Katharine Conway "Kitty" Felton (1873 - 1940) is a name that became synonymous with social work for her innovative reforms over the 40 years of her tenure as head of Associated Charities in San Francisco beginning at the turn of the 19th century.

Felton was born in Oakland, California

Oakland, California

Oakland is a major West Coast port city on San Francisco Bay in the U.S. state of California. It is the eighth-largest city in the state with a 2010 population of 390,724...

, on July 7, 1873, the daughter of a prominent San Francisco Bay Area family. Her father John Brooks Felton, was a judge and mayor of Oakland and has the Santa Cruz County

Santa Cruz County, California

Santa Cruz County is a county located on the Pacific coast of the U.S. state of California, on the California Central Coast. The county forms the northern coast of the Monterey Bay. . As of the 2010 U.S. Census, its population was 262,382. The county seat is Santa Cruz...

 town of Felton, California

Felton, California

-2010:The 2010 United States Census reported that Felton had a population of 4,057. The population density was 891.2 people per square mile . The racial makeup of Felton was 3,691 White, 25 African American, 29 Native American, 69 Asian, 11 Pacific Islander, 60 from other races, and 172 from...

 named for him. She was called "the conscience of the city" because of her dedication to social work

Social work

Social Work is a professional and academic discipline that seeks to improve the quality of life and wellbeing of an individual, group, or community by intervening through research, policy, community organizing, direct practice, and teaching on behalf of those afflicted with poverty or any real or...

.

In 1901, at the age of 28, Felton was appointed director of Associated Charities (now Family Service Agency of San Francisco

Family Service Agency of San Francisco

Family Service Agency of San Francisco was founded in 1889 as Associated Charities by Katharine Felton . FSASF is the oldest nonsectarian, nonprofit charitable social-services provider in the City and County of San Francisco...

).

In the crucible of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake

1906 San Francisco earthquake

The San Francisco earthquake of 1906 was a major earthquake that struck San Francisco, California, and the coast of Northern California at 5:12 a.m. on Wednesday, April 18, 1906. The most widely accepted estimate for the magnitude of the earthquake is a moment magnitude of 7.9; however, other...

 and fire, she became the head of the social service efforts to restore the life of the people of the city and developed innovative solutions that are common practice today. She created the first employment agency

Employment agency

An employment agency is an organization which matches employers to employees. In all developed countries there is a publicly funded employment agency and multiple private businesses which also act as employment agencies.-Public employment agencies:...

 in the United States, developed mental health counseling to deal with the traumatized, became an advocate for foster care, and by combining private and public funds made it possible for widowed and single mothers to remain at home with their children. She also was responsible for emptying the refugee camps and finding placements for the dispossessed, all of which she accomplished within one year. These innovations became known as the "San Francisco Model" by 1907 and swept the nation as the primary mode of social service throughout the country by 1909.

Felton drafted nearly all of the State's early legislation covering welfare and relief.

In 1928, with the help of her friend architect Bernard Maybeck

Bernard Maybeck

Bernard Ralph Maybeck was a architect in the Arts and Crafts Movement of the early 20th century. He was a professor at University of California, Berkeley...

, she built what is today the historic office building of Family Service Agency at 1010 Gough Street in San Francisco.

In 2006, the Felton Institute

Felton Institute

Named for Katharine Felton, Family Service Agency's pioneering founding director, the Felton Institute for Excellence in Clinical Training provides intensive clinical training in Evidence based practice to address complex mental-health and clinical social work issues.Untreated and under-treated...

 for Excellence in Clinical Training (www.feltoninstitute.org) was named for Kitty Felton.

External links

• http://trc.ucdavis.edu/jawelsh/Sacramento_Room/Physicians/Katharine%20Conway%20Felton.htmJean Burton, Katharine Felton and Her Social Work in San Francisco (Stanford University
  Stanford University
  The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...
  
   Press, 1947) in the UC Davis collection]
• Katharine Felton in Memoriam UC Berkeley
• Pacific Historical Review article
• Resources in the San Francisco Public Library
• Felton Institute Website
• FSA Official Website
• http://www.sfmuseum.org/conflag/reax.html1906 telegram to President Theodore Roosevelt
  Theodore Roosevelt
  Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt was the 26th President of the United States . He is noted for his exuberant personality, range of interests and achievements, and his leadership of the Progressive Movement, as well as his "cowboy" persona and robust masculinity...
  
  signed by Felton and others]
• Felton on the "Citizens' Committee of Fifty" in 1906
• List of SF Landmarks featuring 1010 Gough