These settlement houses didn't just impact the people who were working in them, they were truly changing the way immigrants were living their lives.
When Immigrants migrated to the United States, they really didn't have an idea of what to expect. Due to this, many struggled to make ends meet for their families. One service the settlement houses provided was child care, in which workers living in the houses would tend to children while their parents worked at their jobs. Long, tedious hours made it difficult for parents to provide anything much more than food on their table and clothes on their back. The workers helped keep the kids healthy and entertained, which gave their parents a break. Another service the workers provided to immigrants was job training. This helped adults adjust themselves to the work they were about to do. This also helped them find better paying jobs. If they could master a few different trades instead of just one, they would be a better asset to companies. The workers found that if they helped their neighbors with job training, it would help close the gap between classes, and the rate of poverty would decrease steadily. Not only did job training help, the workers helped teach English and literature to immigrants, whom almost all could not speak fluent English. Becoming literate and fluent in America's common language helped the immigrants feel at home and as if they belonged there with everybody else. The workers also fought for working conditions for the immigrants to be bettered. In 1911, Jane Addams helped found the UNCA (United Neighborhood Centers of America) in hopes to bring improvement to her neighbors' lives.
The immigrants receiving help from the houses were definitely impacted more than they could have ever imagined, but what was more surprising was the impact that the immigrants and the house had on the workers' lives. The workers themselves were the ones that were truly making a change in their own lives in order to better others' conditions.
