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Our History
The Congregation of the Dominican Sisters of the Sick Poor was founded by Mary Walsh, an Irish immigrant. The story of this centers on Mary who was a laundress stopping on her way to work because she found a child crying in the doorway of a New York tenement. Ruthie Dunne took Mary upstairs to her mother who was ill with a stillborn infant at her side. There were three more children and the apartment was bare. The husband was in jail. That day and the ensuing days Mary Walsh begged for food and money for the Irish family and helped them. Needless to say she lost her job as a laundress for a wealthy New York family. That hot day in 1876 was the beginning of the Sisters whose mission was to dedicate their lives to performing good works for poor families.
Two of the Dominican Sisters of the Sick Poor arrived in Cincinnati in 1926 at the request of Archbishop John T. McNicholas, OP. They were joined by 5 more sisters from New York and began their work of providing health and human services to the poor of the inner city of Cincinnati. The sisters initially provided bedside nursing in the homes of the poor. As their work evolved, the focus shifted to a public health nursing model and broadened to include other health and human services.
In 1981 Dominican Community Services was incorporated as a non-profit, non-denominational agency. It expanded by employing lay people to help carry on the mission. The agency continued to respond to the emerging needs in the community and initiated or shift programs as needs mandated.
After a research and feasibility study in 1988, the agency embarked on the planning, design and implementation of the Dominican Community Services-VISIONS program. The primary goal of the program was to address the needs, educational, psychological and social of low-income adolescent mothers and their children by providing childcare for children 6 weeks to 3 years and support services for parents. The secondary goal was to address the high drop out rate from schools by teenage mothers. In February of 1990 the VISIONS program was opened.
Dominican Community Services made the decision to expand the VISIONS program in 1997. This decision was based on the need for services as evidenced by a waiting list and the plan to expend early childhood education from 6 weeks until enrollment in kindergarten. It had also become apparent over the first ten years of operation that young mothers needed support services after high school graduation if they were going to be successful in college or maintaining employment.
In 2001 the agency relocated to the Queen City Vocational Center on Ezzard Charles Drive. The move was necessitated by the demolition of Laurel Homes, the public housing development where VISIONS had been located since 1990.
In 2005 the Board of Trustees voted to change the agency name. Now the agency is VISIONS Community Services: Nurturing Families Today to Create a Better Tomorrow. The name reflects the commitment to continue working with families to encourage and help them achieve their "VISIONS" and self-sufficiency.
Today VISIONS Community Services provides parenting and support programs, guidance, advocacy, crisis intervention and case management for teen and young families. The agency also provides a nationally accredited early childhood education program for children from 6 weeks to 5 years and an after school and summer enrichment program for children from 6 to 11 years. The agency and the programs offered have demonstrated consistent success.
VISIONS Community Services is dedicated to our work with poor families. Children provide the connection to their families. The faces and the ethnicity of the poor have changed but their needs are very similar to those of over 100 years ago. The agency is proud to continue the mission and the care and respect for the poor which is rooted in the Dominican Sisters of Hope (formerly of the Sick Poor).
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