Search Results for: war on poverty

Booth, Ballington

Ballington Booth (July 28, 1857 – October 5, 1940) – Evangelist, Social Welfare Advocate and Co-Founder of Volunteers of America NOTE: This entry is about the life and contributions of Ballington Booth, a co-founder of Volunteers of America. It was excerpted from the booklet “Maud and Ballington Booth: The Founding of Volunteers of America –…

Volunteers of America

This entry is about the Volunteers of America. It was excerpted from the booklet “Maud and Ballington Booth: The Founding of Volunteers of America – The Seeds of Change 1890 – 1935” authored by Anne Nixon and produced by The Human Spirit Initiative.

Booth, Maud Ballington

Maud Ballington Booth (September 13, 1865 – August 26, 1948) – Co-founder of Volunteers of America, Advocate for Prisoners and Their Families and Inaugurator of the Volunteer Prison League NOTE: This entry is about the life and contributions of Maud Ballington Booth, a co-founder of Volunteers of America. It was excerpted from the…

Boys & Girls Clubs

This entry is about the history and contributions of Boys & Girls Clubs of America.

Mental Health America – Origins

In 1908, Clifford Whittingham Beers published his autobiography “A Mind That Found Itself.” The publication chronicled his struggle with mental illness and the shameful state of mental health care in America. In the first page of his book, Beers reveals why he wrote the book: “…I am not telling the story of my life just to write a book. I tell it because it seems my plain duty to do so. A narrow escape from death and a seemingly miraculous return to health after an apparently fatal illness are enough to make a man ask himself: For what purpose was my life spared? That question I have asked myself, and this book is, in part, an answer….”

Roosevelt, Eleanor: The Women’s Movement

Eleanor Roosevelt (ER) became aware of the barriers women faced while working with other women on other social justice issues. Although she did work in a settlement house and joined the National Consumers League before she married, ER’s great introduction to the women’s network occurred in the immediate post World War I period when she worked with the International Congress of Working Women and the Women’s International League of Peace and Freedom (WILPF) to address the causes of poverty and war.

Madison House and the Great Depression

This retrospective view of Madison House highlights the contributions of Felix Adler and the Ethical Culture Society. Madison House was funded by the Ethical Culture Society but was governed democratically by club members and staff who planned activities and programs for all ages. By Jeanne Talpers, Daughter of Philip Schiff, Headworker of Madison House 1934-1939

Schiff, Philip

As headworker at Madison House during The Great Depression, Schiff, like so many other settlement house workers, tried to cope with the immediate problems of relief, unemployment, and evictions. He established a day care center, introduced venereal disease and tuberculosis control programs, and started a vocational training program for unemployed youth. he was also was a community organizer and helped create a network of Lower East Side social service agencies to advocate for social welfare policies, especially unemployment and housing. In 1936, Philip Schiff ran unsuccessfully on the American Labor Party’s ticket for First Assembly representative to the New York State legislature.

Madison House: Tops In Every Respect

This Is a Retrospective View About the Origins and History of a Settlement House on the Lower East Side of New York City written by Jeanne Talpers, Daughter of Philip Schiff, a Social Work Pioneer, Who Attended Madison House as a Youngster and Grew Up to Become the Headworker in 1934.