129-Year-Old Black Child Welfare Agency Struggling to Survive
Launches online crowdfunding campaign at www.gofundme.com/csichild
Philadelphia, PA (BlackNews.com) — Childrens Service Inc. (CSI) is a 129-year old child welfare organization, originally founded by Episcopalian nuns and Edith Wharton Dallas of St. Marks Episcopal Church to serve colored crippled and indigent children in 1887.
Now, one of only a few historically black agencies remaining in the nation, it struggles to survive. A GoFundMe page (www.gofundme.com/csichild) has been set up with a goal of $300,000 needed to shore up the Behavioral Health counseling programs for adoptive, foster care children and emancipating supervised independent living (SIL) youth – some of whom with LGBT struggles.
Spending cuts, delayed payments and the impact of nine months of last years PA State budget impasse has adversely affected the agency. Some staff have even accepted salary cuts and staff and board members have made out of pocket donations to keep the agency open.
Recently, a 77-year old blind man reconnected with CSI to return to his roots. The man, who goes by the name of R.B., had been left on the doorstep of the agency in the 1940s, and in the spring of 2016 he went on a quest to locate his childhood home .He was seen wandering around downtown Philadelphia, asking about the House of The Holy Child which had been renamed Childrens Service Inc. He wanted to “give the love back to CSI that they gave to me.” Passing pedestrians helped R.B. find the new headquarters of CSI, which he visited at 1315 Walnut Street Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
As a visually-impaired artist, R.B., wants to have his artwork on exhibit within the Childrens Service, Inc, agency. Hopefully, with some measure of support from the GoFundMe campaign, both CSI and R.B. can spend quality time in their golden years.
For more information, contact Dorothy Simmons, ACSW, LSW, Executive Director at info@csichild.org or visit CSI at www.csichild.org or call (215) 546-3503
Photo Caption: This 77-year old blind man, who goes by the name of R.B., was left on the doorstep of Childrens Service Inc. back in the 1940s
