History
City Mission Society of Boston (CMS) is the oldest multi-service agency in New England and the second oldest in the United States. Founded by members and clergy leaders of Old South Church and Park Street Church in response to the hardships facing Boston residents, it has served the educational, economic, and social needs of impoverished area residents since 1816. Since its inception, CMS has acted as the conscience of the community, often pioneering key social programs that later became separate non-profit agencies that attracted broad community support.
Educational programs have always been a strong focus of the CMS's work. CMS established neighborhood Sabbath Schools (and later vacation bible schools), and provided classes in baby care and sewing for young mothers. A CMS committee successfully argued for public instruction for children under seven, resulting in Boston's system of primary schools, and CMS board members were subsequently involved with the founding of Boston English High School.
Another significant project related to education was the establishment of a Commission on Housing and Education. Greater Boston Community Development, Inc. was founded from this effort, and the educational component of the Commission assisted parents and community groups in improving the public schools as well as facilitating the availability of affordable housing.
Other social and economic issues have also been at the forefront of the City Mission Society's concerns over the years. CMS founded the Penitent Female Refuge in response to concerns about prostitution in the West End. The re-named Orchard School is now operated under the auspices of the Home for Little Wanderers. And it was a CMS missionary who drew the city's attention to unsafe living conditions for young women working in Boston, leading to the founding of the YWCA Boston. CMS missionary, Armeda Gibbs, was the first female army nurse during the Civil War.
The Society has served as a critical resource for other underserved and vulnerable populations including youth, elderly, prisoners and hospital patients, providing them with direct services through its staff and volunteers or connecting them with other agencies that can help to meet their needs. CMS urban missionary work is the forerunner of the case management model of support for families.
CMS has also taken bold steps to provide services which were not available through existing agencies. As recognition grew in the city that poor families had no access to outdoor activities in the summer, CMS initiated the Fresh Air Fund. And most dramatically, when the Boston school de-segregation case was put forward, CMS was instrumental in obtaining legal assistance for some of the defendants.
CMS Today
City Mission Society now sponsors a number of programs with different approaches but a shared focus on helping youth and adults reach their full potential and lead full lives. Clients are primarily low and moderate income residents of the Boston area. The majority are people of color, and increasing numbers are immigrants for whom English is not their first language.
CMS is unique. It works for clients, and it works with them. It provides services, and it advocates and educates. It works within the city and it works within the suburbs, building bridges across perceived boundaries. It is part of the service community and it is part of the religious community. It raises awareness on issues of social justice and it provides volunteer and service opportunities for people to contribute to social change. And it has done all these things for almost 200 years with very limited resources.
Chronology
1816:
Organization founded as Society for the Religious and Moral Education of the Poor.
Volunteers distribute pamphlets, visit homes, and prisons.
1817:
CMS begins holding religious services for seamen in a room on Central Wharf.
1818:
CMS founds the Pentitent Female Refuge in response to concerns about prostitution in the West End. The renamed Orchard School is now operated by the Home for Little Wanderers.
1821:
CMS establishes neighborhood centers. Volunteers, including students from Andover Theological School, conduct bible classes, visit prisoners and hospital patients.
1827:
Services for seamen were spun off to the Boston Seaman's Friend Society which still provides them today.
1841:
The name is changed to the City Missionary Society.
1861:
A CMS missionary draws the city's attention to unsafe living conditions for young women working in Boston. Her efforts lead to the founding of YWCA Boston.
1865:
CMS provides steamship and rail tickets to enable families, the infirm and elderly to
escape the city for a day in the summer.
1880:
An article in The Congregationalist leads to the establishment of the Fresh Air Fund.
A Maine family deeds property to CMS as a summer home for mothers and children.
Called Rosemary Cottage, it is the beginning of the Society's camping program.
1920:
Opening of Camp Andover (Massachusetts) for girls.
1926:
Opening of Camp Waldron (New Hampshire) for boys.
1940:
Rosemary Cottage program moves to Farrington Memorial in Lincoln and later to the Framingham Center of the United Church of Christ.
1944:
Working across denominational boundaries, CMS establishes vacation church school and leadership education classes in the Greater Boston area, reaching over 2,700 children and youth by 1948.
1948:
Opening of Camp Meadowcrest for elderly women.
1951:
The Boston Association Congregational Committee is formed. This is the forerunner of
the Massachusetts Conference, United Church of Christ Metropolitan Boston Association.
CMS offers services through missionaries assigned to a district to work in cooperation with a local church and the families and human service organizations in the surrounding neighborhood.
1955:
Project Volunteerism is set up to channel the interests and energies of volunteers into CMS programs for elders, people in prison, children, and families to help ease their isolation and advocate for their rights. Volunteers also transport people to camps, events, medical appointments, and collect and deliver donated furnishings and clothing.
1970:
Staff members are now called social workers instead of missionaries; evangelism is no longer considered part of their work.
CMS sets up community development offices in Somerville and Mattapan. The Somerville program is now the independent Somerville Multi-Service Center.
1972:
Society establishes a Commission on Housing and Education to facilitate affordable housing. Greater Boston Community Development, Inc. is founded from this effort. The educational component of the Commission assists parents and community groups in improving the public schools. When the Boston school integration case is put forward,
CMS is instrumental in obtaining legal assistance for some of the defendants.
1975:
Home Care Services and Nursing Home Ombudsman Program are established. Home Care enables elderly to continue living independently. The Ombudsman Program trains volunteers to observe and advocate for over 2,000 residents of 31 nursing homes to insure the quality of care and to report violations to staff who follow-up with state authorities. Many of the programs' workers had been on welfare and the training and experience they receive from CMS lead some to careers in the home and health care industries.
1983:
The organization changes its name to City Mission Society to better reflect the expansion of its work beyond religious education to an emphasis on social justice work.
1983:
Urban Action Resource Center (ARC) is created as community action arm, formalizing and fortifying the agency's role as a catalyst for positive change and for neighborhood unity and empowerment.
1984:
CMS partners with local seminaries to provide urban learning and service experiences to students.
1985:
Youth Service Department is created. Programs help to fill gaps in inner-city school curricula and provide tutoring and academic enrichment to students in Boston Public Schools and those living in Boston housing developments.
1986:
CMS sells its camp property as more summer camping programs become available for children from the city.
1989:
CMS closes Home Care due to state funding cuts. 200 clients and 62 Home Care staff members are transferred to Family Services of Greater Boston.
1990:
Elder Program clients now served through Crisis Intervention program which also serves a substantial number of people ages 40-65 who are not covered by other programs.
1991:
Behind the Wall journal by and for women at MCI Framingham established.
1991:
AURORA, a non-residential program for women just out of prison or on probation is established. The program offers comprehensive services to ex-offenders, helping them to develop self-esteem while providing a range of reintegration services including mental health and substance abuse counseling, court advocacy, information and housing referral, job training and life skills.
1996:
Creation of the Roxbury Youth Church Collaborative, predecessor to Boston Youth Organizing Project (BYOP). CMS utilizes its skills as an organizational incubator to assist BYOP in its efforts to establish itself. BYOP expands and establishes a seasoned Youth Council and stable chapters with capable leadership. About 150 to 200 youth work with BYOP on a weekly basis, and over 400 young people regularly attend events.
1997:
AURORA closed when State withdraws its support for programming for ex-offenders.
2004:
Boston Youth Organizing Project joins the important group of urban programs that have received critical support from City Mission Society in their formative years and have gone on to established themselves as successful, independent agencies. BYOP is now affiliated with Third Sector New England.
2006:
City Mission Society proudly celebrates its 190th anniversary, making it the oldest multi-service agency in New England.
