Julie’s is a community-based family support and education program that is committed to the development of strong, stable, healthy family functioning. Julie’s breaks the cycle of poverty among low-income families by providing services that enable poor, at-risk mothers and their children to transform their lives and become healthy, responsible, successful, and economically self-sufficient members of their communities.
Recognition for Julie’s
Julie’s has an effective and innovative model with a unique and comprehensive approach to helping families break out of deprivation. Julie’s has been chosen as a model program by the Massachusetts Department of Education for providing effective adult basic education and family literacy, and we were singled out by Oprah Winfrey’s Angel Network for our exemplary and unique approach.
In an analytical report on Julie’s (2006), the Technical Development Corporation was not able to find any other organization in the city matching our work and approach. Because of the niche we occupy in the field, we are supported by a number of respected family philanthropies, and are building a solid cadre of major donors. We also work in partnership with a broad and growing range of non-profits and community groups.
As a result of our experience and comprehensive approach, Julie’s has been chosen as one of eight organizations across the nation to participate in the Full Frame Initiative. Directed by Katya Fels Smyth, Full Frame is a national study of organizations servicing poor, marginalized, at-risk families whose model and approach leads to sustained, long-term impact and self-sufficiency..
Julie's History
Julie’s was founded in 1974 by two educators, Jean Sullivan, SND and Louise Kearns, SND, who had been working closely with struggling, female-headed families living in crisis at the margins of society. Julie’s began as two independent organizations: Julie's Children's House and the Adult Learning Program which merged in 1980. Julie's Children's House provided care and educational services to low-income, pre-school age children and their parents who lived in South Boston's D Street Public Housing Project. The Adult Learning Program provided adult education and support to poor, female head-of-households in the same community.
In 1986, Julie’s Family Learning Program secured space in the South Boston Boys and Girls Clubhouse, where we operated for 18 years. During that time, we enhanced our services to reflect an increased focus on college and job readiness, employer linkages, skills to help mothers transition from public assistance to training and employment, and post-employment support. We extended our children's program hours, designated a number of childcare spaces for Julie's working mothers, opened a licensed infant development center, and added summer programming. In 2004, Julie’s moved into our own facility on Dorchester Street in South Boston and became a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization with a Board of Directors. We now house all of our services in a building owned by the George Robert White Fund, a trust managed by the City of Boston.
