Adventist Community Services evolved from historical efforts by the Seventh-day Adventist Church to develop community initiatives. In 1879, the Church officially recognized the Dorcas Society as its organized community outreach program. In 1956, this organized Church program became the Seventh-day Adventist Welfare Service (SAWS) with the purpose to strengthen Adventist relief efforts. As the Church grew in developing countries, the need for international relief activities increased, causing the Church to focus its community missions to domestic and international fields. As a result, SAWS expanded into a domestic and international Church-organized community program. In 1972, Adventist Community Services was officially titled the domestic humanitarian Church agency and in 1973, the international program was named the Seventh-day Adventist World Service, now known as the Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) International.

Disaster Response

For more than 100 years the Seventh-day Adventist Church has provided emergency relief in times of disaster. In 1969, Adventist Community Services became a charter member of the National Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster (NVOAD). Since 1974, Adventist Community Services has operated in partnership with the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), which recognizes Adventist Community Services as an established nonprofit disaster agency.

Inner City

Seventh-day Adventists have been working to meet the needs of the large cities for more than ten decades. As early as 1883, Church-organized inner city and urban missions were initiated which have grown over the years from small hospitals to the vast array of inner city services we currently provide.

Adventist Y.E.S. Corps

In 1993, Adventist Youth Emergency Services (Y.E.S.) Corps emerged from the Medical Cadet Corps. The Medical Cadet Corps was formed by an act of Congress in August 1861 for youth between 18 and 22 years of age to serve a one-year term in the army as wound dressers and ambulance attendants under the supervision of medical officers. Because the military draft ceased in North America, Adventist Y.E.S. Corps was developed to mobilize youth in community action programs.

Tutoring & Mentoring

Adventist Community Services strengthened its services in tutoring and mentoring in response to the Alliance for Youth goal of educational assistance for disadvantaged children, which was explicated at the Presidents’ Summit for America’s Future in 1997, where Presidents Bush, Carter, Clinton, and Ford—with Nancy Reagan representing Ronald Reagan—challenged the nation to make children and youth a national priority.

Health Program

Since early in our history, Seventh-day Adventists have been involved in teaching people to live healthy lives. But as national community risks increased from public health threats such as the use of tobacco, alcohol, drugs and diseases like AIDS, community health screening and education programs became a primary focus for Adventist Community Services since the 1970s.