The Social Service League was founded in 1912 and incorporated in 1946.The founding objectives were "Cooperation for the temporal welfare of the townspeople in relieving poverty, promoting thrift, and helping those who are trying to help themselves." "Cooperation and avoiding duplication of efforts" were said to have been "watch words" of the League. Throughout its history the league has employed the town of Cohasset's nurse, a social worker and has had a board dedicated to providing programs and funding in conjunction with the schools, elder services and various community groups doing work consistent with our mission.
According to Article II of our restated Articles of Incorporation (2002), we are a not for profit agency whose general mission is to operate for "...charitable and educational purposes..." More specifically, "...the principal activities of the Corporation shall include providing counseling, referral, advocacy and educational services in the areas of mental health and social work for residents of Cohasset and its neighboring towns of Hingham, Hull, Norwell and Scituate: and operating a consignment shop to help defray the cost of the services provided. In 2001 the town nurse was no longer directly affiliated with the League but turned over the responsibility to the Town of Cohasset. Our charge now is to focus on social work and mental health, a term, which has very broad parameters. We are free to choose which areas we want to address and free to choose how to provide services.
Our primary funding sources are from the Cohasset Consignment shop and from our modest fund raising activities.
The league has always been evolving and it will continue to do so. Our access to medical and mental health care bares no resemblance to what it was in 1912. We now have social security, welfare, health and unemployment benefits. Cohasset is no longer a little farming/fishing town whose population swelled with the arrival of summer people. In 2001 the League shifted its focus to addressing the needs of families. In 2002 the Board entered into collaboration with Wellspring Multi-Services Center in Hull to help fund the much needed and very successful Domestic Violence Program. This evolved even further in 2003 when we decided to fund a position at Wellspring to provided direct services rather than employ our own Social worker. Our approach to defining and fulfilling our mission has changed and expanded.
Our current Mission states: It is the mission of the Social Service League of Cohasset to identify the most important and least served social services problems and to create, develop, and support ongoing programs, which can have significant positive impact (on those problems).
Examples of what we have done in the last couple of years;