Brooklyn Community Housing and Services (BCHS) is committed to ending homelessness in Brooklyn. We provide safe, clean, supportive housing for over 600 formerly homeless children, women and men each year, and help them to learn how to live productively and independently, with dignity, and with hope. Founded in 1978 by area clergy, BCHS was a grassroots response to the Carter Administration's call for the creation of community-based programs for the mentally ill. In 1980, BCHS established one of the first Scattered-Site Apartment Programs for mentally ill adults in the United States; after a decade of growth, in 1991, BCHS opened Brooklyn Gardens, a groundbreaking 180-bed, 3 building residence for single mothers with children who have been referred from the shelter system, men and women with serious psychiatric disorders, low-income working adults, and adults with a chronic mental illness and/or a history of substance abuse. Brooklyn Gardens successfully proved the agency's philosophy that creating a community of supportive peers is essential for helping each individual achieve long-term stability and well-being. Excellence and innovation in service delivery have been hallmarks of BCHS' work throughout its history. BCHS has received awards such as the Fannie Mae Foundation's Maxwell Award for excellence in low-income housing development, as well as top ratings from the New York City Department of Homeless Services for the Arbor Inn program and from the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene for Oak Hall.