Catholic Social Services of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia (CSS) has been selected as a Community Umbrella Agency (CUA) for the Department of Human Services (DHS) under their new model Improving Outcomes for Children. Catholic Social Services is one of three community based organizations most recently selected by DHS to manage the cases of the city's most at-risk youth. CSS will serve children and families in the 2nd, 7th and 8th police districts. When DHS completes the selection process, there will be ten CUAs serving the entire city.

With more than 200 years of meeting basic human needs within the Philadelphia area, CSS has a proven track record of providing services to transform the lives of children and families in need. As a Community Umbrella Agency, CSS will have sole responsibility managing all DHS cases in the Far Northeast sections of Philadelphia. Wordsworth and First Home Care were also selected as Community Umbrella Agencies, managing cases in the Logan/Olney area and in the Lower Northeast respectively, bringing the total of Community Umbrella Agencies to five.

"Catholic Social Services sees working under the Improving Outcomes for Children model as an opportunity to keep children safely in their homes and communities and out of congregate care," said CSS Director of Youth Services, Joe Lavoritano. "Key to the success of this initiative will be our ability to involve the entire community in addressing safety and well-being needs, and our ability to address the impact of trauma and the promotion of non-violence as a public health issue in our work with the children and families we serve."

CSS will have case managers, supervisors and administrative support staff in place in the Northeast beginning October 1st, 2013.

CSS is the largest subcontractor with DHS. 165,000 clients are annually served throughout the full spectrum of CSS programs. Motivated by its mission to serve the most vulnerable and at-risk members of our society, CSS offers a variety of community-based and residential programs and services to assist and support men, women and children living in Philadelphia and its four surrounding counties. Each day, services touch the lives of immigrants, the homeless, women in crisis, dependent or delinquent youth, senior citizens, and the developmentally disabled. Catholic Social Services provides help and creates hope for people from every walk of life.

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Editor's Note: For more information about Catholic Social Services, please visit http://www.catholicsocialservicesphilly.org/.

Contact
Stephanie Brophy
Associate Director of Communications
215-587-3747