Covenant House is a large, nonprofit organization in

the Americas The Americas, which are sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North America, North and South America. The Americas make up most of the land in Earth's Western Hemisphere and comprise the New World. ...

, whose goal is to provide safe housing and holistic care to youth ages 16–21 experiencing homelessness and survivors of human trafficking. Covenant House was officially incorporated in 1972, and offers services including

healthcare Health care or healthcare is the improvement of health via the prevention, diagnosis, treatment, amelioration or cure of disease, illness, injury, and other physical and mental impairments in people. Health care is delivered by health profe ...

, educational support/

GED The General Educational Development (GED) tests are a group of four subject tests which, when passed, provide certification that the test taker has United States or Canadian high school-level academic skills. It is an alternative to the US high ...

preparation/ college scholarships, job readiness and workforce development programs, substance use treatment and prevention programs,

legal services In its most general sense, the practice of law involves giving legal advice to clients, drafting legal documents for clients, and representing clients in legal negotiations and court proceedings such as lawsuits, and is applied to the professio ...

mental health Mental health encompasses emotional, psychological, and social well-being, influencing cognition, perception, and behavior. It likewise determines how an individual handles stress, interpersonal relationships, and decision-making. Mental health ...

services, services for young families, and

transitional living Transitional living refers to any type of living situation that is transitional. The primary purpose or mission of transitional living environments is temporary. Transitional living facilities often offer low cost housing. Transitional living resi ...

programs.

Services

Covenant House aids young people facing homelessness and survivors of human trafficking with a number of data-supported programs. Their doors are open 24/7 in 34 cities across six countries, and its programs are designed to empower young people to overcome adversity, and achieve independence. In 2022, Covenant House provided a total of 730,000 nights of housing for, on average, 2,000 youth each night. Covenant House residential programs cared for 7,700 young people in FY22. In addition to food, shelter, and clothing, Covenant House offers outreach, medical and mental health care, education and job readiness programs, workforce development and job placement, substance use treatment and prevention, civil legal aid services, young family programs, transitional and supportive apartment-living programs, and life-skills training. Covenant House's doors are always open to all young people who need housing and help, regardless of their race, religion, sexual orientation, or gender identity or expression. To achieve this, Covenant House's programs are informed by the True Colors Inclusion Assessment and certified by Praesidium.

History

In the late 1960s, the Reverend

Bruce Ritter Bruce Ritter (February 25, 1927 – October 7, 1999) was a Catholic priest and one-time Franciscan friar who founded the charity Covenant House in 1972 for homeless teenagers. By the 1980s, it had grown to an $87 million agency, operating num ...

, a Franciscan priest, retired from his job as a professor at

Manhattan College Manhattan College is a private, Catholic, liberal arts university in the Bronx, New York City. Originally established in 1853 by the Brothers of the Christian Schools (De La Salle Christian Brothers) as an academy for day students, it was la ...

to begin a new ministry serving the city's poor. Joined by colleague Father James Fitzgibbon, he moved into a dilapidated tenement building in New York City's East Village. With volunteers, including friends, former students, and neighbors, he began an effort to help homeless and runaway young people. By 1970, Father Fitzgibbon had moved on to other ministries, but Father Ritter remained. Adrian Gately, Patricia Kennedy, and Paul Frazier joined him to create the Covenant Community. In 1972, Covenant House was officially incorporated with its first intake center established at 504 LaGuardia Place. Now, as an established nonprofit organization, Covenant House began to fundraise to shelter youth facing homelessness in

Lower Manhattan Lower Manhattan (also known as Downtown Manhattan or Downtown New York) is the southernmost part of Manhattan, the central borough for business, culture, and government in New York City, which is the most populated city in the United States with ...

and on

Staten Island Staten Island ( ) is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Richmond County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located in the city's southwest portion, the borough is separated from New Jersey by the Arthur Kill and the Kill Van Kull an ...

. In 1976, Father Ritter announced plans to create a multi-service center near the

Port Authority Bus Terminal The Port Authority Bus Terminal (colloquially known as the Port Authority and by its acronym PABT) is a bus station, bus terminal located in Manhattan in New York City. It is the busiest bus terminal in the world by volume of traffic, serving abo ...

