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Our History

 

Over the years, FSS has played an integral role in the evolution of Spokane's social service network, providing avariety of services to meet the changing needs of the community and going through a number of name changes in the process.  Highlights of the agency's evolution include:

 

1905 Associated Charities of Spokane was founded by a group of community leaders, with a mission to “strengthen family life and relieve and prevent conditions leading to family breakdown.”

1912 Agency responded to the community’s desperate need for a hospital for tuberculosis patients by spearheading a fundraising drive for what was to become the Edgecliffe Sanitarium.

1914 Agency was renamed Social Services Bureau of Spokane.

1915 Agency established Prisoners Aid Service, using volunteers to  provide “spiritual and moral support services” to inmates. This program later became the community’s first probation service.

1924 Agency helped found Spokane’s first “Community Chest,” a joint fundraising project for social services within the community.

1926 Agency renamed Family Welfare Association of Spokane.

1934 Agency was involved in the Governor’s Planning Committee that was formed to set up the State Department of Public Welfare, which later evolved into the Department of Social and Health Services.

1940 Agency’s public health program, which had been in place for the past 30 years, was transferred to a new organization – the Visiting Nurse Association.

1948 Agency renamed Family Society of Spokane.

1968 Agency renamed Family Counseling Service.

1978 Agency began Child and Adult Care Food Program.

1981 Agency became nationally accredited through the Council on Accreditation of Services for Families and Children.

1988 Agency began the Epilepsy Program, providing education, referral and support services to individuals and families.

1991 Agency renamed Family Service Spokane.

1995 Agency became licensed as a community mental health services provider.

1997 Agency expanded to include an additional office site, located in the Spokane Valley.

1999 Agency began to contract directly with Spokane County for the provision of outpatient mental health services.

2000 Agency opened its Neighborhood Support Project satellite office in downtown Spokane to provide more “neighborhoodbased” services to adults dealing with severe and persistent mental illness.

2002 Agency developed its Families and Schools Succeeding Together (FASST) program, providing outpatient mental health services to students in the East Valley School District.

2004 Neighborhood Support Project moved across the street from the agency’s main office and became the First Avenue Branch.

2005 Agency celebrated its 100-year anniversary.

2009 First Avenue Branch moved to expanded location on Washington Avenue.