Center for Humanistic Change, Inc. (CHC)
Our Mission:
To engage members of our community in opportunities to prepare for life's challenges
through delivery of
* prevention education and life skills training, and
*programs that encourage healthy decision-making, positive choices, and peaceful living.
Our History:
Center for Humanistic Change is proud to have served the people of the Lehigh Valley for over thirty years.
In 1975, Endeavor, a Lehigh Valley drug and alcohol agency founded in the early 70s, separated its treatment and prevention activities. Four years later, the prevention education division left Endeavor completely, and adopted the name Center for Humanistic Change. In 1981, the IRS granted CHC non-profit status.
During the past 30 years, hundreds of thousands of Lehigh Valley residents have participated in CHC programs. In recent years, CHC has served an average of over 16,000 people annually.
Ninety percent of CHC's program participants are children and teenagers. Of these, about one-third can be considered "at-risk" due to poverty, unstable families and/or home situations, language barriers, immigrant status, and other situations.
CHC created its mentoring program Crossroads in 1995 to focus specific efforts on secondary school students in danger of academic and/or personal failure. This well-received program was expanded to nine schools, and transitioned to Project SUCCESS, a similar, evidence-based mentoring program, in 2006. Crossroads is presented in two elementary schools in Bethlehem, and 12 middle and high schools in the Bethlehem, Easton, Allentown, Pen Argyl, Northern Lehigh, Salisbury, Nazareth, and Northwestern Lehigh school districts.
Adult participants in CHC programs range from educators and school guidance personnel, parents, and business people to prison inmates and people in probation programs. Educator training includes classroom management programs and workshops that address student issues such as bullying, anger management and grief and loss. CHC is a Commonwealth-approved trainer in the Student Assistance Program [SAP] and provides SAP maintenance training as well
In the past five years, CHC has added many evidence-based programs and curricula to its offerings along with its successful in-house-developed programs. This was accomplished to meet requirements from both public and private funders for programs with proven, statistically measurable outcomes.
In recent years, CHC has been a key participant in several community programs and initiatives:
*CHC has been part of Allentown's annual Week Without Violence, a multi-agency collaboration of programs and events for youth, since 2004.
*In 2006, CHC moved into a new role by becoming the lead partner in United Way of the Greater Lehigh Valley's Community School Partnership initiative. We are the lead partner in the Lincoln Elementary (Bethlehem) Community School; in that role, CHC works to increase businesses' and community members' involvement in the school.
*In 2007, CHC initiated a partnership between itself, Associated Builders and Contractors of Eastern Pa, Inc., and Grace Episcopal Church, Allentown, to provide Step Up To Success, a program for disadvantaged young adults that combines construction trade training with life skills instruction
