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Riverdale: Trials and Tribulations, 1923–36

William Seraile

in Angels of Mercy: White Women and the History of New York's Colored Orphan Asylum

The beginning of 1923 found the Colored Orphan Asylum in a financial crunch, an all-too-familiar situation. The boarding-out report for 1923 acknowledged both progress and problems. The boarding-out ... More

The beginning of 1923 found the Colored Orphan Asylum in a financial crunch, an all-too-familiar situation. The boarding-out report for 1923 acknowledged both progress and problems. The boarding-out program had commenced in 1918, in Jamaica, Queens, with African American families who lived in frame houses with six rooms and a bath. Now, five years later, there were forty-four boarding homes on tree-lined suburban streets in South Jamaica. All the locations were in the western Long Island portion of New York City, close enough to be monitored by the asylum yet far enough from the crowded tenements of Harlem and its crime and temptations. The trustees had to search for more ways to educate and entertain their charges, as they kept admitting more neglected and dependent children. They were the first institution that the courts or the State Board of Charities called upon to admit African American children.Less

The Anti-Everything Agenda: Sectarianism, Remnants, and the Early American Conservative Movement

Michael J. McVicar

in Christian Reconstruction: R. J. Rushdoony and American Religious Conservatism

This chapter focuses on the coalescing conservative milieu of the mid-twentieth century. It pays particular attention to the emergence of the “mainstream” or “fusionist” intellectual wing of the ... More

This chapter focuses on the coalescing conservative milieu of the mid-twentieth century. It pays particular attention to the emergence of the “mainstream” or “fusionist” intellectual wing of the American conservative movement during the 1950s and 1960s, by exploring how this coalition developed at the expense of religious conservatives such as Rushdoony and other committed sectarians determined to purify politics through a specific religious vision. Through a history of Rushdoony’s connections with Spiritual Mobilization, the William Volker Charities Fund, and the Center for American Studies, the chapter lays the foundation for a broader argument that illustrates how these understudied, but highly influential, midcentury organizations and conflicts over sectarian religion helped form the ephemeral but nonetheless sociologically robust conceptions of “mainstream” versus “extreme” (or “radical”) conservatism.Less

The Discovery and the Remedy

in Miss Cutler & the Case of the Resurrected Horse: Social Work and the Story of Poverty in America, Australia, and Britain

This chapter discusses the social work of the Associated Charities (AC) of Minneapolis which was renamed the Family Welfare Association (FWA) in 1922. It highlights the success of the AC-FWA in ... More

This chapter discusses the social work of the Associated Charities (AC) of Minneapolis which was renamed the Family Welfare Association (FWA) in 1922. It highlights the success of the AC-FWA in gaining national reputation and influence under the leadership of Frank Bruno and Joanna Colcord. This chapter explains how the association adjusted to the growth of public welfare by reducing its long-term relief and illness cases in order to focus on investigative, preventive, and “elastic” casework. Most of the stories that came from Minneapolis caseworkers focus on the poor being drawn to and pulled away from pauperization.Less

Policing Relief

in Miss Cutler & the Case of the Resurrected Horse: Social Work and the Story of Poverty in America, Australia, and Britain

This chapter discusses the social work of relief agencies in Oregon which included the Public Welfare Bureau, the Associated Charities, and the Child Welfare Commission (CWC). The stories of Oregon ... More

This chapter discusses the social work of relief agencies in Oregon which included the Public Welfare Bureau, the Associated Charities, and the Child Welfare Commission (CWC). The stories of Oregon social workers reveal a mix of public and private relief that characterized many Americans' experience of charity and social work before 1930. They also provide evidence of the poor communication, overwork, and limited resources similar to that which had long plagued the administration of public relief in America.Less

“An unholy interest in reforming others” 1897–1900

Melba Porter Hay

in Madeline McDowell Breckinridge and the Battle for a New South

This chapter discusses the wide range of activities that Madeline launched into. It notes that in 1897 she joined John Fox Jr. in an effort to assist Robert Burns Wilson by raising a subscription to ... More

This chapter discusses the wide range of activities that Madeline launched into. It notes that in 1897 she joined John Fox Jr. in an effort to assist Robert Burns Wilson by raising a subscription to publish a collection of his works. The McDowell–Breckinridge wedding took place at noon at Ashland on November 17 and newspaper accounts gushed about the “distinguished family connections on both sides, the brilliant personal endowments of the bride and groom and their universal popularity.” Madeline had formulated definite goals and mastered techniques of publicity and organization and began to create for herself a career in public reform during the early years of the Progressive reform movement. During the first two years after her marriage, she could record some important achievements: the beginning of social settlement work by the Gleaners, and the formation of Associated Charities and the Lexington Civic League.Less

