Over 140 years ago, across the square from the White House in Washington, DC, the parishioners of St. John’s Episcopal Church made a commitment to assist people in the community suffering in the aftermath of the Civil War.  Children were orphaned and homeless; adults were injured, sick and penniless.  The parishioners rallied and created a number of charities.  One that persevered since 1868 is St. John’s Community Services.

For several years, the ladies of the church cared for children and adults on the streets of Washington; then in the mid-1870’s, they founded a hospital to care for them.  (The members of the Ladies Aid Society were the predecessors of today's Founders Board of St. John's Community Services.) By the 1880’s, SJCS transitioned into an orphanage which continued its mission for nearly 80 years.  With the advent of foster care and changing community needs, the orphanage was transformed in 1957 to St. John’s Child Development Center, the first alternative in Washington, DC, to the appalling government operated institution.

The Center primarily supported children with mild to moderate mental retardation, and later added adults to its programs. Three primary services were provided: 1) education for children with more severe disabilities such as autism, 2) early intervention for infants and toddlers, and 3) community living (residential services), vocational and education services for adults with disabilities. This began a process of growth and diversification for the organization that continues today. 

Driving Social Change

By driving social change throughout its history, St. John’s has fought for the equality and acceptance of people with disabilities. In the 1980’s, when the state institution, Forest Haven, was ordered to close by court order, SJCS was among the first to create homes in the community for the former residents. In 1989, SJCS embraced a new mission and commitment to support people in typical community settings, and to become 100% community-based. In the late 1990’s, SJCS closed the Child Development Center and moved it and the children into the District of Columbia Public Schools (DCPS). Today under the joint supervision of SJCS and DCPS, children with disabilities benefit from an education in the community among peers with and without disabilities.

SJCS was the first service provider to create individual volunteer and employment opportunities in the community within the regular workforce. SJCS pioneered such services in Northern Virginia at the request of several local governments.  In Tennessee, SJCS fought and won both a state and a federal fair housing discrimination lawsuit to ensure that three women with disabilities could return to their community after years of unnecessary institutionalization, and could be supported by the African American staff members. In Pennsylvania, SJCS responded to the Philadelphia government to create the first supported employment program for residents with severe disabilities under a court order to leave the abusive Pennhurst State Institution. 

Regardless of the challenges—societal perceptions, legislation, funding—SJCS remains resolute in our purpose of advancing community support and opportunities for people living with disabilities.