Settlement houses not by a set of services but by an approach: that initiative to correct come from indigenous neighborhood leaders or organizations. Settlement workers were not dispensing charity; they were working toward the general welfare.

Underlying all those services was a philosophy of upward mobility, a struggle to help each immigrant group become part of the mainstream and the “American dream.” Working in settlement houses was also, coincidentally, a way of entry into national affairs by women such as Jane Addams and Frances Perkins. These women’s paths might otherwise have been blocked because of their gender, according to Margaret Berry, past executive director of the United Neighborhood Centers Association, Inc., who wrote a history of settlement houses. The American Dream is the idea (often associated with the Protestant work ethic) held by many in the United States of America that through hard work, courage and determination one can achieve prosperity. ... Jane Addams Jane Addams (September 6, 1860 – May 21, 1935) was an American social worker, sociologist, philosopher and reformer, known in America as the mother of social work. // Biography Born in Cedarville, Illinois, Jane Addams was educated in the United States and Europe, graduating from the Rockford Female Seminary (now... Frances Perkins wearing a veil after the death of president Roosevelt Frances Coralie Perkins (nèe Fannie Coralie Perkins). ...

The “settlement house” was at one time practically synonymous with social work in this country. The movement began officially in the United States in 1886, with the establishment of the Neighborhood Guild, later called University Settlement, in New York City. Its founder was Stanton Coit. Social Work is a helping profession focused on psychosocial problems, and largely (though not exclusively) concerned with disadvantaged populations, such as the poor, the disabled, the elderly, and persons diagnosed with mental illness. ... The city is at the center of international finance, politics, entertainment, and culture, and is one of the worlds major global cities (along with London, Tokyo and Paris) with a virtually unrivaled collection of museums, galleries, performance venues, media outlets, international corporations, and stock exchanges. ...

But the idea was not originally American. The settlement house was modeled after Toynbee Hall, established in London two years earlier by Canon Samuel Barnett. Toynbee Hall is the original university settlement house. ... Part of the London skyline viewed from the South Bank London is the most populous city in the European Union, with an estimated population on 1 January 2005 of 7,500,000 and a metropolitan area population of between 12 and 14 million. ... Samuel Augustus Barnett (February 8, 1844 – 1913) was an English clergyman and social reformer particularly associated with the establishment of the first university settlement, Toynbee Hall in east London in 1884. ...

America’s most famous settlement house, Hull House, was the creation of Jane Addams, later a Nobel Laureate for Peace, and Ellen Starr. Established in 1889, it was intended as a place where the two women could share their knowledge of art and literature with the people surrounding the institution, mostly immigrants. Hull House community workshop poster, 1938 Hull House, co-founded in Chicago, Illinois, in 1889 by Jane Addams and Ellen Gates Starr who were soon joined by other volunteers called residents, was one of the first settlement houses in the U.S. and eventually grew into one of the largest...

The enterprise expanded well beyond their expectations. Because the people who came to participate in their activities brought along so many children, Hull and Starr began a kindergarten program. Many more clubs and activities developed—some planned and some not. The flexibility and responsiveness of Hull House became the hallmark of settlement houses.

The focus of settlement houses, then as now, was on city slums and the amelioration of wretched living conditions. There was often a religious motivation for the sponsors. Jane Addams was a Quaker, a group also behind the Friends Neighborhood Guild in Philadelphia. Many settlements today still have affiliations, even if loose ones, with religious groups. The Religious Society of Friends, commonly known as Quakers, or Friends, is a religious community founded in England in the 17th century. ...

Because of the cultural diversity among immigrants, settlement workers had to come to their task with a certain humility. They had as much to learn from the immigrants as the new Americans did from them.