Our History
More Than 150 Years of Service
Rooted in work that was begun by the Sisters of the Good Shepherd in New York City in 1857 and incorporated in 1947, Good Shepherd Services in its early years focused on providing residential care to troubled young women who could not live at home. Over time, we became convinced of the need to surround vulnerable families with comprehensive services in their communities and thus avert the need for costly out-of-home placement. In 1972, we initiated a family support program in South Brooklyn and soon began to collaborate with the NYC Department of Education to develop the first of what has become a broad range of innovative and successful educational support models in schools. Since that time, and in partnership with the community, we have built a continuum of neighborhood-based youth development, educational, vocational, and family support services that now includes more than seventy programs — all dedicated to meeting the needs of vulnerable children, teens, adults, and families and helping them make a safe passage to self sufficiency. In 1976, the agency initiated The Human Services Workshops, now a leading NYC provider of in-service training and professional development for social service providers and educators. In 1996, Good Shepherd Services merged with McMahon Services for Children, a child welfare agency with an eighty-year history of offering foster boarding home and adoption services, particularly for families from East Harlem and the Bronx. In July 2005, Good Shepherd assumed the contracts for the Bronx community services of Pius XII Youth and Family Services, adding a network of community-based services in the Bronx that mirrors our Brooklyn network.
