CATCH
CATCH — Citizens Acting Together Can Help — has been a cornerstone and anchor in the South Philadelphia community since 1979. As a well-established and credentialed provider of Community Behavioral Health and Developmental Disability Services, CATCH has an ongoing responsibility to serve and to enhance the community at large. Today, Families, Business, Community Leaders, Employees and Consumers are all part of a community network of specialized medical care.
With its mission to provide continuous care on the ladder of independence for individuals with disabilities, CATCH wrestles with the dichotomy of evermore finite and diminishing resources and the community’s real and expanding needs for its unique human services.
CATCH, as a not-for-profit entity, has been recognized by our business and academic region with the prestigious PACE Business Award. Newly designed programs continue to strengthen CATCH’s base of offerings. There are increased efforts toward the employment of the developmentally disabled; long-term, interventional, emergency, and geriatric resident programs continue throughout the City; ongoing outreach in consultation to brother and sister agencies; and the expanded transportation department specializing in the delivery of residents to medical health care providers are just a few accomplishments of which we are especially cognizant and proud. Finally, we are ever grateful for the ongoing financial support and partnering that CATCH receives from the City of Philadelphia, Office of Behavioral Health/Intellectual Disabilities and Community Behavioral Health, as well as our numerous unnamed friends and benefactors
Our beginning can be traced back to the early 1960s when a presidential panel presented a national plan that established a trend away from over-utilization of large institutions and toward community care. A subsequent Act of Congress provided funds to build community facilities, and a network of community-based programs was established in the Commonwealth by the Pennsylvania Mental Health/Mental Retardation Act of 1966.
Initially, these programs were offered through institution-based grantees that were given responsibility for designated areas called “Catchments.” In 1979, the program at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital was transferred to a community-based non-profit organization, Citizens Acting Together Can Help, Inc. The organization’s mission is to care for the vulnerable, honor the life and dignity of all, and engage the community in compassionate service and advocacy.
ROOTED IN LEADERSHIP
Our CEO, Raymond A. Pescatore, has helped to guide and shape CATCH, Inc. since its earliest days and is viewed by his peers as a leader in advocating for behavioral health. Through his guidance, the agency has built upon the concept of promoting recovery and self-determination. With his vision for reaching beyond the usual means of financial resources, we have been able to provide services to consumers who, otherwise, would have nowhere else to turn.