JUDITH CREED HORIZONS FOR ACHIEVING INDEPENDENCE
Empowering Independence
Programs and results
What we aim to solve
Historically, people with intellectual and developmental differences have been segregated from the full range of community activities through disability housing and programs that work to isolate rather than integrate individuals. Such isolation has the end result of leaving individuals with less access to opportunities to develop independence, feel included in the community or to build skills and confidence needed to live full, everyday lives. Additionally, there are limited programs for adults and young adults with intellectual and developmental differences allowing them to build community through socialization and to develop life skills such as independent living and vocational skills. There is a need for supported housing and services that create a safe, supportive community to enable personal growth and improve the overall quality of life for individuals with these differences and their families without regard to financial ability and on a nondiscriminatory basis.
Our programs
What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?
Supported Apartment Program
JCHAI’s trademark independent living and vocational supports are offered in apartment settings. The apartment program is designed to support individuals who are able to live independently but want daily supports and the opportunity for regular group interaction.
Life in the apartments encourages community, independence and mutual support by having clustered apartments throughout two large apartment complexes. On-site staff is present from 8 am to 8 pm during weekdays and is available as needed on weekends, with 24/7 on-call staff as well. Residents are assisted in preparing dinner, maintaining their apartments and hygiene, taking medications regularly, and involvement in community activities. Residents have the option of living with a roommate in a 2 bedroom apartment or living alone in a 1 bedroom apartment. Communal dinners are held nightly.
Transitions
JCHAI Transitions provides fun activities and training after school and on weekends for young adults from the ages of 18-30. This program encourages a smooth transition so that when individuals finish high school, they are more prepared to live and work a supported, independent life. Transitions members get to see that it is possible to live away from their parents because many programs and classes are taught with JCHAI members who already live in our Supported Apartment or At Home programs. Our Transitions program also supports and educates the member's family to anticipate the "letting go" process, which is often difficult for the parents of adult children with disabilities.
Some activities include: social activities, robotics, fitness and exercise, group counseling, vocational assessment and job coaching, resume drafting, outings, art classes, communal dinners and more.
JCHAI at Home
The JCHAI At Home program is the innovative, award-winning, individualized support program that provides highly skilled social workers to train members who are living in their own apartments or with their families anywhere in the Philadelphia metropolitan area to live and work independently.
We offer help in securing employment and when necessary, liaising with employers to help maintain employment. We help individuals transition from living with parents to living in independent apartments. We create exciting socialization opportunities through excursions and activities that bring together JCHAI At Home, Transitions and residential members, creating an instant social group for all members. We also provide a network of volunteer opportunities that provide peer interaction for members and help them learn to work with each other and in the community. JCHAI At Home offers a customized plan for each member to achieve independence.
JCHAI Connect
JCHAI Connect is a program of online classes and events. Live sessions meet virtually using online media platforms. Classes meet throughout the week and feature a wide range of topics and activities. Participants join live sessions from their own online devices such as computers, laptops and cell phones.
Where we work
External reviews

Our results
How does this organization measure their results? It's a hard question but an important one.
Number of service recipients who are employed
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
People with disabilities
Type of Metric
Outcome - describing the effects on people or issues
Direction of Success
Holding steady
Context Notes
The national average for employment of people with disabilities is about 35%. Our goal is for people to work in competitive, integrated employment. The employment average for our clients is 77%.
Average number of service recipients per month
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Adults, Low-income people, People with intellectual disabilities, People with learning disabilities, People with other disabilities
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Number of clients who report general satisfaction with their services
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
People with intellectual disabilities, People with learning disabilities, People with other disabilities, Adults, Low-income people
Type of Metric
Outcome - describing the effects on people or issues
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
These numbers are percentages of the respondents who state that they would recommend JCHAI to others because of their satisfaction with our program.
Goals & Strategy
Learn about the organization's key goals, strategies, capabilities, and progress.
Charting impact
Four powerful questions that require reflection about what really matters - results.
What is the organization aiming to accomplish?
