Catholic Charities Historical Highlights
For more than 170 years,
Catholic Charities has served the community in times of crisis while sustaining and expanding our core social services. Our scope of services to local vulnerable populations includes providing food, shelter, homelessness prevention and housing, access to education and healthcare, immigration legal services, disaster recovery, senior case management and daycare services, youth athletics, camp, transportation, and equine therapy.
Catholic Charities helps tens of thousands of people annually in San Francisco, Marin, and San Mateo Counties through partnerships with local nonprofits, governmental jurisdictions, and our twelve sister agencies in California.
Our brand recognition for compassionate and excellent care to people in need extends nationally through our Catholic Charities USA partner network, further enhancing the impact of our work locally.
We serve everyone of all ages, faith traditions, and backgrounds.
Following are highlights of the history of our organization, including how we have pivoted and adapted to changing needs while providing an unwavering presence to the most vulnerable in our community:
1853
Catholic Charities traces our history to 1853 when nuns of the pioneering Daughters of Charity broke ground to create St. Vincent’s School for Boys as an orphanage in the aftermath of the Gold Rush, wars, and a cholera epidemic, under the auspices of the Archdiocese of San Francisco established that same year. Catholic Charities has carried on the legacy of St. Vincent’s School for Boys over recent decades, continuing to provide compassionate residential care to traumatized youth. Services include comprehensive medical care, psychotherapy and counseling, intensive case management, educational programming, recreation and athletics activities. Our expanded Eagleson Equestrian Center at St. Vincent’s now serves youth and young adults throughout the Bay Area.
1907
A year after the devastating 1906 earthquake and ensuing fire in San Francisco, a group of dedicated Catholic women rose to the challenge of helping children left homeless and orphaned by the earthquake and fire. This group, who later became known as Little Children’s Aid (LCA), contributed to the development of the Catholic Settlement & Humane Society, which eventually became incorporated as Catholic Charities. LCA continues today as a volunteer auxiliary supporting the vulnerable, formerly homeless youth served by Catholic Charities.
1930-1950
On the heels of the stock market crash of 1929, Catholic Charities pivoted to respond to the acute needs of our local community by creating our Counseling Services in 1931. Two decades later following World War II, we helped address one of the most pressing challenges of our community by establishing our Immigration Services which continues to serve the immigrant community.
1980
Catholic Charities was one of the first responders to the AIDS epidemic providing care with compassion and dignity to San Franciscans who were sick and dying from the disease. Today we continue to house and sustain formerly homeless men and women living with chronic disabling HIV/AIDS as they now age comfortably into their senior years in a caring community. Working in collaboration with partners across San Francisco, we helped eradicate the transmission of HIV from mother to fetus in the Bay Area.
2003
Catholic Charities merged with CYO (Catholic Youth Organization) social enterprise programs in 2003 to enhance our continuum of social services with healthy outlets for Bay Area youth to grow and thrive through a year-round camp and retreat center, an athletics program based on positive coaching and sportsmanship; and a school bus transportation operation for public and private schools in three counties.
2017-2024
Hundreds of neighbors and first responders found relief from Catholic Charities’ frontline staff during the devasting wildfires in 2017. In 2020 we pivoted again to provide food, housing, and educational support to thousands of Bay Area residents during the height of the COVID pandemic.
Amid periods of crises in our region we historically have stepped up to meet some of the most pressing human challenges while continuing to serve core needs of our most vulnerable local populations. Through innovative solutions, compassion, and accountability, Catholic Charities stands consistently at the forefront of service to our community.
