New York House and School of Industry. Vocational Training Project.

The Project, administered by Dorothy Warren, was a refresher program for older women with previous secretarial training and experience. In ca. 1951, it became the primary function of the N.Y. House and School of Industry, an agency founded in 1851 to provide needlework skills and employment for immigrant women, which had merged in 1951 with Greenwich House, a Greenwich Village settlement house founded in 1902.

From the description of Records, 1950-1961 (inclusive). (Harvard University). WorldCat record id: 232006766

The Vocational Training Project (1952-1954) of the New York House and School of Industry was a refresher program designed for older women with previous secretarial training and experience. The VTP was proposed and administered by Dorothy Warren, director of the NYHSI, an agency begun in 1851 to provide needlework skills and employment for immigrant women.

In 1951 the NYHSI merged with Greenwich House, a settlement house in Greenwich Village begun in 1902. With the approval of the director of Greenwich House, Mary Kingsbury Simkhovitch, the VTP became the primary function of the NYHSI. Trainees were referred to the VTP from three New York City agencies: the New York State Employment Service, the Federation Employment Service (of the Federation of Jewish Philanthropies) and the Archdiocesan Vocational Service. An average of 53 years old, the 225 women trained by the VTP enrolled in typing and shorthand classes taught by instructor Esther Berrue. The project emphasized the building of trainees' confidence in their abilities and maturity in order to counter employers' age discrimination. After a maximum of eight weeks of instruction, each trainee was referred back to the employment agency, which, according to the trainees' reports, found employment for over 80%. Those who found jobs left before the end of the eight weeks. In 1953, the Women's Bureau of the U.S. Department of Labor included the VTP in its survey report, Older" Women as Office Workers.

Though Dorothy Warren resigned in 1954, Greenwich House continued the training program until 1957, at which time it was discontinued due to a decrease in registration. Through student records and questionnaires, Warren compiled statistical and personal data about VTP trainees. For several years she tried unsuccessfully to find sponsorship for research on these data. She also tried to secure sponsorship for programs similar in purpose to the VTP, again without success.

From the guide to the Records, 1950-1961, (Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe Institute)