Our goal is to create a supportive community for adults with intellectual and developmental differences to foster independence, personal growth, and a sense of safety, belonging and trust. We aim to provide community-based living settings with individualized support services that develop independence and growth in a supervised environment. By providing supported apartments, as well as supervision of individuals in their own homes, we aspire to help individuals transition to independent living.
We also aim to increase the ability and opportunity for individuals with these differences to get competitive, integrated employment in the greater community through vocational skills training, job coaching, and community outreach education.
We further seek to promote opportunities for socialization and community-building through our own integrated programs and those of partner organizations. We hope to provide activities that teach the life skills and vocational training needed to function at the highest possible levels of independence and productivity.
We want to help increase our residents' access to support and services through ongoing relationships with other organizations.
We also strive to garner community support and understanding of JCHAI and our mission while demonstrating the value of diversity in the workplace and in the community at large.
We seek to make our housing, services and programs available to adults and their families without regard to their financial ability and on a nondiscriminatory basis.
What are the organization's key strategies for making this happen?
We assess the needs of each person on an individual basis to determine the level of support needed for them to live independently and accomplish their goals. In order to do this, we work with a team of experienced social workers and other service providers within JCHAI and in partner organizations. We determine the capabilities of each person and help them set goals for what they want to accomplish.
After assessing the level of support needed, we put those supportive services in place so the individuals may live and work in the community. We provide support to ensure the individuals receive access to any necessary medical and social services as well as life-skills and vocational training. Our employees are highly skilled, dedicated professionals who are experienced in providing support that is targeted to the needs of each person. We continually monitor progress and re-assess support plans in order to tailor support to individuals' changing needs.
In order to achieve our goal of helping individuals who want to work secure competitive integrated employment, we assist with job-skills training, job placement and employment liaisonship. We do this through our own vocational classes and training program as well as by partnering with local organizations that provide vocational training and job placement.
To foster an environment that enables peer socialization and a sense of community belonging, we offer many programs, classes and socialization opportunities. We do this by organizing a wide range of outings, trips, and other activities. We conduct classes and workshops in a variety of interest areas in order to help develop skills while providing socialization opportunities and community involvement. Our John and Jacqueline E. Swartz Education Center is a hub of both learning and socialization for individuals with intellectual and developmental differences as well as neurotypical individuals providing a truly integrated community.
What are the organization's capabilities for doing this?
JCHAI has a proven, positive success rate for teaching people with disabilities to live and work in the community. We offer a variety of programs and classes to adequately respond to the community's needs.
JCHAI has been licensed by the state to provide residential services since 1991. We have an experienced team in charge of all of our programs. Each of our program directors comes to JCHAI with decades of education and experience in working with the special needs community and each has worked for JCHAI for many years. We have highly-skilled social workers who specialize in identifying and meeting the individual needs of people with disabilities and who are dedicated to providing care and support that allows the highest levels of independence possible.
We have a wide range of services and programs that allow members to live, work, play, and learn in the best environment for them -- anywhere they wish to live or work in the Philadelphia area.
In 2020, we opened the John and Jacqueline E. Swartz Education Center, a state-of-art, free-standing building with technologically sophisticated classroom space, training kitchen and a training coffee shop. This space will allow us to expand our integrated programming with classes and lifeskills and employment training programs while providing a community hub for inclusive socialization.
What have they accomplished so far and what's next?
We are thrilled have opened our John and Jacqueline E. Swartz Education Center dedicated solely to the inclusion, integration, self-sufficiency, and education of people with intellectual and developmental differences. This 8,500 square foot building contains classrooms furnished with cutting-edge technology and space for inclusive programming, and a full-service kitchen for interactive cooking lessons to teach life and vocational skills. In this space, we are excited to soon open to the public the Weinberg Training Cafe. Staffed with people both with and without disabilities, the training cafe will be a resource for training participants to get competitive, integrated jobs in the greater community.
We are proud to note that we are far outpacing national averages for competitive, integrated employment with over 75% of our members employed in competitive, integrated positions. (The national average is about 35% for people with disabilities.) With the completion John and Jacqueline E. Swartz Education Center, we hope to expand our programming and increase placement of our clients in independent living situations and integrated employment.