“Our hope lies in the children”1901–1904

Melba Porter Hay

in Madeline McDowell Breckinridge and the Battle for a New South

Madeline began to build upon many of the ideas that she had already developed and publicized in the Herald. In most instances she worked with one of the newly formed organizations: the Civic League, ... More

Madeline began to build upon many of the ideas that she had already developed and publicized in the Herald. In most instances she worked with one of the newly formed organizations: the Civic League, the Associated Charities, or the Woman's Club of Kentucky. The reforms that Madeline promoted through these groups ranged from the founding of parks, playgrounds, and kindergartens to attempts to persuade officials to include manual training in schools and to secure the passage of compulsory education, a juvenile court, and child labor laws. The passing of Colonel Breckinridge marked the end of an era for Madeline and Desha and in the coming years, they would use the pages of the Herald even more forcefully for progressive reforms.Less

“Whatever a woman can do … in the long run she will do” 1905–1907

Melba Porter Hay

in Madeline McDowell Breckinridge and the Battle for a New South

Madeline initiated a fight against the Salvation Army, began to edit the new “Woman's Page” in the Sunday edition of the Herald, and started a crusade against tuberculosis, while continuing her ... More

Madeline initiated a fight against the Salvation Army, began to edit the new “Woman's Page” in the Sunday edition of the Herald, and started a crusade against tuberculosis, while continuing her support for the Civic League, Associated Charities, the Kentucky Federation of Women's Clubs, the burgeoning parks and playgrounds system, school suffrage, and education improvements. In spite of these activities, she and Desha maintained a very active social life, entertaining friends and relatives and attending teas, plays, and other events.Less

The Islamic Charities Project (formerly Montreux Initiative)

Jonathan Benthall

in Islamic Charities and Islamic Humanism in Troubled Times

This is a personal account of a mediation or conflict resolution project (2005–2013), funded by the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (Political Division IV) in which the author took part ... More

This is a personal account of a mediation or conflict resolution project (2005–2013), funded by the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (Political Division IV) in which the author took part as an adviser. The aim of this exercise in “track two diplomacy” was to help remove unjustified obstacles from Islamic charities. It did not succeed in surmounting all the challenges it faced, partly as a result of political turbulence in the post 9/11 years. In particular, not enough trust was generated between the US Treasury and the charities of the Gulf states to facilitate mediation. The chapter concludes, however, by forecasting that future efforts of a similar kind will be made to bring Islamic charities fully into the international aid system. Materially well-off Muslims have the resources to alleviate poverty and suffering, while the overseas aid budgets of the major Western nations are under pressure. Moreover, a “humanitarian vacuum” is created in complex zones of conflict such as Syria, when bona fide Islamic charities are absent for political reasons and the field is left open for extremist groups. The growth of research on Islamic charities will help give substance and credibility to future interventions.Less

The West Oakland Home:: The “Noble Work for a Life Saving” of Rebecca McWade

Marta Gutman

in A City for Children: Women, Architecture, and the Charitable Landscapes of Oakland, 1850-1950

In 1885, Rebecca McWade, a dressmaker, horrified by abandonment and infanticide, expanded her daughter’s sewing circle into a refuge for single mothers and street children. The Little Workers’ Home, ... More

In 1885, Rebecca McWade, a dressmaker, horrified by abandonment and infanticide, expanded her daughter’s sewing circle into a refuge for single mothers and street children. The Little Workers’ Home, set up in her East Oakland cottage, grew into the purpose-built West Oakland Home, a racially integrated, congregate orphanage for illegitimate children. Funded by Mary and Ethel Crocker and supported by the Associated Charities, McWade set a durable pattern in place when she put the orphanage adjacent to schools, churches, and other important community structures. The concepts, redemptive maternity, family strategy, and hidden transcripts, are applied to show how women (and children) made calculated choices about care. Maternity and infant asylums, baby farms, and reform schools are discussed; and prejudices, derived from reform portraits, are challenged including the attack on congregate orphanages by the Children’s Aid Society.Less

