Rosie's Place

MISSION Rosie's Place strives to provide a safe and nurturing environment to help poor and homeless women maintain their dignity, seek opportunity and find security in their lives. DESCRIPTION Rosie's Place was founded in 1974, when Kip Tiernan, a Boston activist, noticed that women were disguising themselves as men in order to get shelter. Kip quickly learned that not only was there no shelter for women in Boston, there was no shelter for women anywhere in the U.S. With a handful of committed volunteers, Kip started Rosie's Place in an abandoned grocery store in the heart of Boston's South End. Today, Rosie's Place has evolved from simply providing shelter to offering solutions -- from the immediate to the long term. Among their programs are lunch and dinner every day; emergency shelter; permanent housing; advocacy; clothing; a food pantry; a food cooperative; job training (Women's Craft Cooperative) and more. IMPACT Through supportive housing, economic development, one-on-one advocacy and education, Rosie’s Place accomplishments include: serving 51,000 nutritionally balanced meals annually; providing 500 women with safety in their emergency shelter; moving 150 women into permanent homes; and providing more than 700 women with non-perishable groceries and produce monthly.