Brooklyn Industrial School Association and Home for Destitute Children.

The Brooklyn Industrial School Association was founded in 1854 and formally incorporated in 1857 to provide education, food, and shelter to orphaned, abandoned, and otherwise impoverished children in Brooklyn. It operated schools throughout Brooklyn that enrolled several hundred students per year, as well as the Home for Destitute Children, built in 1862 on Butler Street (now Sterling Place) near Flatbush Avenue. The Association's approach to its work was expressly religious in nature, with a strong emphasis placed on Christian moral principles. It was founded by female members of several Brooklyn churches, and thereafter its staff and Board of Managers was comprised entirely of women representing the different Christian denominations of Brooklyn.

The Hopewell Society of Brooklyn was incorporated in 1870 as the Society for the Aid of Friendless Women and Children. Its building was located at 20 Concord Street between Fulton and Washington Streets. The Society administered aid to destitute women and children, providing temporary housing, employment assistance, and educational and recreational programs. The Society's name was legally changed to the Hopewell Society of Brooklyn in 1921, and a year later the Society moved into a larger building, known as Hopewell House, at 218 Gates Avenue. In 1928 another building on Monroe Street was donated to the Society and was converted into a home and educational center for adolescent girls. The Society discontinued its programs for women in 1942, though it later began providing housing for elderly women at another property on Monroe Street.

The age of social reform and an immigration boom in the mid 19th century brought the plight of ill, impoverished, and disadvantaged citizens to the forefront of concerns in urban cities. New York City was a national leader in addressing the needs of neglected, orphaned, and deliquent children. The earliest charity organizations for children were established during this period; in Brooklyn, they were the Orphan Asylum Society of the City of Brooklyn, founded in 1833, and the Roman Catholic Orphan Asylum Society of Brooklyn, founded in 1834.

Many orphaned or destitute children were also institutionalized in almshouses and asylums. As sentiments evolved about the institutionalization of children, the Children's Law of 1875, passed by the New York State Legislature, mandated that children aged three to sixteen be removed from poorhouses. The law led to an increase in the number of child welfare societies, already relatively high in New York City, promoting foster care, adoptions, and group homes. These independent organizations were contracted by the cities of Brooklyn and New York to provide child care services--a trend that continued after the consolidation of New York City and into the 20th century.