Holy Family Institute

Since 1900, children and families in our community have benefited from the work of Holy Family Institute.
Holy Family Institute provides help, healing, and hope to children and families throughout Western Pennsylvania.

We pioneer alternative learning and career training environments, offer mental health and substance use counseling, and help families address debilitating financial limitations. You can always find us in the schools and neighborhoods with the most need. In 2018 alone, more than 35,000 families and children improved their lives with the help of our donors and volunteers.

The families we serve have often experienced significant trauma and need caring and support to heal. For this reason, Holy Family Institute maintains a trauma-sensitive culture throughout our programs and services. We provide care within the community, giving families the tools they need to thrive, the resources they need to establish stability, and the support they need to live responsibly.

To fund our mission of serving children and families in crisis, we collaborate with community leaders and organizations. We also depend on generous donors and volunteers to further our mission of service through Holy Family Foundation, our separately incorporated fundraising entity.

Mission & Values

Our Mission
Rooted in the rich tradition of Catholic social teaching and the heritage of the Sisters of the Holy Family of Nazareth, we empower children and families to lead responsible lives and develop healthy and meaningful relationships built on faith, hope and love.

Our Values
Together with our Mission Statement, our values guide our decisions and actions on a daily basis.

Faithful Listening
Faithful listening is a way to claim and celebrate our identity in life and ministry; a way to hear the voices (new and old) within our hearts and within our world as a call to growth and development; a way to let God's Spirit overshadow us and our ministry for mission.

Loving Relationships
"Love" is the very heart of Nazareth, modeled on the relationship among Father, Son and Spirit in the Trinity and among Jesus, Mary and Joseph in the Holy Family. The selfless, life-giving love of an infinitely generous God compels us to form loving, compassionate and reverential relationships in our personal and professional lives. Since the family is the first school of love, we are committed to the strengthening of family life in whatever ways we are able.

Recognizing God in the Everyday
We are building God's reign of love in our world, step by step, moment by moment, here, in this place. The people we encounter are the sons and daughters of God. We must know and understand that. The more we recognize that God is in the daily, the more compassionate and caring we will be. We will act from a transformed consciousness.