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Covenant House is the largest privately-funded agency in the United States providing shelter and services to homeless and runaway youth.

In addition to food, shelter, clothing and crisis care, Covenant House provides a continuum of care to homeless youth aged 16-21 designed to transition them into an inedpendent adulthood free from the risk of future homelessness. Covenant House services include healthcare, educational support/GED preparation/college scholarships, job readiness and skills training programs, drug abuse treatment and prevention programs, legal services, mental health services, mother/child programs, transitional living programs, street outreach and aftercare.

History

In the late 1960's, the Reverend Bruce Ritter, a Franciscan priest, stepped down from his post as a tenured professor at Manhattan College to begin a new ministry serving the city's poor. Joined by colleague Father James Fitzgibbon, he moved into a dilapidated tenement building in New York City's East Village, and along with a handful of friends, former students, and neighbors began an effort to help homeless and runaway youth. By 1970, Father Fitzgibbon had moved on to devote more time to drug counseling and other community ministries, but Father Ritter remained. Adrian Gately, Patricia Kennedy, and Paul Frazier joined him to create the Covenant Community. Two years later in 1972, Covenant House was officially incorporated with its first intake center established at 504 LaGuardia Place in New York City.

Now an established non-profit, Covenant House began to fundraise, using the monies to shelter homeless kids in lower Manhattan and on Staten Island. In 1976, Father Ritter announced plans to create a multi-service center near the Port Authority Bus Terminal. Covenant House then acquired a group of buildings on West 44th Street and moved its administrative offices to the new location.

Throughout the late 1970's, Covenant House continued to expand its social service programs in New York City and in 1980 began to branch out to other places. For the next two decades, Covenant House grew under the leadership of Sister Mary Rose (1990-2003) and Sister Tricia Cruise (2003-2008), opening crisis centers in 21 more cities in the United States, Central America, and Canada. Covenant House now has shelters in:

and, outside the United States:

Nineline

Covenant House operates the toll-free telephone number (800) 999-9999. It ran commercials on radio and TV telling people in need of its services to "call 1-800 and then just keep pressing 9". They also maintain a Nineline website where people can post on their forums, at http://www.nineline.org/.

Presidents

Despite having a Board of Directors, Covenant House's public face has tended to be its presidents. Father Bruce Ritter founded Covenant House and served as President from 1972 to his resignation in 1990. He was succeeded by Sister Mary Rose McGeady, DC, who served from 1990 to 2003. In 2003 the Board of Directors elected Sister Patricia A. Cruise, S.C., effective 1 September 2003. In addition to their administrative duties, the presidents of Covenant House have been known for their fund raising letters telling the stories of the kids Covenant House serves, many of which have been collected into books. Sr. Patricia A. Cruise has resigned her position as President of Covenant House International Headquarters. Jim White, COO of Covenant House International Headquarters will serve as interim President until a new President is elected by the Board of Directors. Jim White has a long history with Covenant House. He began at Covenant House by volunteering with the programs full-time volunteer program, Faith Community.

Kevin M. Ryan, formerly the Child Advocate of New Jersey was recently instated as President.

Scandal

From the late eighties, Father Ritter was accused of a number of acts of sexual and financial impropriety, beginning with the accusations of Kevin Kite. Though the financial allegations were discovered to be unfounded after a thorough probe, the former accusations led to his resignation in 1990 and institutional reforms under Sister Mary Rose.

External links

References

^ http://www.covenanthouse.org/ab_loc.html

Wosh, Peter (2005). Covenant House. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. ISBN 0812238311.

[1] ttp://www.covenanthouse.org/ab_loc.html

[1]

@@ Line 2: / Line 2: @@
 {{pov-check|date=June 2009}}
 [[File:Covenant House 43 10 jeh.JPG|thumb|New York City]]
-'''Covenant House''' is the largest privately-funded [[childcare]] agency in the [[United States]] providing shelter and service to [[homeless]] and [[Runaway (dependent)|runaway youth]].  It was incorporated in New York City in [[1972]] by Father [[Bruce Ritter]] and has since expanded in the United States to:
+'''Covenant House''' is the largest privately-funded agency in the [[United States]] providing shelter and services to [[homeless]] and [[Runaway (dependent)|runaway youth]].
+In addition to food, shelter, clothing and crisis care, Covenant House provides a continuum of care to homeless youth aged 16-21 designed to transition them into an inedpendent adulthood free from the risk of future homelessness. Covenant House services include healthcare, educational support/GED preparation/college scholarships, job readiness and skills training programs, drug abuse treatment and prevention programs, legal services, mental health services, mother/child programs, transitional living programs, street outreach and aftercare.
+==History==
+In the late 1960's, the Reverend [[Bruce Ritter]], a Franciscan priest, stepped down from his post as a tenured professor at Manhattan College to begin a new ministry serving the city's poor. Joined by colleague Father James Fitzgibbon, he moved into a dilapidated tenement building in New York City's East Village, and along with a handful of friends, former students, and neighbors began an effort to help homeless and runaway youth. By 1970, Father Fitzgibbon had moved on to devote more time to drug counseling and other community ministries, but Father Ritter remained. Adrian Gately, Patricia Kennedy, and Paul Frazier joined him to create the Covenant Community.  Two years later in 1972, Covenant House was officially incorporated with its first intake center established at 504 LaGuardia Place in New York City.
+Now an established non-profit, Covenant House began to fundraise, using the monies to shelter homeless kids in lower Manhattan and on Staten Island. In 1976, Father Ritter announced plans to create a multi-service center near the Port Authority Bus Terminal. Covenant House then acquired a group of buildings on West 44th Street and moved its administrative offices to the new location.
+Throughout the late 1970's, Covenant House continued to expand its social service programs in New York City and in 1980 began to branch out to other places. For the next two decades, Covenant House grew under the leadership of Sister Mary Rose (1990-2003) and Sister Tricia Cruise (2003-2008), opening crisis centers in 21 more cities in the United States, Central America, and Canada.
+Covenant House now has shelters in:
 * [[Anchorage, Alaska]]
 * [[Atlanta, Georgia]]
@@ Line 27: / Line 38: @@
 * [[Managua]], [[Nicaragua]]<ref>http://www.covenanthouse.org/ab_loc.html</ref>
+==Nineline==
-In addition to food, shelter, clothing and crisis care, Covenant House provides a variety of services to homeless youth including health care, education, vocational preparation, drug abuse treatment and prevention programs, legal services, recreation, mother/child programs, transitional living programs, street outreach and aftercare.
+Covenant House operates the [[toll-free]] telephone number (800) 999-9999. It ran commercials on radio and TV telling people in need of its services to "call 1-800 and then just keep pressing 9". They also maintain a Nineline website where people can post on their forums, at http://www.nineline.org/.
 ==Presidents==
@@ Line 33: / Line 45: @@
 Kevin M. Ryan, formerly the Child Advocate of New Jersey was recently instated as President.
-==Nineline==
-Covenant House has the [[toll-free]] telephone number (800) 999-9999. It ran commercials on radio and TV telling people in need of its services to "call 1-800 and then just keep pressing 9". They also maintain a Nineline website where people can post on their forums, at http://www.nineline.org/.
 ==Scandal==