. Covenant House then acquired a group of buildings on West 44th Street and moved its administrative offices to the new location, which moved into a retrofitted cluster of buildings on West 41st Street in 1979. Throughout the late 1970s, Covenant House expanded its social service programs in New York City and began to branch out to other cities in 1980. For the next four decades, Covenant House grew, led by Sister

Mary Rose McGeady Mary Rose McGeady (June 28, 1928, Hazleton, Pennsylvania - September 13, 2012, Albany, New York) was an American Catholic religious sister who was widely acknowledged for her work with homeless youth in the United States. She was notably the directo ...

(1990–2003), Sister Tricia Cruise (2003–2008), Kevin Ryan (2009–2023), and Bill Bedrossian (2023-Present), opening centers in 34 cities in the United States, Canada, and Latin America.

Locations

Drug Czar Visits Covenant House (3858774035)

As of January 2023, Covenant House operates shelters in the United States in: *

Anchorage, AK Anchorage () is the largest city in the U.S. state of Alaska by population. With a population of 291,247 in 2020, it contains nearly 40% of the state's population. The Anchorage metropolitan area, which includes Anchorage and the neighboring Ma ...

* Anaheim, CA *

Hayward, CA Hayward () is a city located in Alameda County, California in the East Bay subregion of the San Francisco Bay Area. With a population of 162,954 as of 2020, Hayward is the sixth largest city in the Bay Area and the third largest in Alameda Coun ...

* Los Angeles, CA * Oakland, CA *

Santa Clara, CA Santa Clara (; Spanish for " Saint Clare") is a city in Santa Clara County, California. The city's population was 127,647 at the 2020 census, making it the eighth-most populous city in the Bay Area. Located in the southern Bay Area, the cit ...

Washington, DC ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan ...

* Fort Lauderdale, FL *

Orlando, FL Orlando () is a city in the U.S. state of Florida and is the county seat of Orange County. In Central Florida, it is the center of the Orlando metropolitan area, which had a population of 2,509,831, according to U.S. Census Bureau figures relea ...

* Atlanta, GA *

Chicago, IL (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

New Orleans, LA New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans

Prince George’s County, MD *

Detroit, MI Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at the ...

Grand Rapids, MI Grand Rapids is a city and county seat of Kent County in the U.S. state of Michigan. At the 2020 census, the city had a population of 198,917 which ranks it as the second most-populated city in the state after Detroit. Grand Rapids is the ...

St. Louis, MO St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which ...

Asbury Park, NJ Asbury Park () is a beachfront City (New Jersey), city located on the Jersey Shore in Monmouth County, New Jersey, Monmouth County in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is part of the New York metropolitan area. As of the 2020 United States ce ...

Atlantic City, NJ Atlantic City, often known by its initials A.C., is a coastal resort city in Atlantic County, New Jersey, United States. The city is known for its casinos, Boardwalk (entertainment district), boardwalk, and beaches. In 2020 United States censu ...

Elizabeth, NJ Elizabeth is a city and the county seat of Union County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey.New J ...

* Montclair, NJ *

Newark, NJ Newark ( , ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey and the seat of Essex County and the second largest city within the New York metropolitan area.New York, NY New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

Philadelphia, PA Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

* York, PA * Houston, TX and, outside the United States: *

Toronto, Canada Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anchor ...

, with youth worker Michele Anderson * Vancouver, Canada * Coatepeque, Guatemala * Guatemala City, Guatemala * San Juan Del Obispo, Guatemala * San Pedro Sula, Honduras *

Tegucigalpa, Honduras Tegucigalpa (, , ), formally Tegucigalpa, Municipality of the Central District ( es, Tegucigalpa, Municipio del Distrito Central or ''Tegucigalpa, M.D.C.''), and colloquially referred to as ''Tegus'' or ''Teguz'', is the capital and largest city ...

Mexico City, Mexico Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital and largest city of Mexico, and the most populous city in North America. One of the world's alpha cities, it is located in the Valley of Mex ...

