Heartland Family Service Celebrates 140th Anniversary

Heartland Family Service (heartlandfamilyservice.org) recently celebrated its 140th anniversary on October 27, 2015. As part of the celebration, the WoodmenLife Tower in downtown Omaha was lit up blue and dark pink in honor of the organization’s Good Works.

Heartland Family Service was founded as the Christian Workers Association in 1875 by representatives from eight different Omaha churches in order to minimize duplication and deliver services effectively. “Friendly Visitors” provided visitation to the sick and poor, relief to the destitute, and conducted nonsectarian meetings in impoverished areas.

In 1892, agency director Rev. Alva W. Clark felt that “handouts” alone were not a long-lasting solution to poverty, and began advocating that “work be the basis of relief ” in order to build self-help skills and enable people to rise out of poverty. And by 1941, the agency took that advocacy to a higher level, helping Omaha College (now the University of Nebraska at Omaha) establish its graduate school of social work.

In an effort to make the delivery services easier for residents in low-income areas, the agency initiated Multi-Service Centers throughout the metro area. The concept survives in present day, as Heartland Family Service has 17 locations throughout east central and southwest Iowa with offices in Omaha, Papillion and Fremont in Nebraska and Council Bluffs, Glenwood and Logan in Iowa.

Today, the agency’s 50 programs serve more than 40,000 individuals of all ages in the following program areas: Child & Family Programs, Counseling & Prevention and Housing & Financial Stability.