Area Resources for Community and Human Services (ARCHS) is a not-for-profit organization that designs, manages, and evaluates education and social service programs. ARCHS is contracted to serve as the official "Community Partnership" for Greater St. Louis on behalf of the State of Missouri – one of 20 similar organizations across Missouri.
About ARCHS
ARCHS does not directly provide programs or services to the general public. Currently ARCHS has service delivery partners around Greater St. Louis and surrounding areas.
History
Area Resources for Community and Human Services (ARCHS) has a 16-year history. Established as a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization in 1997, ARCHS is the official Community Partnership for the St. Louis region on behalf of the State of Missouri. ARCHS has a history of leveraging more than $200 million in public and private resources. ARCHS has been a three-time winner of a "What’s Right With the Region" Award by FOCUS St. Louis (2004/2012), been awarded the Healthcare Advocacy Organization of the Year by St. Louis American Foundation (2010), and a Distinguished Community Service Award for Education by Harris-Stowe State University (2011).
ARCHS programs
ARCHS manages many programs that affect the St. Louis region. ARCHS Lifelong Learning philosophy centers around the notion that education is a necessity for success. ARCHS provides support to child care programs that are going through the accreditation or reaccreditation process. ARCHS' funded child care programs receiving start up and expansion and accreditation funding. ARCHS provided strategic technical assistance to nine area child care programs that achieved national accreditation.
K-12
Since 2007, After School for All Partnership (ASAP) has provided funding to after school programs and oversees the management of their services. The partnership's plan is to gather diverse funders to pool resources for grants, develop a system for monitoring accountability and evaluation, and to provide quality improvement and professional development. ARCHS supports 45 after-school locations. Headed by ASAP, the program includes the addition of 27 new or expanded after school programs at area public and private schools, city recreation centers and community sites serving 1,283 students each school day, according to a release.
ARCHS' Kids Vision for Life partnership with Crown Vision Center, Essilor Vision Foundation, Inc., and University of Missouri–St. Louis School of Optometry provides free eye screenings to more than 12,000 children in grades K-6 at Saint Louis Public Schools and other St. Louis area public schools, to provide free eye examinations to students who fail the screening, and provide free eyeglasses to students who need them after completing the eye examination.
From FY09 to FY12, ARCHS' Gang Resistance Education and Training (GREAT) provided school-based, law enforcement officer-instructed classroom curriculum. The program's objective was prevention of juvenile delinquency, youth violence and gang membership. It served more than 3,100 Jennings School District K-8 students who completed courses taught by area law enforcement officers aimed at improving student life skills and decision-making to help reduce the impact of gangs and drugs.
In 2010, Missouri Division of Youth Services selected ARCHS to deliver its award-winning Community Mentoring Services Program (CMSP) to youth in the Greater St. Louis area. CMSP's goals are to decrease social isolation and exclusion, increase safety, increase stability and increase the control of choices and the meaningful use of mainstream resources.
Pre-K
From 1997 to 2012, ARCHS supported more than 80 child care centers that included a focus on providing safe environments, developing physical motor skills and healthy eating habits. In addition, ARCHS provided courses taught by nationally trained, local law enforcement officers, which focused on improving youth life skills and decision making to reduce the impact of bullying and drugs through their Gang/Drug Prevention Partnerships. Annually more than 3,000 children received this healthy start and 150 area jobs are impacted. Many of ARCHS’ early childhood standards to increase access and quality were used as models by the state.