Who We Are......A Historical Perspective

"With $5 'seed' money and the taming of the West under her belt, a little Italian nun set out in 1897 to see what she could do to lick the Cincinnati Basin's problems. Her name was Sister Blandina Segale, and if Cincinnati has forgotten her, it has forgotten one of its most colorful figures, and founder of what is now Santa Maria Community Services" (excerpt from The Cincinnati Enquirer in 1975 by Rosemary Davis).

Santa Maria was founded in 1897 by the Sisters of Charity of Cincinnati and incorporated as the “Santa Maria Italian Education and Industrial Home.” Santa Maria’s Services were organized to benefit the Italian immigrants, and its founder Sister Blandina Segale was widely known for her advocacy on behalf of the poor who resided in the Basin area of Cincinnati. Efforts were expanded to help find housing and employment and to help those persons seeking citizenship to learn the language and process their naturalization papers.

Santa Maria offered a wide variety of programs throughout the years, becoming one of the founding members of the Community Chest in 1916. The Santa Bambino Nursery was started in 1918 and services to young children continue to the present day as a high priority services for SMCS. In later years, Santa Maria became known as the Santa Maria Institute, a name that it retained until 1966, when its name was changed to Santa Maria Neighborhood House.

In 1966, at the urging of the Community Chest, Santa Maria moved its social services to the Lower Price Hill area. In the early 70’s, funds for expansion were readily available as a result of the “war on poverty,” and Santa Maria responded by broadening its program offerings. The year 1972 was significant for Santa Maria: the Sisters of Charity terminated sponsorship, Madonna Community House merged with Santa Maria, and the organization’s name was changed to accommodate its expanded service locations. SANTA MARIA COMMUNITY SERVICES was the name chosen and it continues to the present. Another agency merged with Santa Maria in 1976. In that year the Lower Price Hill Community Day Center came under Santa Maria’s sponsorship. Since the Madonna Community House’s services were closed in 1982, all of the service locations have been concentrated in the Price hill area.

In 1987, the Family Nurture Center was opened at 718 State Avenue. In 1988, after collaborative work with the Sedamsville Community Council and the City’s Department of Neighborhood Services, Santa Maria secured funding to open the Sedamsville Community Center and expand services into that relatively isolated neighborhood. In 1992 Santa Maria purchased the property at 3301 Warsaw and moved its administrative offices and its East Price Hill Center staff into that centralized location. Over the next three years, SMCS purchased each of its other two facilities in Lower Price Hill (718 State) and Sedamsville (617 Steiner).

During the early 1990’s, Santa Maria became a leader in developing the Family Resource Center Coalition of Greater Cincinnati, a group of agencies and funders devoted to community-based support services for children and their families. In 1994 Santa Maria was one of five agencies in Greater Cincinnati selected by the United Way and Community Chest to participate in the Family Resource Center demonstration project. As such, Santa Maria’s United Way funding was shifted from categorical program funding to block grants. SMCS was charged with going to residents of the neighborhoods served to develop a service plan that would most effectively meet the needs identified by the neighborhoods. Lower Price Hill was selected as the initial site for participation in the pilot project with East Price Hill and Sedamsville to follow in 1997.

In 1999, Santa Maria became one of the first agencies to implement the Every Child Succeeds program, focused on helping at-risk first-time parents give their children an optimal start in life. To date the program has shown many research-based successes, including an amazing reduction of the infant mortality rate among program participants as compared to the City and County rates.

The Family Resource Center initiative was followed in the early 2000’s with the agency’s shift in focus to become a Neighborhood Support Organization. The primary change was increased community organizing activity by staff to help residents in all three neighborhoods address key community conditions, such as increased civic involvement, improved housing conditions, and reduced drug-related crime. As a result, the neighborhoods achieved many successes in these three areas. On a related path, in 2001 Santa Maria entered a long-term partnership with Model Management for the Terri Manor tax-credit project, including renovation of 81 apartments in Lower Price Hill as well as a homeownership initiative. In addition, Santa Maria was a lead partner with IMAGO in the creation of a new community development corporation to address further housing and civic engagement needs of Price Hill. After a few years of operating as a program of IMAGO, Price Hill Will incorporated in 2004 with Santa Maria providing leadership and back office support to the newly formed organization.

In addition, Santa Maria received distinction in 2002 and 2003 by being named by the Cincinnati Better Business Bureau as a Torch Award Finalist for marketplace ethics and accountability. In 2004 Santa Maria was selected as one of the winners of the Torch Award.

Today, Santa Maria’s services are focused in three primary areas: Parenting and Youth Development, Wellness, and Quality Affordable Housing. Santa Maria is also a leader in the place matters Price Hill initiative, working to bring partners together to accelerate change in early childhood development, school readiness, and academic achievement.

Please join us in reviewing who we are and what we have accomplished. We will let you be the judge as to whether or not we have honored Santa Maria's rich history and the hard work of those who came before us.