History of Sarah's Circle
From a small walk-up on Broadway that served 7-10 women per day, to a large, warm and inviting center that helps an average of 40 and as many as 60 women each day....
In the late 1970s, homelessness among women was a relatively new phenomenon. The need to reach out to this segment of the population was not obvious, not even to the women who would found Sarah's Circle in 1979.
While volunteering for what is now known as Harper House, three friends--Jeanette Hupp, Janet Sullivan and Maxine Florell--decided they wanted to do something for the women of Uptown.
By the spring of 1978, the three friends had enlisted the assistance of a small group of enthusiasts to help with the planning. In considering their options, the planners discovered they had two different visions. Some wanted to create of a forum for feminist discussion; others envisioned an outreach center serving poor women in the community. They compromised by agreeing to reach out to all of the women of Uptown, and respond to the community's needs as appropriate.
In January, 1979, the group began operating a women's center in a second-floor apartment at 4455 North Broadway (in the same building as The Center for Street People, now known as Harper House). Staffed by the planners and other volunteers, the center was open from mid-afternoon to 9 p.m.
During the first six months, there were fewer than ten women who visited the center regularly; some of them were homeless, and some appeared to be mentally ill. That winter was a bitter one, prompting the volunteers to sometimes invite the women into their homes, rather than have them spend the night outside in the cold.
Mission and Philosophy
The following spring, a visit from the founder of Rosie's Place--a Boston-based center for homeless women--helped the founders reach consensus on the center's mission. They would work with the poor and homeless women of Uptown.
At the same time, they agreed that the center would differ from other social service agencies. Rather than insist that the women served by the center conform to a system, the center's staff would accept each woman as she was. There were very few rules, but they were important ones, involving keeping the peace and being respectful of others.
The founding staff formed a board of directors and incorporated the center in 1979 as a non-profit organization known as the Uptown Women's Center. They expected this name to be temporary, and wanted the women visiting the center to have a voice in selecting the center's permanent name.
This happened at the end of a meeting at the center. Maxine Florell had brought her guitar, and proposed ending the meeting by singing, "We Are Dancing Sarah's Circle" (to the tune of "Jacob's Ladder"). Once the song ended, there was spontaneous and unanimous agreement to rename the center Sarah's Circle.
The founding members observed that daytime visitors to Sarah's Circle differed from its evening guests. The daytime patrons had homes, although many of them were single-room apartments. The evening guests, however, tended to be homeless.
In its second winter, Sarah's Circle became
an overnight shelter. After the center closed at 9 p.m., the
facilities were converted to accommodate overnight guests.
As the winter wore on, however, more and more women had to
be turned away because of overcrowding. The board realized
their overnight shelter was not a success. Aware of other
neighborhood activists' plans to open an overnight shelter
in Uptown the following winter, the founding board voted to
restore Sarah's Circle to its previous status as a day and
evening drop-in center.
Increased Need
After 18 months of operating with volunteer staffing only, Sarah's Circle hired its first full-time employee. Paid staff worked days, while volunteers continued to operate the center during the evening hours.
Aided by media attention to the growing problem of homelessness in the 1980s, Sarah's Circle attracted increased funding and more volunteers, enabling the addition of a second full-time staff member and new, Sunday operating hours. Eventually, a part-time art therapist was added to the staff.
The need continued to grow, and not just at Sarah's Circle. The leadership of Harper House (formerly the Center for Street People) determined that their program had outgrown its main-floor facilities and would need to expand into the second-floor space they were renting to Sarah's Circle.
New Home and New Programming
In 1990, Sarah's Circle relocated one block north of its original site to larger quarters in the McJunkin Building, 4554 N. Broadway. The number of women visiting Sarah's would triple over the ensuing years. It was not uncommon to serve meals to up to 80 people in one day. In response, Saturday operating hours were added and six full- or part-time direct service staff members were providing the women with consulting and referral services, meals, toiletries, clothing, and other program support.
Soon, the Sarah's Circle board was searching for even larger facilities. Additionally, the board wanted Sarah's Circle's next home to provide some of the amenities--such as showers and laundry facilities--lost with the move from an apartment building to an office building environment. In 1996, just after a new home site had been identified and preparations were being made to customize the interior for use by Sarah's Circle, a fire closed down the McJunkin Building. Prematurely forced from its old home of six years, and with its new site not yet renovated, Sarah's Circle--like many of its patrons--was now homeless.
Renovation plans were abridged and hastily executed while staff (with enthusiastic support from volunteers and financial donors) rallied to ready Sarah's new home at 4750 N. Sheridan for part-time operation during the winter months of early 1997. The center closed again that summer for completion of the renovation project, reopening in January, 1998.
Since relocating, the agency has continued to expand its staff and programming. When we reopened in 1998, we had expanded the staff to include a case manager; at that point we had five full time staff members and four part time staff members. Now we have ten full-time employees, and one part-time employee. New positions include a cook/food services manager and a development associate. All program staff members provide case management, and we now have a number of support and skill-building groups, including life skills workshops, substance abuse recovery groups, culinary arts training, and sexual assault recovery. We have a computer lab where women learn everything from basic keyboard and mouse skills to resume creation.
For over 28 years now, Sarah's Circle has been a vital, responsive and progressive member of the Uptown social services community. Open seven days a week, Sarah's Circle is a safe refuge providing a welcoming, supportive and non-intrusive respite from the streets for women who are homeless or marginally housed in Uptown.