember Greenlee, Councilmember Blackwell, Councilmember Domb, Councilmember Taubenberger, Councilmember Henon, Councilmember Oh, Councilmember Quiñones Sánchez, Councilmember Gym, Councilmember Bass, Council President Clarke, Councilmember Jones, Councilmember Reynolds Brown, Councilmember O'Neill
Attachments: 1. Signature18083100.pdf
Title
Honoring and recognizing Diversified Community Services, on the 50th Anniversary of its incorporation, for the organization's dedication to improving the South Philadelphia Community through education and economic empowerment.

Body
WHEREAS, Diversified Community Services (DCS) is a community-based non-profit organization dedicated to providing services to South Philadelphia's most vulnerable children and families. Growing out of the University of Pennsylvania's settlement house camps founded in the 1890s, Diversified was formally incorporated in 1968 and has expanded to become the largest social service agency in Point Breeze; and

WHEREAS, The dedicated leadership and staff at Diversified Community Services have implemented a 'Two Generational Approach' for realizing its goal of long-term economic and social well-being in Point Breeze and across South Philadelphia. The Two Generational Approach seeks to link high-quality early childhood education for neighborhood youth together with employment, housing counseling, and financial literacy programs for their parents and other family, with the aim of breaking the cycle of intergenerational poverty; and

WHEREAS, Early childhood education has long been the centerpiece of DCS's approach to community empowerment. The organization's Western Learning Center and Dixon Learning Academy are nationally recognized and accredited by the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) and both schools have obtained a Keystone STAR 4 rating, the highest possible rating for early childhood education centers in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. More than 300 children each year receive a high-quality education through the schools operated by Diversified Community Services; and

WHEREAS, In 2015, Diversified introduced the Home Instruction of Parents of Preschool Youngsters (HIPPY) as a means of increasing educational attainment. The HIPPY Program seeks to empower parents to be their child's first ...

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