How we listen
Seeking feedback from people served makes programs more responsive and effective. Here’s how this organization is listening.
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Who are the people you serve with your mission?
Adults with developmental disabilities or differences
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How is your organization using feedback from the people you serve?
To identify and remedy poor client service experiences, To identify bright spots and enhance positive service experiences, To make fundamental changes to our programs and/or operations, To inform the development of new programs/projects, To identify where we are less inclusive or equitable across demographic groups, To strengthen relationships with the people we serve, To understand people's needs and how we can help them achieve their goals
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What significant change resulted from feedback?
We are expanding program opportunities in direct response to the feedback we are receiving from our members.
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Which of the following feedback practices does your organization routinely carry out?
We collect feedback from the people we serve at least annually, We take steps to get feedback from marginalized or under-represented people, We aim to collect feedback from as many people we serve as possible, We take steps to ensure people feel comfortable being honest with us, We look for patterns in feedback based on demographics (e.g., race, age, gender, etc.), We look for patterns in feedback based on people’s interactions with us (e.g., site, frequency of service, etc.), We engage the people who provide feedback in looking for ways we can improve in response, We act on the feedback we receive, We tell the people who gave us feedback how we acted on their feedback, We ask the people who gave us feedback how well they think we responded
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What challenges does the organization face when collecting feedback?
We don't have any major challenges to collecting feedback
Financials
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Operations
The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.
Connect with nonprofit leaders
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- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
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Connect with nonprofit leaders
SubscribeBuild relationships with key people who manage and lead nonprofit organizations with GuideStar Pro. Try a low commitment monthly plan today.
- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
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JUDITH CREED HORIZONS FOR ACHIEVING INDEPENDENCE
Board of directorsas of 06/20/2022
Judith Creed
Richard Busis, Esq.
Jay Satz, M.D.
Robert Schwartz
Allen Actman
Cindy Dannenbaum
Joel R. Freedman
Henry A. Gladstone, Esq.
Cathy Gott
Cristy B. Hollin, Esq.
Jennifer Laszlo Mizrahi
Jason Rosencranz
Stephen R. Saft
Jennifer Selber, Esq.
Jon Zuckerman
Maxine Champion
Board leadership practices
GuideStar worked with BoardSource, the national leader in nonprofit board leadership and governance, to create this section.
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Board orientation and education
Does the board conduct a formal orientation for new board members and require all board members to sign a written agreement regarding their roles, responsibilities, and expectations? Yes -
CEO oversight
Has the board conducted a formal, written assessment of the chief executive within the past year ? Yes -
Ethics and transparency
Have the board and senior staff reviewed the conflict-of-interest policy and completed and signed disclosure statements in the past year? Yes -
Board composition
Does the board ensure an inclusive board member recruitment process that results in diversity of thought and leadership? Yes -
Board performance
Has the board conducted a formal, written self-assessment of its performance within the past three years? Yes
Organizational demographics
Who works and leads organizations that serve our diverse communities? Candid partnered with CHANGE Philanthropy on this demographic section.
Leadership
The organization's leader identifies as:
Race & ethnicity
No data
Gender identity
Sexual orientation
No data
Disability
No data
Equity strategies
Last updated: 06/20/2022GuideStar partnered with Equity in the Center - an organization that works to shift mindsets, practices, and systems to increase racial equity - to create this section. Learn more
- We disaggregate data to adjust programming goals to keep pace with changing needs of the communities we support.
- We have long-term strategic plans and measurable goals for creating a culture such that one’s race identity has no influence on how they fare within the organization.
- We have a promotion process that anticipates and mitigates implicit and explicit biases about people of color serving in leadership positions.
- We seek individuals from various race backgrounds for board and executive director/CEO positions within our organization.
- We help senior leadership understand how to be inclusive leaders with learning approaches that emphasize reflection, iteration, and adaptability.
- We engage everyone, from the board to staff levels of the organization, in race equity work and ensure that individuals understand their roles in creating culture such that one’s race identity has no influence on how they fare within the organization.