AASC History/Overview

Service Coordination has a long history, beginning in 1978 with the Congregate Housing Services Program demonstration project, and followed in 1988 by the Supportive Services Program in Senior Housing (SSPSH), a demonstration project funded by The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF).

SSPSH led to the RWJF funding of the No Place Like Home project, along with others funded through the U.S. Administration on Aging. The Cranston-Gonzalez National Affordable Housing Act of 1990 provided HUD service coordinator program funding in multifamily assisted housing with Public Housing Authorities receiving funding for SCs in 1995.

Incorporated and launched in 1999, AASC was created in response to service coordinators' expressed need of a national voice to legitimize this pioneering profession. In 1998, a small group of SCs and SC advocates approached The American Association of Homes and Services for the Aging (AAHSA) to assist in the development of an independent national organization. AAHSA provided seed money and staff support in its early development along with the Association of Ohio Philanthropic Homes for the Aging (AOPHA) and National Church Residences that provided staff and collateral support. The Washington, DC law offices of Latham & Watkins donated related legal work in addition to the Quincy, Massachusetts based CPA firm of Ziner, Kennedy & Lehan who contributed the organization's accounting services.