Diversified Community Services Information

Our mission is to provide leadership and services that strengthens and coordinates the Point Breeze and surrounding communities’ efforts on behalf of children, youth, and families, especially those that are most vulnerable. Our vision is a diverse, prosperous, and vibrant Point Breeze community where all residents are treated with dignity and respect—a community where the impacts of poverty are acknowledged and action is taken to empower those in need. Diversified Community Services (DCS) is a deeply-embedded neighborhood based nonprofit agency in Point Breeze, a low-income, predominantly minority South Philadelphia community. DCS is a multi-purpose social service agency working with children, adults, and families and provides early childhood education, youth development, and family development programming as an integral function of its mission in the Point Breeze and Grays Ferry communities. Formally incorporated in 1968; DCS has evolved from its roots in the University of Pennsylvania settlement house camps in the 1890’s into the largest social service agency in Point Breeze. We serve nearly 8,000 children, youth, adults, and families, emphasizing education and skill-building. DCS chooses to maximize its impact by being geographically-based and focusing on the healthy development of children and youth from low-income and other vulnerable families to help them realize long-term economic and social well-being in the Point Breeze and surrounding communities. DCS employs a community building or community development philosophy to underpin and guide its work, including its management strategies, decision-making processes, and its interaction with the community. Community building promotes a community’s physical, economic and social development – improved housing and safety, increased financial resources for individuals and the community as a whole, as well as strengthening skills and educational attainment of individual residents.