HISTORY
Family & Community Services, Inc. is the largest private non-profit social service agency in Portage County, with a staff of 185 working at 32 sites in eleven (11) counties.  More than 70,000 children and adults were assisted in 2006 and the annual budget for 2006-07 has grown to $7.1 million.  Over 3,500 dynamic volunteers enable the agency to magnify the impact of its services.

The agency began its service in September of 1941 under the title of the Catholic Charities Bureau of the Ravenna Deanery.  The staff of two (2) offered family and child welfare services.  In 1961, the agency, then known as the Catholic Charities Service Bureau, received Articles of Incorporation from the State of Ohio.  During the next year, the agency was certified by the State of Ohio to assume all responsibility for children under its care, including adoptions.

Family & Community Services has grown substantially through the years and particularly during the past decade, to where it now provides a broad array of services to the community.  The agency has a well-earned reputation for being an entrepreneurial force in the social services community.  During the most recent fiscal year (ending June 30, 2006), the agency administered 145 grants and contracts from all levels of government as well as private sources.  Using everything it has at its disposal – from government grants to direct charitable contributions to the energies of its thousands of selfless volunteers – the agency aspires to offer the gift of hope. 

The following is a brief timeline of the agency:

1941: The agency is formed under the title of Catholic Charities Bureau of the Ravenna Deanery with a staff of two (2).

1961: The agency is incorporated in the State of Ohio under the name of Catholic Charities Service Bureau.

1978: The Consumer Credit Counseling Program was initiated.

1982: The agency became Family & Community Services of Catholic Charities, Inc.

1983: The Retired and Senior Volunteer Program became part of the agency. 

1987: Safer Futures opened, serving victims of domestic violence.

1989: The Center of Hope was established in 1989 in Ravenna and was soon joined by the Christian Cupboard.  It is here that hot meals are served and groceries are distributed to individuals and families in need.

1995: The Portage Area Transitional Housing (PATH) program was initiated in cooperation with the Portage Metropolitan Housing Authority and a number of funding sources, including the Department of Housing & Urban Development, the Ohio Department of Development, the Portage County Commissioners and the City of Kent.

1996: The agency operates the Early Start Program, now known as Help Me Grow.  The program serves children (from birth to 3) and pregnant women, including those in at-risk families and/or have medical/developmental concerns.

1996: The agency joined with a coalition of local churches to form the County Clothing Center with funding provided by the Portage County Commissioners and the Portage County Solid Waste Management District.

1996: The agency started a program designed to assist people facing a housing crisis, including those who have lost their housing as well as those that face eviction.  Originally known as the Homeless Outreach Program and now known as Housing & Emergency Support Services, the program helps individuals and families with short-term interventions to help obtain or retain their housing.

1999: The Youngstown Diocese ended its relationship with several social agencies in the region, including Family & Community Services.  At that time, the agency changed its name from Family & Community Services of Catholic Charities, Inc. to Family & Community Services of Portage County, Inc. but continued to provide the same level of services in the absence of the sectarian affiliation. Continuing its mission to provide the community with the same level of services.

1999: Safer Futures moved in to a new facility – a renovated house – with a capacity of 18 children and adults. 

1999: The School-Based Services Program was started at the request of Portage County Educational Services Center, providing life and social skills groups for students.  The Program focuses on mentoring, job readiness and self-sufficiency for all youth.

1999: St. Joseph’s Child Care was opened through a partnership with the Portage County Department of Job and Family Services and St. Joseph’s Church in Suffield.

2000: Kent Social Services joined the agency, bringing with it a rich tradition of services featuring a hot meal and grocery distribution program, along with Miller Community House, the only homeless shelter in the county.  The agency’s administrative offices move from Depeyster Street to its current location, 143 Gougler Avenue in Kent.

2001: The agency purchases the former Myers Appliance building and relocates the County Clothing Center to its new home on SR 59.

2001: Senior Companion Program is funded by the Corporation for National Services.

2001: The Senior Nutrition Program (SNP) was begun to provide food to congregate senior sites. SNP is funded by the Area Agency on Aging.

2001: The agency begins operating a Kinship Care Program, designed to help non-traditional parents raising children, like grandparents raising grandchildren.

2001: The agency begins operating Senior Track, a program of supportive and case management services for older persons where abuse, neglect or financial exploitation is suspected. 

2001: The agency purchases the former Sirgo’s Restaurant on South Water Street in Kent for the new home of Kent Social Services and its hot meal/pantry programs.

2002: Foster Grandparent Program is funded by the Corporation for National Services.

2002: Miller Community House, in its new larger facility, opens its doors – thanks to help from the City of Kent, the Portage County Commissioners and many individual donors.

2002:  King-Kennedy and Skeels-Mathews Community Centers, anchors of hope in their local communities, join the agency family.

2003:  The agency acquires the building at 143 Gougler Avenue in Kent from the Portage County Foundation.

2003:  The agency initiates a safe visitation/exchange program called the Place of Peace.  The program is funded with start up support from the Ohio Office of Criminal Justice Services’ Byrne Memorial Fund and is dramatically expanded later that year by a grant from the federal Department of Justice Safe Havens Program.

2003: Chagrin Falls Park Community Center joins the agency.  Also in 2005, the agency adopted its current name of Family & Community Services, Inc. in recognition of the fact that a growing number of services were being offered in counties other than Portage.

2004: The agency begins operating the Smoking Cessation Program.

2005: Freedom House, a shelter for homeless veterans, opens in January.

2005: The Senior Nutrition Program began providing home delivered meals with funding provided by the Area Agency on Aging.

2006: With the purchase of an apartment building in Kent, Family & Community Services increased its ownership of supportive housing for low to moderate income families and individuals to 36 units

2006: The agency is awarded a capital construction grant from the Veterans Administration to build a new facility for Freedom House.  Ground will be broken in the spring of 2007.

2006: The agency acquires from the Ohio Department of Transportation eight acres of land with a 47,000 square foot office building, a 30,000 square foot garage and other buildings for the sum of one dollar, saving all of the buildings from demolition and preserving these assets for community use.  The agency is developing a human services campus on the site.