Orphaned in Oakland:: Institutional Life during the Progressive Era

Marta Gutman

in A City for Children: Women, Architecture, and the Charitable Landscapes of Oakland, 1850-1950

During the Progressive Era, new state agencies transformed the charitable landscape in Oakland. College-educated women, Jessica Peixotto at the State Board of Charities and Corrections (1903), and ... More

During the Progressive Era, new state agencies transformed the charitable landscape in Oakland. College-educated women, Jessica Peixotto at the State Board of Charities and Corrections (1903), and Amy Steinhardt, at the Children’s Department of the State Board of Control (1913), targeted congregate orphanages, especially when run by Catholic charities. In line with the first White House Conference on the Care of Dependent Children and the Children’s Bureau, they advocated mothers’ pensions and foster care and replacing dormitories with cottages. The concept, selective accommodation, is applied to the Smith Cottages, West Oakland Home, and the Ladies’ Relief Society, where racial segregation went hand in hand with modernization, as did sorting children qualification for state aid. The insistence, that the physical condition of an institution determined the emotional consciousness of children, is challenged using the oral history of Mollie and Belva Cooley.Less

The Mendicity Society Movement and the Suppression of Begging

Ciarán McCabe

in Begging, Charity and Religion in Pre-Famine Ireland

Between 1809 and the early-1840s more than fifty mendicity societies were established throughout Ireland. These charities focused on the suppression of street begging and the relief of the destitute ... More

Between 1809 and the early-1840s more than fifty mendicity societies were established throughout Ireland. These charities focused on the suppression of street begging and the relief of the destitute poor. Mendicity societies took their lead from earlier societies located in Britain and mainland Europe, and in Ireland the Dublin association acted as a parent body for this movement. While playing a prominent role in the welfare landscape in the first half of the nineteenth century Ireland’s mendicity societies largely disappeared within a short space of time, largely on foot of the introduction of the Poor Law system.Less

Maritime Charities, Missions and Educational Establishments

Dawn Littler (ed.)

in Guide to the Records of Merseyside Maritime Museum, Volume 2

This chapter explores Liverpool’s charitable maritime history and dedication toward raising the interest of welfare provision for Liverpudlian seamen and their families. It lists specific nineteenth ... More

This chapter explores Liverpool’s charitable maritime history and dedication toward raising the interest of welfare provision for Liverpudlian seamen and their families. It lists specific nineteenth century Merseyside institutions with their respective mission statements and founding dates, and provides a detailed resource list of each charity’s archives, including official records, minutes taken, account books, annual reports and letters.Less

Commissioning children’s services: challenges, contestation and crisis

Alison Body

in Children's Charities in Crisis: Early Intervention and the State

Chapter 5 concentrates on voices from the frontline and their lived experiences. Within this chapter we focus on the lived realities of commissioning. Commissioning, the central process for managing ... More

Chapter 5 concentrates on voices from the frontline and their lived experiences. Within this chapter we focus on the lived realities of commissioning. Commissioning, the central process for managing relationships between the voluntary sector and the state, is one of the most contentious issues for modern day children’s charities. Early intervention and preventative services for children, sit central to this debate – these statutory services at the heart of local government are often commissioned out to voluntary sector organisations for delivery, and form the very focus of this book. We argue that Commissioning in its current form is failing; it threatens the very survival of local voluntary sector organisations seeking to support children and young people, and, rightly so, is coming under increasing scrutiny. High profile cases such as the demise of the charity Kids Company, led by the charismatic Camila Batmanghelidjh, have brought the relationship between the State and sector to the fore of public and academic debate. In this chapter we begin to unpick some of that debate, examining what has happened over the past decade, charities experiences and how we may potentially move forwards.Less

Free Association

Peter Gill

in Famine and Foreigners: Ethiopia Since Live Aid

This chapter discusses the growth of Non-Government Organizations (NGOs) and international charities in Ethiopia, emphasizing the issues of NGO accountability to foreign funders, NGOs promoting good ... More

This chapter discusses the growth of Non-Government Organizations (NGOs) and international charities in Ethiopia, emphasizing the issues of NGO accountability to foreign funders, NGOs promoting good governance and human rights reforms, and foreign charities as ‘foot soldiers of neoliberalism’. It presents the arguments of Professor Mark Duffield, Marc Dubois of Medécins San Frontières, and Beverley Jones of the Catholic Development Agency; as well as the counterarguments provided by Meles Zenawi in defending Charities and Societies Proclamation in 2008.Less