Begun in mid-19th century England, Settlement Houses were neighborhood welfare institutions, generally in areas of poverty, where trained professionals worked to improve social conditions by providing a range of services and promoting neighborly cooperation. This vision remains at the core of Settlement Houses even today.
Settlement Houses are a community’s early warning system through their daily interaction with individuals and families living in proximity to the settlement houses and accessing their services (United Neighborhood Houses, New York). Recognized for this close relationship with their communities, Settlement Houses often serve as resources for other community agencies by identifying social trends that create barriers to healthy living, and suggesting solutions to these barriers. More than any other formal service group, Settlement Houses are the eyes and ears of their neighborhoods.
In the United States, Settlement Houses began in 1886, with the establishment of the Neighborhood Guild in New York City, to serve new immigrant populations. By 1910, more than 400 Settlement Houses operated in the United States—in large urban areas, small cities and towns, and many rural communities—taking a leading role in social reform and child welfare. These older Settlements taught adult education and citizenship classes, providing schooling for immigrant children, organized job clubs, offered after-school recreation, and initiated public health services. Many of the Settlement Houses became training grounds for new careers in government, industry, and the universities.
In the initial years of the Settlement movement, volunteer workers “settled” into needy urban neighborhoods. The relationship was bi-directional—the workers came to learn as well as to teach. The houses where the Settlement workers lived became neighborhood centers and hubs, expanding from must residences into larger, multi-branched programs providing a wide range of services. While many of the original services continue today, the structure of the Settlement has changed: social workers are no longer in residence at the Houses, which now operate with paid staff and larger budgets.
Settlement Houses in the early 21st century continue to be distinguishable from community social service agencies, not by the type of services they provide, but by their holistic approach to improved neighborhood life and their belief that social change comes from indigenous neighborhood leaders and organizations.