History

In 1977 Nancy Fisher submitted a proposal to the Eisman Foundation for a grant which would enable a small team to begin to address inner-city neglectful parenting, an issue which had received scant attention at the time. The proposal called for volunteer parent aides to train inner city parents in the skills of parenting, a task bewilderingly difficult for families struggling with poverty, illiteracy, family breakdown and substance abuse. With an initial start-up grant of $50,000, the Supportive Children’s Advocacy Network, now known simply as SCAN, was born.

Training roughly 20 volunteers in intense sessions twice a year to work with at-risk parents and working from a 1-room office, SCAN’s early tasks were straightforward, but demanding and difficult. In the early days and with its largely volunteer staff, SCAN supported 40 families a year through its Manhattan-based
mentoring program.

In 1987, Lew Zuchman, SCAN’s current Executive Director, joined SCAN and the agency’s preventive services focus shifted from an individual casework approach to a family-focused array of complementary programming premised on a positive approach and harnessing individual strengths. The new approach maintained the same emphasis on strengthening and preserving the family. However, it had the additional goal of providing the support necessary for a family to thrive, and it offered services that would build on the cultural strengths and individual assets of the parents and children.