Our History

The passage of the Community Mental Health Centers (CMHC) Act in 1963 resulted in the establishment of comprehensive community-based mental health/intellectual disabilities centers for people living with mental illness or intellectual disabilities and their families.  Organized into geographically defined “catchment-areas,” CMHCs have been providing easily accessible neighborhood based services to people living with mental illness or intellectual disabilities across the City of Philadelphia for more than fifty years. The CMHC members of the Coalition are firmly established and deeply rooted in the neighborhoods in Philadelphia where each Center has set up a broad and diverse range of services for treatment of mental health and substance abuse disorder, along with services for people living with intellectual disabilities.  For 50 years the CMHCs of Philadelphia have been linked together as members of The Philadelphia Coalition through the development of strong professional relationships and through active education and advocacy initiatives to address the complex needs of individuals and families who are our neighbors and who are members of each community we serve.