South Park Settlement

rdf:langString South Park Settlement

rdf:langString South Park Settlement was an American settlement movement-era settlement established in the South Park neighborhood of San Francisco, California on January 2, 1895, by the San Francisco Settlement Association (organized April 14, 1894, and incorporated). It was founded in one of the crowded districts of San Francisco. The pretty little oval park on which the Settlement House faces was formerly the fashionable residence district of the city. But within a few blocks on either side of South Park were many little streets, whose crowded tenements furnished homes for less prosperous working people. Its goals were to establish and maintain a settlement in San Francisco as a residence for persons interested in the social and moral condition of its neighborhood; to bring into friendly and helpful relations with one another the people of the neighborhood in which the settlement was situated; to cooperate with church, educational, charitable and labor organizations, and with other agencies acting for the improvement of social conditions; to serve as a medium among the different social elements of the city for bringing about a more intelligent and systematic understanding of their mutual obligations; as well as to do social and educational work in the neighborhood; co-operate in the civic work of the city; and investigate social and economic conditions. Although this was a "social settlement", rather than a "university" or "college settlement", the proximity to San Francisco of the two universities, that the University of California at Berkeley and Stanford University at Palo Alto, brought to the settlement the inspiration of university life and the practical help of members of the teaching and student corps. The president, vice-president, and another member of the settlement countil were members of the university faculties, and several others were alumni. By 1929, the settlement had ceased to exist, and the 2520 Folsom Street building was being used by the Mission Club Center of the YWCA.