DEPARTMENTS

Department of Children and Youth Services includes the programs that provide direct services to children, youth and families such as, Services to Children in Their Own Homes (SCOH), Family Preservation and Youth and Family Development Program (YFDP).

Services to Children in Their Own Homes (SCOH)  Since 1985, IFSI has provided SCOH, a six-month program that gives in-home direct social services to children and their families, created as an alternative to institutional placement. SCOH's goal is to protect children from abuse, neglect and delinquency by strengthening families through services such as advocacy and parenting skills workshops.

IFSI maintains a clothes closet, a food bank and a resource library to assist SCOH families.

This year: SCOH case managers and supervisors worked with 858 families. A new 5-module training curriculum was developed and implemented for new SCOH case managers, and a pilot program was initiated. The pilot is used as a resource base to enhance communication between case managers and Philadelphia's Department of Human Services.

Family Preservation offers a 90-day intensive, in-home support service to 
at-risk families whose children are in danger of being separated from their families and placed into foster care. Case managers assist families with all aspects of their life to ensure the children and families receive the urgent help they need.

This year: The Family Preservation program worked with 30 families: 15 families improved drastically and needed no additional service; 15 families were referred to SCOH.

Youth and Family Development Program (YFDP) offers a safe and secure place for at-risk and adjudicated youth, aged 10 to 17, to grow and develop academically and socially. After school, and during the summer months, the YFDP program offers creative arts, academic instruction, life skills training and athletic educational trips.

This year: YFDP worked with 261 participants. Sandra Davis, a YFDP youth, won first place in the Department of Human Services' Girl Talk essay contest.

Department of Quality Assurance and Improvement is primarily responsible to monitor the services provided by each of IFSI's servicing departments and to develop standards for practice. QA assists to establish and assess program outcomes throughout the agency. Client records for SCOH, Family Preservation, and YFDP are maintained in the Quality Assurance department. Approximately 1,000 records are pulled weekly by the Quality Assurance Technicians for review. 

Behavioral Health Services records are kept at the clinic and reviewed on site. Through review of client records and satisfaction surveys, the QA department evaluates the quality of services rendered and seeks opportunities for improvement.

Human Resources and External Affairs The Human Resources department recruits and places contractual and permanent employees for IFSI. Through excellent benefits programs, competitive wages, special incentives, staff development and training, and continuous understanding and application of changing laws and employment trends, HR provides an attractive workplace for both the employee and employer. IFSI employs qualified and licensed professionals who are able to further enhance their skills and abilities through continuous internal and external training opportunities.

External Affairs disseminates information on the agency to the community through creative marketing, public relations and special events. The External Affairs team ensures health, safety, security and efficient operation of IFSI's buildings and facilities.

Behavioral Health Services is a licensed, freestanding outpatient service that provides mental health services to eligible children, adults and families. The clinic specializes in providing culturally competent services to individuals from ethnically diverse communities. Multicultural and multi-ethnic mental health professionals are employed who can translate and interpret in the various languages and dialects spoken by its clients. Wraparound/Early and Periodic Screening Diagnosis and Treatment (EPSDT) service for a family or individual who requires more intensive care is a special feature of the clinic. Teams of professionals "wrap" themselves around a client and stay with him/her throughout his/her regular daily schedule.

This year: Approximately 1,300 clients have been served since the clinic's inception in May 1999.

 

PROGRAMS

Intercultural Family Services, Inc's Special Projects. IFSI continues its long tradition of providing outreach services, educational and enrichment programs to underserved, and often overlooked, populations living in the City of Philadelphia. With an unwavering commitment to cultural awareness and understanding, our organization has placed great emphasis on practicing the rhetoric of diversity.

Intercultural Performing Arts Summer Day celebrated diversity with its 2001 theme, "Six Weeks Around the World." Fifty-five children, aged 5 to 12, "visited" Africa, Asia, Latin and South America, as well as North America. They took walking tours of West Philadelphia and trips to the various museums, including the Liberty Museum. The children swam, sang, played, produced some remarkable crafts and worked on their spelling and arithmetic. They also learned about nutrition and the cuisine of people from around the world. In August, the campers, their youth and adult counselors camped overnight in Quakertown, PA. And, the girls won the swimming contest!

Housing Counseling Program Started in 1983, the Housing Counseling Program counsels tenants and potential or new homeowners. Housing counselors are multilingual and hold group and individual sessions that focus on housing consumer education, first-time homebuyer issues, mortgage default/delinquency, pre- and post-purchase, home inspection and deed-related issues. 

This year: The Housing Counseling Program provided services to 283 individuals. Samol Heng is qualified to provide Anti-Predatory Lending Counseling, and he is a licensed Pennsylvania Real Estate salesperson.

PHACE (Preventing HIV/AIDS in Asian Communities through Education) is an education and outreach program designed to increase the knowledge of, and reduce the spread of sexually transmitted diseases, especially HIV/AIDS in the Asian Community. Peer counselors-women, teens and college students — provide referrals, demonstrate the correct use of birth control, and educate individuals on how to prevent sexually transmitted diseases.

This year: PHACE provided services to 1,251 women and 1,405 adolescents through direct outreach services and presentations.

Healthy Start Asian Outreach provides education, outreach and low-level case management services to Asian women, primarily from Southeast Asia, in order that they can gain access to health services, including prenatal and perinatal care 
of newborns and premature babies. This program often works in conjunction with PHACE to provide comprehensive health education for clients through peer-based presentations. 

This year: Healthy Start provided services to 158 Asian women and children through street-based outreach and workshop presentations.

Music and Mentorship (M&M) Children develop and explore their musical aptitude and skills through this program. Most participants are low-income, minority and immigrant children from West Philadelphia. They work with African drums, guitars, violins and piano under the supervision of a musical mentor, who is a professional musician. The students' lessons culminate in a recital during IFSI's annual Childrens' Holiday Party in December.

This year: Twenty-two children participated in M&M.

English as a Second Language (ESL) classes are offered at no cost to immigrant/refugee residents in Philadelphia, by IFSI, in cooperation with the Center for Literacy. Classes meet on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Students come from 40 different countries all over the world, including Ethiopia, China, Haiti, Croatia, Turkey and Sierra Leone.

This year: There were 88 students enrolled in ESL classes, with varying degrees of language proficiency.

Summer Career Exploration Project (SCEP) is a six-week summer employment program for West and Southwest Philadelphia youth who have completed at least the 10th grade. SCEP's goal is to further the potential career interests of participants by giving them exposure to various professional environments. This program is strengthened by a student orientation that offers career and life skills enrichment training on topics such as, resume writing, sexual harassment in the workplace and conduct.

This year: 26 SCEP students were placed in summer internships at worksites ranging from law offices to health clinics.

Asian Outreach and Outpatient Project is designed to raise awareness about mental health in the Asian community, as well as provide behavioral health services to those in need. The program focuses on Asians who do not have health insurance. IFSI staff, as well as two collaborating agencies, the Cambodian Association of Greater Philadelphia and Greater Philadelphia Overseas Chinese Association, conducts outreach activities in neighborhoods where there are high concentrations of Southeast Asians.

This year: 1,803 Asians were serviced through one-on-one street-level interaction and workshop presentations. Of these, 104 were referred to IFSI's Behavioral Health Services clinic for treatment and support services.

The Emergency Food Assistance Program was created to provide food assistance to IFSI client households and members of the West Philadelphia community. A variety of nutritional food items are offered through this program. Food products are provided by Self Help and Resource Exchange (SHARE) and Greater Philadelphia Food Bank (GPFB). 

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