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Who is Mary Lee Richmond? Mary Lee Richmond is an active social reformer and one of social welfare pioneers during the Progress and Reform Era between 1900 and 1930. Richmond (1861-1928) was born in Belleville, Illinois. After the death of her parents, she was sent to live with her grandmother and aunts in Baltimore, Maryland. Her grandmother was an activist woman who was known as been a radical and religious person. Richmond grew up in an environment where she was influenced by the social, religious, and political beliefs of her aunt and grandmother, who were considered radical at that time (Agnew, 2004). Richmond's grandmother and aunts were not very supportive to the traditional education system; she attended school at home until the age of eleven, and then went to a public school. She dedicated herself to reading literature. She graduated from high school at the age of sixteen and went with one of her aunts to New York. She took a job at a publishing house doing a variety of clerical and mechanical work for almost twelve-hour workdays. At age seventeen her aunt became ill and moved to Baltimore. Mary was lonely, but was a hard working person who tried to help the poor. Her poor health conditions and not enough money to buy food or clothing did not stop her from helping others; rather she devoted her life to helping the needy families and children (Agnew, 2004). In New York, she joined the Unitarian Church and developed social skills at the same time she met new friends (Agnew, 2004).In 1879 Mary Richmond of the Baltimore Charity organization Society, presented a paper at the National Conference “The need for a training School in applied Philanthropy” (Johnson & Schwartz, 1988, PP 33-34). Richmond argued there was a need to attract educated young people into charitable work. She expressed the view that if these young people were willing to commit themselves to a life of charitable work, they needed opportunities for education and professional development. She argued that professionalization could not be established without the development of professional schools. Richmond argued that “we should begin to move without delay in this direction, at least, for some definite system training.” (Johnson & Schwartz, 1988, PP 33-34). She also set forth the conditions under what curriculum which she felt a school should be taught, by whom, and where a school should be located. Richmond felt that course work should consist of both theoretical and practical field training. One year later this presentation established what was to become the first school of social work (Johnson & Schwartz, 1988).In 1888, Richmond applied for a job as Assistant Treasurer with the Charity Organization Society (COS) of Baltimore. The Charity Organization Societies was the first organization to develop structured social work, providing social services to the poor, disabled, and needy families and their children. Representing the COS, Richmond made speeches to organizations and groups around Baltimore. She also was trained to become a friendly visitor as an early version of social casework, visiting homes of people in need, and helping them improves their life situations (Agnew, 2004). In 1891, Richmond became the General Secretary of the COS of Baltimore. She worked in the COS for more than ten years, during all these years she has increased its funding for social work. Furthermore, she developed new ideas of how casework could best be conducted to help those in needs such as to develop relationships and to support poor and needy individuals in a way that they can improve their lives (Agnew, 2004). In 1909, Richmond became the director of the Charity Organizational Department of the Russell Sage Foundation in New York. Later on, she established a network of social workers and a method by which they did their work. She also began publishing her new ideas in books such as Friendly Visiting among the Poor, Social Diagnosis, and What is Social Case Work. As result of the influence at Mary Richmond’s books, emphasis in teaching casework has increased instead of theory in many schools (Agnew, 2004). At the Sage Foundation, Richmond conducted research studies such as Nine Hundred Eighty-five Widows which looked at families, their work situations, the financial resources of widows and how widows were treated by social welfare systems (Woolf, 2002). Richmond's involvement with the Russell Sage Foundation allowed her to publish her ideas and to help establish social workers in many communities and with different organizations (Our History, 2009). Agnew (2004) described Richmond as a founding “Mother” of social work (P.201). Richmond’s philosophy and work with families and their social problems provided a valuable contribution to charity movement and social work. She created a model for social casework or what is known as clinical social work. She has the ability to conceptualize social case work from assessment to direct practice and research. She developed the basics for social investigation and the concept of therapeutic relationship between workers and clients (Deutch, 1987). During the progress era she was focusing on the strengths of the person or family and their environment or what is known as person-in-environment or ecological model. Her main focus was on working with families and their children. She believed in the community as being a resource for helping the poor person or family. Her ideas on social work during this era were revolutionary which is basis for current social work education (Woolf 2002). Richmond referred to the family as “the great social unit” (Anex & Stern, 2001, P133) and demanded changes in agency practice. She was active of taking an action role in regard to child labor laws, industrial safety regulations, and protection of working women as well as administrative changes in industrial operations to strength family life. Richmond’s challenge was based on a new recognition of the family and environment. Social workers were working hard to regulate tenement and factory construction to prevent and compensate for industrial accidents and diseases, to prohibit child labor, and to  provide for compulsory education and improved health condition to provide social insurance as security against unemployment, retirement or death and to protect workers especially women in regard minimum wages and working hours (Anex & Stern, 2001).The term “Scientific philanthropy” (P 134) was created by her work in developing what is called “helping methodology” in her published books. She presented case work as a therapeutic model of professional social work. Furthermore, it was the development of casework from friendly visitors when charity organization societies were focusing onresponsibility for social reform and the strengthening of individual and family responsibility for social and economic problems (Axinn & Stern, 2001). In her books Richmond demonstrated the basis for the understanding of social casework. She believed in the relationship between people and their social environment as a major factor in their life situations. Her ideas were based on social theory rather than from a strictly psychological perspective. She believed that social problems for a family or individual should be looked at the individual or family, then including their social network such as families, schools, churches, and jobs (Our History, 2009). The scientific philanthropy became recognized and developed (Heffernan, Shuttlesworth, & Ambrosino 1997, P 40). Richmond’s casework practice, administrative talents, research, and emphasis on social work education created a professional atmosphere in what was previously considered charity work. This professionalized social work allowed philanthropic organizations to provide funding at a time when there was no systematic financial or structural support for such work. In the past charity work had been performed mainly by wealthy women, using the financial support of their churches, with no understanding or knowledge on how to best serve people. Richmond's insistence on social work education led to the beginning of schools of social work, such as Columbia University's School of Social Work in New York City (Agnew, 2004).

References

Agnew, E. (2004). From Charity to Social Work: Mary E. Richmond and the Creation of an American Profession. New York and Chicago: University of Illinois Press. Axinn,J.& Stern,M.(2001).Social Welfare A History of the American Response to Need. Needham Heights, Massachusetts: Allyn & Bacon. Heffernan, J., Shuttlesworth, G., & Ambrosino, R. (1997).Social Work and Social Welfare: An Introduction (3rd ed.). St. Paul, MN: West Publishing Company. Johnson, L., & Schwartz, C. (1988) Social Welfare A Response to Human Need. Newton, Massachusetts: Allyn and Bacon. The Russell Sage Foundation. (2002, September 28).Our History. Retrieved October 19th, 2009, from http://www.russellsage.org/about/history.shtml Woolf, L. (2002, September 22) Women's Intellectual Contributions to the Study of Mind and Society: Mary Ellen Richmond. Webster University. Retrieved October 19th, 2009, from http://www.webster.edu/~woolflm/women.html.