Human Services Projects, Inc. history

1862: The Bureau of Chemistry is created within the new Department of Agriculture.

The first federal social welfare program, referred to as the Freedmen’s Bureau, began in 1865 as a means to help newly emancipated slaves.

1870: After scandals regarding mismanagement at the Marine Hospital Fund, the system is restructured as the Marine Hospital Service.7 Congress creates a dedicated agency to administer the MHS, and the following year a Supervising Surgeon (later Surgeon General) is appointed.

The first United States settlement, the Neighborhood Guild, began in New York City in 1886.

1887: The MHS opens a disease research laboratory on Staten Island, New York.

In 1889, Jane Addams and Ellen Gates Starr created The Hull House, the most famous American settlement house.

1902: The Biologics Control Act gives the federal government responsibility for monitoring the manufacture and sale of medicinal products used by doctors.

In 1904, Simmons College in Boston collaborated with Harvard University to establish the Boston School for Social Workers.

1909: President Theodore Roosevelt holds a White House Conference on Dependent Children, or children dependent on charities and public assistance.10 Three years later, Congress establishes a Children's Bureau in the Department of Labor, which focuses on child labor and related issues.

11 The 1912 Progressive Party platform is at http://teachingamericanhistory.org/library/index.asp?document=607.

In addition to these clinics, the Community Chest movement began in 1913.

1921: The Bureau of Indian Health Affairs is created, the forerunner of today's Indian Health Service.

These cooperative efforts helped to spark legitimization of the field, and by 1927 more than 100 child guidance clinics were opened to provide services primarily to middle-class clients.

The stock market crash in October 1929 signaled the start of a depression that would last for a decade.

The American Association of Public Welfare Officials was established in 1930 during the Great Depression by state officials who had been charged with the task of distributing "relief" to their constituents.

In 1932, the association opened offices in Chicago and changed the name to the American Public Welfare Association (APWA).

1934: President Franklin Roosevelt's Committee on Economic Security recommends the creation of three programs: old-age insurance, unemployment insurance, and public assistance for low-income elderly persons and families with dependent children.

1939: Following the recommendation of the Brownlow Committee, the Federal Security Agency (FSA) is established to house the government's health, education, and welfare programs.

1944: The Public Health Service Act creates the Office of the Surgeon General, the National Institutes of Health, and other new government bureaus.

1946: The National Mental Health Act authorizes grants for mental-health research and training, as well as funding for the operation of community health facilities.

The Council on Social Work Education was formed in 1952.

In 1953, APWA supported President Eisenhower's Reorganization Plan No.

The National Association of Social Workers was created in 1955 to further the professional status of social work.

1962: The Migrant Health Act authorizes funding to clinics serving agricultural workers.

President Johnson announced a launch of an “unconditional war on poverty” in January 1964.

1965: The Older Americans Act authorizes grants to the states to fund various social services for the elderly under a new federal Administration on Aging.

1966: The Department of Health, Education, and Welfare is a sprawling organization overseeing 210 different programs, of which 60 were created in just the prior three years.22

1969: The Office of Child Development is created by the merging of the Children's Bureau and Head Start.

The very first meal to be served in any of our sites was in Arkansas City on March 25, 1974.

The Health Care Financing Administration, the predecessor to the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare, was established in 1977.

In October of 1978, six years after the Nutrition Program for Older Americans began, the Comprehensive Older Americans Act Amendments were signed into law.

Then, in 1979, the Department of Health, Education and Welfare was renamed with the modern title of the Department of Health and Human Services.

In 1986, APWA launched a three-year project to reassess the nation's commitment to low-income families and their children.

Starting in 1987, APWA developed a five-year Successful Projects Initiative Awards Program to help identify and recognize innovative efforts of state and local human service agencies.

The project, A Matter of Commitment, led to the national policy debate that resulted in the enactment of the Family Support Act of 1988.

Originally, Part A is projected to cost $9 billion by 1990, but it ends up costing $67 billion that year.19

The new program is projected to cost less than $1 billion annually by 1992, but it ends up costing a stunning $17 billion that year.29

1993: The Clinton administration, led by first lady Hillary Clinton, drafts a plan for a vast and complex expansion of federal health care.

1997: The State Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) is created to subsidize state governments for extending health care coverage to families that don't qualify for Medicaid.

In 1998, APWA changed its name to what it remains today, the American Public Human Services Association (APHSA), in recognition of the much broader human service agenda it was addressing.

The Ticket to Work and Work Incentives Improvement Act of 1999 was signed, making it possible for millions of Americans with disabilities to join the workforce without fear of losing their Medicaid and Medicare coverage.

Competition from the private venture spurs the government to speed up the timetable of its own project, and the two projects race to the finish line with a rough draft of the human genome in 2000.

In 2001, HCFA is renamed the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

2002: Following an anthrax scare, the Office of Public Health Emergency Preparedness is created to meet bioterrorism threats and other health emergencies.

Just one year later in 2003, more than 20 APHSA recommendations were signed into law in the Senate Finance Committee's welfare reform bill.

2009: The Department of Treasury reports that the present value of Medicare's unfunded obligations is $36 trillion over the next 75 years.40 The Treasury's estimate for the funding gap over an "infinite horizon" is a staggering $86 trillion.