Social Welfare History Project Organizations Page 37

Halbert, Leroy Allen

By John E. Hansan, Ph.D. Leroy Allen Halbert (1875-1958) — Pioneer Social Worker, Director of the Nation’s First Department of Public Welfare, Advocate for the Unemployed, Social Reformer, and Author

Miss Dunn played a key role in bringing together social welfare leaders from all over the country to help study and draft legislation establishing many federally funded social work welfare programs. She influenced many, and during her long career she maintained close associations with such public figures as Eleanor Roosevelt, Lyndon Johnson, and Nelson Rockefeller.

Commons, John R.

John R. Commons (1862-1945) – Economist, Progressive, Labor Advocate, Professor and Author

Young Womens Christian Association

Throughout its history, the YWCA has been in the forefront of most major movements in the United States as a pioneer in race relations, labor union representation, and the empowerment of women.

Young Mens Christian Association

The YMCA idea, which began among evangelicals, was unusual because it crossed the rigid lines that separated all the different churches and social classes in England in those days. This openness was a trait that would lead eventually to including in YMCA’s all men, women and children, regardless of race, religion or nationality. Also, its target of meeting social need in the community was dear from the start.

Woman’s Christian Temperance Union

The WCTU was a religious organization whose primary purpose was to combat the influence of alcohol on families and society. It was influential in the temperance movement, and supported the 18th Amendment.

Virginia State Federation Of Colored Womens Clubs

SECOND ANNUAL REPORT OF THE INDUSTRIAL HOME SCHOOL FOR COLORED GIRLS PEAKE’S TURNOUT HANOVER COUNTY VIRGINIA FOUNDED BY The Virginia State Federation of Colored Women’s Clubs 1917 BOARD OF TRUSTEES MRS. HENRY L. SCHMELZ, President, Hampton MRS. W. S. McNEILL, First Vice President, Richmond MRS. FRANK W. DARLING, Second Vice President, Hampton MRS. HARRIS BARRETT,…

Virginia Industrial School for Colored Girls

The residents of the Industrial School were, for the most part, delinquent or dependent colored girls sentenced to prison by local judges and then paroled to the school. There were no foster homes for colored girls who needed care and jail or prison was the only alternative. It is reported that several of the girls were “feeble minded” and a few arrived with contagious diseases…the goal of the school was to teach self-direction and character building with the expectation that… a girl could be “paroled” to a private family in the Richmond area and work for normal wages.

University House of Philadelphia

Written by John E. Hansan, Ph.D. “Members of the University of Pennsylvania’s Christian Association (CA) founded University Settlement House in 1898…to promote ‘spiritual welfare of the students of the University of Pennsylvania by encouraging Christian fellowship and cooperation.’ The organization linked its mission for Christian advancement with such social services as operating settlement houses for the poor and providing summer camps for kids from less fortunate families in the vicinity of the University campus.

University Settlement of New York City

During the year 1886, in the heart of the Lower East Side, upwards of 3,000 people lived in a single square block. The tenement buildings of the area normally had four apartments on each floor; a typical apartment would consist of one small room that was well-lighted and ventilated, and several others that were wholly dark, and might house a family of five or more, and perhaps a boarder.