Research Paper on:
Origins of Group Work and Settlement Houses

Unformatted Sample Text from the Research Paper:
settlement houses, as this paper will show. This is an interesting part of our history and one that is still utilized to this day in the form of the  group work therapies. SETTLEMENT HOUSES The settlement house is considered a part of our history that is the fundamental beginning of social work, as we know it today.  Born more than one hundred years ago, the settlement houses still exist today in more modern forms, even still catering to immigrants as they did a century ago. Todays  modern settlement houses are likely to cater to the Asian and Latin nationals today, while years ago they were mostly made up of immigrants to the United States (Blank 1998).  "Its a very interesting movement, says Bernard J. Wohl, executive director of the Goddard Riverside Community Center on Manhattans Upper West Side. It started with immigration, but it was  also on the cutting edge of social reform and child welfare" (Blank 1998, PG). There were more than four hundred settlement houses across America in the early 1900s. These  community places primarily provided community services for children of immigrants and provided them with training and social skills necessary to get along in America. Classes of all types were  offered and in general the settlement houses just helped the children (and some adults as well) learn about their new homeland and various trades they might be interested in (Blank  1998). "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" (Blank 1998, PG). These settlement houses were not actually an American idea.