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The Center for Human Services (CHS) has 40 years of experience assisting government and private sector clients to design, implement, and evaluate educational, health, and social programs. The founders of University Research Co., LLC (URC) created CHS in 1968 as its non-profit affiliate to tackle some of the country’s most serious social problems, including juvenile delinquency and drug and alcohol abuse.

Today, CHS works domestically and internationally to strengthen health and human service programs and to provide education, training, and access to services for disadvantaged and at-risk populations. As URC's non-profit affiliate, CHS shares the same capabilities, staff, and facilities, giving us the flexibility to work under for-profit or non-profit contracting arrangements. CHS programs also benefit from local community and business support through donated services, equipment, space, and volunteer time.

CHS has extensive experience in offering educational services to under-served communities, including providing training in English as a second language (ESL). The company also supports national and local efforts to improve educational opportunities for disadvantaged groups.

In the U.S. Mid-Atlantic region, CHS helps to bridge language and cultural gaps by serving as a central resource and service center for under-served communities, including Hispanic/Latino populations. Programs targeted to these communities and to migrant and seasonal farmworkers include the High School Equivalency Program, courses in English as a second language & civics education, and IME Becas for Mexican citizens studying in the US. In addition, CHS offers vocational rehabilitation services for Migrant and Seasonal Farmworkers with Disabilities and services to prevent and manage diabetes under the New Jersey Reducing Diabetes Disparities initiative. At the national level, CHS manages the Migrant Education Resource Center (MERC), which draws on our over 20 years of migrant education experience to provide technical assistance, training, and dissemination of best practices to State education directors, school administrators, and teachers throughout the United States in support of quality education for migrant children.

Federal agencies, such as the United States Department of Education, Office of English Language Acquisition, Language Enhancement, and Academic Achievement for Limited English Proficient Students (OELA) have looked to CHS, not only to directly offer educational services, but to train professionals to teach English as a second language. In partnership with McDaniel College in Westminster, Maryland, CHS developed and implemented a high quality bilingual education/ESL teacher training program. Through the project, CHS/McDaniel provided various professional development opportunities to public school teachers and administrators, including workshops, graduate courses in bilingual education, field experiences, and an intensive summer training institute.

CHS also designs and manages programs for at-risk populations. Under the Prevention of High Risk Drinking Among College Students, in partnership with McDaniel College, CHS developed and administers a program intended to engage first-year college students and fraternity/sorority members to address factors that foster high risk drinking. Goals include reducing the number of first-year students referred for disciplinary action or having academic issues resulting from alcohol.

Internationally, CHS provides technical assistance in the design, management, and evaluation of healthcare services and service delivery systems. Under the Rapid Expansion of Nutritional Recuperation Services for Malnourished Children project, CHS is working to expand and sustain child health and nutrition services for vulnerable populations in Niger. Through a grant from the Gates Foundation, CHS is conducting Diagnostic Test Cost Analysis in Benin, Cambodia, India, Lesotho, Nicaragua, Peru, Russia, Swaziland, and Tanzania. During the 12 years it operated under CHS, the global Quality Assurance Project (QAP) provided comprehensive technical expertise in the design, management, and implementation of quality assurance interventions to improve the delivery of child and maternal health, family planning, HIV/AIDS, and infectious disease services in 29 developing and middle-income countries.

CHS programs benefit greatly from local community and business support through donated services, equipment, space, and volunteer time.

• Aga Khan Foundation
• Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
• The Binational Education Initiative at the California Policy Research Center (CPRC)
• The Hispanic Scholarship Fund (HSF)
• The Institute of Mexicans Abroad (IME)
• National Institute on Drug Abuse
• Office of Economic Opportunity
• Project HOPE
• State of New Jersey
• UNICEF
• U.S. Agency for Internatioal Development, Bureau of Global Health
• U.S. Agency for International Development, Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance
• U.S. Department of Education, Office of English Language Acquisition
• U.S. Department of Education, Office of Migrant Education
• U.S. Department of Education, Rehabilitation Services Administration
  

CHS programs benefit greatly from local community and business support through donated services, equipment, space, and volunteer time.

URC-CHS has a long history in the U.S. of supporting issues critical to the Latino community, such as migrant farmworker education, migrant health, drug and alcohol abuse, diabetes, underage drinking, bilingual education, teacher training, literacy, disabilities, and access to health and education information and opportunities. At the same time, URC-CHS is well known throughout Central America and Mexico for its efforts to improve the quality of health, nutrition, and education services.

In 2007, URC-CHS is launching a Hispanic-Latino Initiative to address some of the complex social issues related to immigration both in the US and in immigrants’ countries of origin. The goals of the initiative are to: 1) pilot innovative programs that address critical problems linked to immigration in the US and 2) promote development in the home countries of the immigrants.

This Initiative is designed to provide critical services to the Latino population in the U.S., focused on behavior change of children and parents, community awareness and participation, education and skill development, as well as to address critical policy issues needed to both motivate positive actions and assure the sustainability of the changes that occur.

In looking across borders, we will explore specific traditional practices that may serve to protect minority populations as they enter new environments. We will identify innovative ways to increase the productivity of remittances that are sent, at great sacrifice, from Latinos in the US to their families in Central America and Mexico, and we will promote activities that strengthen local development, reduce the flow of migrants to the US, and attract immigrants back to their home countries.

For more information on URC-CHS' Hispanic-Latino Initiative, contact Jack Galloway at jgalloway@urc-chs.com.

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(Photos: Top row, l to r: Migrant farmworker in field; CHS students participate in Bridgeton N.J. community clean-up; HEP, young woman smiles while sitting in front of computer; HEP, young boy sitting on father's lap; Niger, young child recovering from malnutrion is weighed; Bottom: Niger, Community nurse uses counseling tools to counsel mothers of malnourished children; New Jersey CHS staff)