child care services

As part of the Settlement House Movement in the 1880s, the North Bennet Street Industrial School had one of the first "day nurseries" in the country. Pauline Agassiz Shaw, a pioneer in the education of young children, founded one of the first Habit Training programs prior to the turn of the century at the North Bennet Street Industrial School. The mission was to help working families succeed by providing care that families could trust and rely on.

One of the nation's most venerable settlement houses was the North End Union. For 120 years, the Union taught, fed and succored generations of immigrants and their families. In 1826, it was an outreach program founded by the Unitarian Universalist Urban Ministry. In the 1880's it housed the Children's Mission which developed an outdoor play center as part of the growing interest in "The Boston Sand Garden Project." Dr. Marie E. Zakrsewska developed one of the first playgrounds for children in the city of Boston at the Union. This experiment had significant impact on later playground developments across the country and lead to the formation a formal children's center in 1893.

In 1985, the two programs combined. In 1999 the North End Community Health Center, acquired the program. The Children's Center has been in operation since the 1880's and has remained a constant to the families of the North End. Many teachers have left their influences over the years. Our program includes all of those ideas and influences. As educational theories have evolved, the program has changed and reformed; emerging as a stronger, more child-centered, developmentally based institution. Although we have changed physical space and umbrella organizations three times, our primary goal is still the same, to provide a warm and secure environment for the children in our care.