Settlement Houses
Recognizing the issues presented by traditional family structures, many middle-class women, and to a lesser extent men, founded "settlement houses" in urban working class areas. These settlement houses offered women a safe, friendly environment to live in and help contribute to the surrounding communities. Settlement workers hosted childcare services, language classes, meeting venues, and healthcare services to help build these communities. Participants also became a strong influencing factor towards the government, often lobbying to pass reform legislation improving the lives of the working class. Settlement house leaders formed the National Settlement House League in 1911 to collaborate, coordinate, and plan for larger reform goals and ambitions. Settlement House programs still exist today, however they differ from the original model, modern settlement programs can be likened to neighborhood programs, as the clients no longer live in the same building. These programs have not shifted their focus from building communities and offering programs to promote independence and social reform.