The Caring Paws Animal-Assisted Therapy Program is a specialized service of Caring People Alliance offering an innovative mental health service in individual and group settings. Under the direction of Marjorie Shoemaker, the Caring Paws Animal-Assisted Therapy Program provides therapeutic and educational programming to homebound seniors, nursing homes, assisted living facilities, psychiatric wards, rehabilitation facilities, and community centers. Animal-assisted therapy can help older adults decrease feelings of loneliness, boredom, and helplessness; cope with a loss and/or depression; increase feelings of self-worth; enhance motor output by using particular muscles; and stimulate intellectual development by exercising memory and increasing knowledge of animal species and behaviors. Caring Paws staff also includes rabbits, guinea pigs, hairless guinea pigs, ferrets, rats, and Fleur, our Canine Companions for Independence Facility Dog.

Contact: Marjorie Shoemaker, Program Director
(215) 763-0900 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Operating out of our West Philadelphia Community Center, Treatment Foster Care is a distinct, powerful model of care that combines the best elements of traditional foster care and residential treatment centers. In Treatment Foster Care, the positive aspects of a nurturing and therapeutic family environment are combined with active, structured treatment. This program is geared to service adolescents, providing individualized and intensive treatment for deliquent and dependent clients. We also operate a satellite office in Williamsport, PA, where 10 advocate homes are available to children from the Southeast Pennsylvania region.

Contact: Olga Gibbs, Program Director
(215) 386-4075 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

The goal of this delinquency prevention program is to deescalate behaviors that could lead to involvement in the juvenile justice system. Case managers work with youth and their family around issues such as curfew violation, incorrigible behavior, physical aggression, substance abuse, peer pressure, poor school performance, truancy, and family conflict. The program targets youth from ages 8 to 17 years old and is delivered through home visitation, school visitation, and a community center-based after school, peer support group.

Youth are referred from the Prevention Services Unit at Philadelphia Family Court, or families can self-refer by calling the program.

Contact: Lisa Zulewski, Quality Assurance Manager
(215) 545-5230 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

The Empowering Young Parents through Education Program (EYPE) offers comprehensive services including parenting education, Graduate Equivalency Diploma (GED) preparation and completion, nutrition education, budgeting, counseling, life skills and computer training, mentoring and more for inner city teenage parents.

Contact: DiAne Spencer, Program Director
(215) 386-4075 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it