| About Us: Mission and History
Mission
The Neighborhood House mission is to help people, families and organizations develop the skills, knowledge, and confidence to thrive in diverse communities, since 1897.
History
The Neighborhood House was founded in 1897 by the women of Mount Zion Temple to assist Russian Jewish immigrants fleeing their homeland as a result of mounting bigotry and discrimination. Over 110 years later, Neighborhood House is a vibrant, thriving organization serving immigrants, refugees and low-income populations in need of a helping hand. Multi-lingual and multi-cultural, the organization serves people from around the world who relocate to Minnesota seeking a better life for themselves and their families. In a comprehensive effort to break the cycle of poverty, Neighborhood House operates diverse programs that work together to stabilize lives.
Success Story
Educating Through the Years: Neighborhood House's West Side Reunion
Neighborhood House “old-timers” were sharing their stories from the thirties, forties, fifties and sixties as they thumbed through hundreds of archived black and white photographs reminding them of their youth. The committee was preparing for the West Side Reunion, an all-day event celebrating the memories and experiences of Neighborhood House from the past to the present. There were tears and laughter remembering the old cottage house from the early 1900s and the first Executive Director, Constance Currie, who was like a second mother to so many of the neighborhood children. Little girls came with their dolls, dressed in their Sunday best, to tea parties in the dining room. Little boys learned to fish at Camp Owendigo with counselors who “taught us how to be men,” as one friend recalled with a smile. They talked of social hour, cake walks and bicycle parades. They reminisced about moving off the Flats and how it changed their families’ lives, but one thing stayed constant: the Neighborhood House.
There were too many experiences to share in just one day, which is why the reunion means so much for so many, including President Armando Camacho. He was a participant years ago, and today he is proud to be the Executive Director. “It is a privilege to recognize this year’s Constance Currie Scholarship Award winners during the reunion,” said Camacho, adding, "It is a special opportunity to honor the first Executive Director alongside past and present award recipients." Recipients are youth who start out as immigrants, refugees, or from low-income households with the odds stacked against them, and with the help of Neighborhood House staff and programs, they become the leaders of tomorrow, one day sitting in a room together, flipping through old photos and remembering a different time.
| |
“Neighborhood House gives those who have brought the customs of the lands of their births an opportunity to carry them out, to add them to the composite life of America, and to see what America has to offer.”
–Constance Currie, Neighborhood House President, 1918 – 1957 | |
