Settlement house is an institution that aims to improve living conditions in city neighborhoods. Typical services include health, social, cultural, recreational, and educational activities. The services offered by the settlement house workers are determined by community needs, as well as by the assessments of professionals, volunteers, and sponsors. Settlement houses contribute to reform efforts in housing, immigration, civil rights, and child and family welfare.
The first settlement house, Toynbee Hall, was founded in London in 1884 by a group of Oxford University students. The first settlement house in the United States, University Settlement, was established in New York City in 1886 by Stanton Coit, an American social reformer. In 1889, two other American social reformers, Jane Addams and Ellen Gates Starr, opened Hull House in Chicago. Many of the settlement houses in the United States were established and run by women college graduates.
Addams founded the National Federation of Settlements and Neighborhood Centers in 1911. In 1979, it was renamed the United Neighborhood Centers of America. This organization provides information and coordination for settlement houses in the United States. It has headquarters in Milwaukee.
