A history of help in Cleveland

Settlement houses began with immigrants, how serve others.

     Antonia Tosado loaded a cart full of bread and produce into the trunk of her daughter’s silver sedan on a recent Monday after collecting food from the University Settlement on Broadway Avenue in Cleveland. It wouldn’t have been her first choice.

                “I go to Save-A-Lot when I have the money,” Tosado said.

     The Cleveland woman, however, said she often relies on the generosity of groups like the University Settlement when she doesn’t have money for food. The nonprofit is among the city’s remaining settlement houses and Tosado is just one of the tens of thousands of North-east Ohioans who depend on them for basic needs. Most readers probably haven’t heard of settlement houses. They don’t hold as prominent a place in the public consciousness as they once did.