| The settlement house, an
approach to social reform with roots in the late 19th century, was a
method for serving the poor in urban areas by living among them and
serving them directly. As the residents of settlement houses learned
effective methods of helping, they then worked to transfer long-term
responsibility for the programs to government agencies. Settlement house
workers, in their work to find more effective solutions to poverty and
injustice, also pioneered the profession of social work.
The term "neighborhood center" (or in
British English, Neighbourhood Centre) is often used today for similar
institutions, as the early tradition of "residents" settling in the
neighborhood has given way to professionalized social work.
The first settlement house was Toynbee
Hall in London, founded in 1883. The first American settlement house was
The Neighborhood Guild (later the University Settlement), founded by
Stanton Coit, begun in 1886.
The best-known settlement house is
perhaps Hull House in Chicago, founded in 1889 by Jane Addams with,
initially, her friend Ellen Starr. Lillian Wald and the Henry Street
Settlement in New York is also well known. Other settlement houses,
like Both of these houses were staffed primarily by women, and both
resulted in many reforms with long-lasting effect and many programs that
exist today. Other individuals known as settlement house leaders
include John Lovejoy Eliot and Mary Simkhovitch.
Mary McDowell, Alice Hamilton, Florence
Kelley, Francis Perkins, John Dewey and Eleanor Roosevelt are among the
many women and men connected at some point in their careers with
settlement houses. |
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