The Deaf-Hearing Communication Centre, Inc. (DHCC) started as a result of one dedicated Deaf person’s concern about the lack of services for Deaf people and their families. When the concern was shared with the President of the Woman's Club of Springfield, the two chose to launch a two-year community project called "Concern for the Deaf" in 1972.

In 1974, DHCC was incorporated with its own Board of Directors, some of whom are still involved with the organization today. As time passed, DHCC broadened its base and began to provide services to respond to the needs expressed by hard of hearing and hearing individuals.

In the early years, DHCC had three main areas of service: Education, Sign Language Interpretering and Message Relay Service (MRS). All provided benefits to both the Deaf and hearing communities and were established before most other schools, colleges and organizations offered similar services. The MRS ceased to operate early in 1991, due to the advent of the AT&T Message Relay Service. During its operation, from 1977 to 1991, the MRS handled many thousands of calls: 5,700 in its first year and 26,289 in 1990, the last full year of operation. No cost was ever incurred by the users of the service.

In 1980, DHCC responded to another need and introduced Camp Tom Tom – a "hands on experience" Day Camp for 4-8 year-old Deaf children and hearing siblings which continued until 2000.

DHCC continues to offer Sign Language Interpreter Services through our Interpreter Referral Department (IRD). Since 2002, the IRD has provided an average 2,400 hours of interpreting services per month.

Additional services were added to improve communication access for hard of hearing people such as oral interpreting and real time captioning (CART) and for Deaf-blind people such as tactile interpreting.

One of the Education Program's key components is Sign Language Classes. At first, classes were offered in an informal atmosphere and hearing students had the opportunity to observe and interact with Deaf instructors using ASL. In addition, the use of Deaf teachers and other Deaf persons in leadership roles helped students develop mutual understanding. Today, classes are formal and structured, using specialized curricula. Deaf teachers receive training and supervision and have their own professional certification process.

In 1996, DHCC implemented a 24-Hour Sign Language Interpreting Emergency Service to meet the communication challenges that occurred after business hours and on weekends. With the help of donations from various Foundations, DHCC rented pagers and hired an on-call Coordinator to work with the roster of Deaf and hearing interpreters. This program was the first of its kind and is the most widely used in the Delaware Valley today.

In 2000, DHCC received a grant from The Pew Charitable Trusts to research and develop Video Interpreting Services (VIS). At the end of 2002, we had 2 pilot sites set up to test this service. In 2005, DHCC transferred VIS to existing businesses with the technical expertise to manage the growing demand for service and the ever-changing improvements in technology.

In 2002, DHCC moved its offices into larger quarters to more comfortably serve our customers. The office has a community resource room with a book and videotape library, computer and meeting space.

In 2003, DHCC started the Hearing Health Care Pilot Project in collaboration with PA-SHHH. While the pilot project was a success, we did not receive funds to continue this program. In 2002, DHCC also produced new material about medical interpreting and distributed it to hospitals and medical practices in Southeast PA, Southern NJ and Northern DE.

In 2004, DHCC developed a new interpreter application process involving an in-person interview and skill screening with Deaf and hearing interpreter evaluators. In 2006, we changed the skill screening from in-person to videotaped version.

In 2005, we received a grant from The Pew charitable Trusts to upgrade and redesign our database to improve our overall efficiency and service delivery. We also changed the curriculum for our sign language classes from Bravo to Learning American Sign Language.

In 2006, DHCC expanded the Education Department and hired a full time manager to promote our sign language classes and sensitivity training program. We joined a program to purchase CDs to lend to interpreters to earn CEUs. We also implemented a series of workshops on legal interpreting to increase the pool of legal interpreters.

DHCC is successful because it is a partnership of Deaf, hard of hearing and hearing individuals working to improve communication access. Our success can be attributed to an environment that fosters mutual respect and equality, and supports the right of all human beings to know and interact with one another.