The Connecticut Association for Human Services is an independent, statewide organization that works to reduce poverty and strengthen families and communities through advocacy supported by outreach, research and education.
Description: Our Values
We are committed to providing the highest quality research, information, outreach services, and advocacy possible to realize our mission. We respect diverse perspectives, including those of low-income people most directly affected by the public policies and programs on which we focus. We work to amplify the voices of society's most vulnerable, including children and disempowered individuals and families, in the public policy arena. We must work to build bridges between different groups for the benefit of the whole, recognizing that our society is inter-dependent. We believe that public policies should be directed toward providing services to people who need them most.
How We Achieve Our Mission
CAHS's core strategy is to advocate for systems changes in public and private policies and programs and in the administration of public resources, to reduce poverty and its impacts, and to strengthen families and communities. To enhance our ability to achieve change, CAHS conducts:
Outreach to provide families with information and tools to foster knowledge and develop skills to succeed as individuals and to accomplish shared goals as communities. Our partnerships with human service providers and their clients ensure our policy development and advocacy reflect the concerns of the community. Research and data analysis regarding needs, disparities, and opportunities to improve the well-being of children, families and communities, including information acquired through outreach to the community. Education and convenes members, advocates, providers, policymakers, businesses and the public concerning Family Economic Security issues.
History: CAHS was founded in 1910 as the State Conference on Charities and Corrections, a volunteer organization that held annual conferences to discuss philosophies and innnovations in the growing field of social work. Over the next 60 years, these conferences launched discussions on issues which are still of concern today.
In 1970, seeking to become more action-oriented, CAHS became a full-time professional organization, with the goal of making the human service system work. Understanding the change required broad-based support, CAHS approached state policymakers, human services providers, the corporate sector, religious institutions, labor, and concerned individuals with a policy agenda backed by credible research. Their support gave CAHS a voice and respect it otherwise could not have garnered in developing human services policy and programs in Connecticut.
Over the past decade, while covering a broad range of human service issues, CAHS's focus has been on hunger, child care, and health care. In recent years, CAHS has:
Conducted a scientifically valid study of childhood hunger that has been replicated nationally, and conducted outreach to enroll families in Food Stamps and other programs. Published Programs that Help People, a compendium of social services for agencies and their clients; the annual KIDS COUNT data book on the well-being of Connecticut's children; and How To Get Food statewide and regional guides. Advocated successfully for legislation to expand the School Readiness program and to simplify applications for Food Stamps, and for federal administrative changes to make the Summer Food Service Program more readily available.
In some ways, our current focus marks a return to CAHS's earliest days, as noted by Flavel Luther above: we seek to ensure that basic needs are met for all residents, but more than that, we are working to ensure that every family has the tools they need to become self-sufficient, to create a stronger society
Contact people:
Mark Briggs, Project Manager, (860) 951-2212, (email) Ellen Carter, Program Manager, (860) 951-2212, (email) Tracy Helin, Program Director, 860-951-12212, (email)
Office fax number: (860) 951-6511
Address:
110 Bartholomew Ave. Hartford, CT 06106 (See a map)
I-84 East (From Danbury, Waterbury, Farmington):
LEFT Exit 46 - SISSON AVENUE
LEFT at light at end of ramp onto SISSON AVENUE
LEFT at 2nd light onto PARK STREET
2ND RIGHT onto BARTHOLOMEW AVENUE
CAHS is located at 110 Bartholomew Avenue ON LEFT at end of block.
PARK in first two rows (closest to the street) of parking lot
Entrance is on Bartholomew Avenue
To be admitted, PRESS 4030 on keypad to right of door (continue despite busy signal)
Take elevator to 4TH FLOOR, Suite 4030
I-84 West (from Rockville, Manchester, East Hartford):
Exit 46 - SISSON AVENUE
LEFT at light at end of ramp onto SISSON AVENUE
LEFT at 2nd light onto PARK STREET
2nd right onto BARTHOLOMEW AVENUE
CAHS is located at 110 Bartholomew Avenue ON LEFT at end of block
PARK in first two rows (closest to the street) of parking lot
Entrance is on Bartholomew Avenue
To be admitted, PRESS 4030 on keypad to right of door (continue despite busy signal)
Take elevator to 4TH FLOOR, Suite 4030
I-91 SOUTH (From Enfield, Bloomfield, Windsor):
Exit to I-84 West
EXIT 46 - SISSON AVENUE
LEFT at light at end of ramp onto SISSON AVENUE
LEFT at 2nd light onto PARK STREET
2nd right onto BARTHOLOMEW AVENUE
CAHS is located at 110 Bartholomew Avenue ON LEFT at end of block
PARK in first two rows (closest to the street) of parking lot
Entrance is on Bartholomew Avenue
To be admitted, PRESS 4030 on keypad to right of door (continue despite busy signal)
Take elevator to 4TH FLOOR, Suite 4030
I-91 NORTH (From New Haven, Meriden, Wethersfield)
Left Exit to I-84 West
EXIT 46 - SISSON AVENUE
LEFT at light at end of ramp onto SISSON AVENUE
LEFT at 2nd light onto PARK STREET
2nd right onto BARTHOLOMEW AVENUE
CAHS is located at 110 Bartholomew Avenue ON LEFT at end of block
PARK in first two rows (closest to the street) of parking lot
Entrance is on Bartholomew Avenue
To be admitted, PRESS 4030 on keypad to right of door (continue despite busy signal)
Take elevator to 4TH FLOOR, Suite 4030
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