History
Now in our 106th year of service, KenCrest has celebrated many milestones, benefiting tens of thousands of people and influencing society's response to people in need. KenCrest can claim a long list of "firsts":
In 1905 KenCrest opened one of the first community health clinics in the United States for tuberculosis patients.
In 1908 KenCrest received the Silver Medal awarded by President Theodore Roosevelt on behalf of the International Congress on Tuberculosis for our pioneering treatment and prevention.
In 1955 KenCrest opened the first community-based educational programs in Pennsylvania for children with intellectual disabilities.
In 1965 KenCrest offered people with intellectual disabilities the first program in Philadelphia where they could live family-style in homes in their communities.
In 1975 KenCrest began treating one-month old infants with disabilities, another first in Philadelphia.
In 1983 KenCrest opened the first family-style homes in Delaware so that people with intellectual disabilities could return from institutions to their home communities.
In 1984 KenCrest participated in the first national research study on the treatment of low birth-weight babies.
In 1985 KenCrest opened the first successful program in the Philadelphia area in which preschool children with developmental disabilities and typically developing children were taught side-by-side in the same classrooms.
In 1988 KenCrest opened the first community-based programs in Philadelphia for preschool children whose lives depend on medical technology.
In 1991 KenCrest opened the first community-based residential program in the United States for medically fragile infants who were abandoned in hospitals.
In 1995 KenCrest convened the first national conference in the United States on medically fragile, technology dependent children.
In 2003, KenCrest acquired a residential service program in Bucks County.
In 2005, KenCrest celebrated 100 years of service in the community with six major events, touching the lives of 20,000 people in southeastern Pennsylvania and Delaware.
In 2008, KenCrest opened its first family-style homes in Connecticut.
In 2009, KenCrest began providing services for children in Delaware.
In 2011, KenCrest acquired Lynch Homes.