* Managua, Nicaragua

Presidents

Despite having a board of directors, Covenant House's public face has tended to be its presidents. Father

founded Covenant House and served as president from 1972 to his resignation in 1990. He was succeeded by Sister

, D.C., who served from 1990 to 2003. In 2003 the board of directors elected Sister Patricia A. Cruise, S.C.. In addition to their administrative duties, the presidents of Covenant House have been known for their fundraising letters telling the stories of the youth Covenant House serves, some of which have been collected into books. Sr. Patricia A. Cruise resigned her position as president of Covenant House International in 2008. Kevin Ryan, formerly the Child Advocate of New Jersey, became president in 2009, and retired from the position on February 12, 2023. William “Bill” Bedrossian, former CEO of Covenant House California, became CEO & president of Covenant House International on February 13, 2023.

Controversy

In February 1990, Covenant House founder and President Bruce Ritter was forced to step down in the wake of allegations of

sexual Sex is the biological distinction of an organism between male and female. Sex or SEX may also refer to: Biology and behaviour *Animal sexual behaviour **Copulation (zoology) **Human sexual activity **Non-penetrative sex, or sexual outercourse ** ...

and financial misconduct, beginning with the accusations of Kevin Kite, who accused Ritter of sexual abuse. Ritter resigned but was never charged with sexual abuse. Soon after, more accusations surfaced. Four men came forward publicly claiming to have been in sexual relationships with Ritter for years, including multiple who stated the relationships started when they were minors receiving services through Covenant House. A report later prepared for Covenant House counted a total of 15 reported cases of sexual acts between Ritter and youth and young adults who were living or volunteering at the shelter. Then-

Manhattan District Attorney The New York County District Attorney, also known as the Manhattan District Attorney, is the elected district attorney for New York County (Manhattan), New York. The office is responsible for the prosecution of violations of New York state laws ...

Robert M. Morgenthau Robert Morris Morgenthau ( ; July 31, 1919July 21, 2019) was an American lawyer. From 1975 until his retirement in 2009, he was the District Attorney for New York County (the borough of Manhattan), having previously served as United States Atto ...

began looking into possible financial improprieties or the use of

false documentation False documentation is the process of creating documents which record fictitious events. The documents can then be used to "prove" that the fictional events happened. A common propaganda tool, false documentation is often used by management grou ...

by Covenant House officials. The Manhattan District Attorney's office announced that it was ending its investigation of Ritter's alleged financial misconduct and would not file criminal charges, on the day after his resignation. Covenant House's board of directors immediately commissioned an independent investigation conducted by private investigative firm

Kroll Associates Kroll is an American corporate investigation and risk consulting firm established in 1972 and based in New York City. In 2018, Kroll was acquired by Duff & Phelps. In 2021, Duff & Phelps decided to rebrand itself as Kroll, a process it complet ...

, and the law firm

Cravath, Swaine & Moore Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP (known as Cravath) is an American white-shoe law firm with its headquarters in New York City, and an additional office in London. The firm is known for its complex and high profile litigation and mergers & acquisitions ...

. After a five-month investigation, 150 interviews, and the poring over of thousands of pages of documents, their report noted that on the subject of sexual misconduct, "none of the allegations, when viewed individually, can be proved beyond any question." At the same time the report confirmed, the "cumulative" evidence against Father Ritter was "extensive." Their report also cited a number of minor financial irregularities, but added that fundraising was professionally and efficiently managed. Sister

, then associate director of Catholic Charities for the Diocese of Brooklyn, became President of Covenant House, instituting both financial and program-related reforms.http://www.allbusiness.com/specialty-businesses/non-profit-businesses/157071-1.html

References

Notes Further reading *Ritter, Fr. Bruce (1988). ''SOMETIMES GOD HAS A KID'S FACE: The story of America's exploited street kids - Letters from Covenant House''. Covenant House. A selection of letters taken directly from ''Covenant House: Lifeline to the Street'', published in 1987 by Doubleday. McGeady, Sister Mary Rose (2005). "SOMETIMES GOD HAS A KID'S FACE." Covenant House. *

External links

Covenant House
{{Authority control Christian charities based in the United States Homeless shelters in the United States Organizations established in 1972

Covenant House Covenant House is a large, Catholic, privately funded agency in the Americas, whose primary purpose is to promote Catholicism. It provides shelter, food, immediate crisis care, and other services to homeless and runaway young people. Covenant H ...

Non-profit organizations based in New York City Charities based in New York City