History of HopePHL

HopePHL resulted from the merger of People’s Emergency Center (PEC) and Youth Service, Inc. (YSI) in 2023. Together, we’ll deliver many of the same services, and some new programs, to help over 25,000 community members, residents, and students annually reach their goals of safe homes, economically secure and healthy families and thriving students and businesses.  This is a combined timeline of the history of PEC and the history of YSI. ​

1950s

​Youth Service, Inc. was chartered with the merger of Bethesda Children’s Christian Home of Chestnut Hill and Church Mission of Help. Adolescents and their families were the primary population served on a nonsectarian, interracial basis.

1960s

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​YSI encompassed five group homes and a substantive foster care service.

1970s

Asbury Methodist Church Penn Archives Digital Image Collection c1960

PEC was created as a social justice ministry of Asbury United Methodist Church at 33rd & Chestnut Streets by faith leaders at Drexel University and the University of Pennsylvania. PEC provided emergency shelter and food to homeless families, couples and single women on weekends.

​YSI piloted Philadelphia’s first Services to Children in their Own Homes (SCOH) program.

1980s

Youth Emergency Shelter

Gloria's Place, Cafeteria

Youth Emergency Service (YES) teen shelter and Florence Crittenton Service of Philadelphia joined YSI.  YSI became a member of the National Crittenton Centers.

PEC was the first service agency for families experiencing homelessness in Philadelphia to provide on-site case management to address the specific circumstances of clients and the causes of their homelessness, and on-site programs for children. 

PEC renovated and moved to an abandoned luggage factory at 3902 Spring Garden Street, creating the first place in Philadelphia to offer emergency, transitional, and permanent housing in one location, later called Gloria's Place.

1990s

Staff and students, Gloria's Place, c1997

YES moved to a newly renovated building, where its emergency shelter for teens, runaway youth program and status offender program could flourish. 

PEC established the PEC Community Development Corporation to help meet the need for low-cost housing alternatives for formerly homeless families. PEC opens Rowan House, a newly rehabilitated $4.5 million facility to house 26 transitional housing units and classrooms for PEC’s newly expanded job training program for parents in shelters across Philadelphia. Rowan House is named for philanthropist and fashion executive Rena Rowan, who led volunteer fundraising for the building.

PEC began a department dedicated to policy and advocacy.

2000s

Resident and children, Gloria's Place

YSI helped introduce the Healthy Families America model of child abuse prevention to Pennsylvania.

YES became the first National Safe Place site in the Philadelphia area.

PEC opened Families First, a new $4 million multi-service family center that offers employment preparation and placement programs, licensed childcare, and free healthcare for homeless mothers making the difficult transition from welfare to work.

PEC’s community development work expanded from building housing to commercial corridor support, digital inclusion programs, arts and culture, advocacy and developing resident-driven neighborhood plans.
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The first Lancaster Avenue Jazz & Arts Festival was held.

2010s

Crittenton Center, 2019

PEC and YSI joined the West Philadelphia Promise Zone and Promise Neighborhoods partnerships, with PEC staff leading several committees.

Research, shelter programs, city agencies, and early childhood education and development finally intersected in the Building Early Links for Learning (BELL) Project at PEC, supported with initial funding from the William Penn Foundation and in 2018 from The Vanguard Strong Start for Kids Program™. The goals were to enhance the developmental friendliness of emergency housing, and to better understand and remove barriers that keep young homeless children from reaping the benefits of early education.

YSI began offering home visiting services for families.

PEC's self-managed affordable housing numbered 235 units.

People’s Emergency Center and Youth Service, Inc. announced their plan to integrate into one agency. 

2020s

PEC President Kathy Desmond, PECCDC Board Chair Bernadine Hawes, YSI Board Chair Sara Moran, and YSI Executive Director Gwen Bailey.

YSI and PEC provided a full range of services during the COVID-19 pandemic.
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PEC and YSI officially began operating as a single organization, named HopePHL (pronounced “hopeful”). 

HopePHL's first new endeavor, The Thrive Project, began. The Thrive Project was designed to help The School District  of Philadelphia to better identify and serve students experiencing homelessness at dozens of schools.