Kip Tiernan (June 17, 1926 – July 2, 2011) was a social activist. She was born Mary Jane Tiernan in Connecticut and raised by her grandmother, and came to Boston in her early 20s. Kip Tiernan and her advocacy partner,

Fran Froehlich Fran may refer to: People and fictional characters * Fran (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters * Fran (footballer, born 1969) or Francisco Javier González Pérez * Fran (footballer, born 1972), Spanish retired football ...

, founded, helped found, or were founding members of

Boston Health Care for the Homeless Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- most p ...

, Boston Food Bank, Community Works, Aid to Incarcerated Mothers, Finex House, Food for Free, John Leary House, My Sister’s Place, Transition House, the Greater Boston Union of the Homeless, and Boston’s Emergency Shelter Commission. In 1974, Kip founded

Rosie's Place Rosie’s Place is a sanctuary for poor and homeless women located in Boston, Massachusetts. History It was founded in 1974 by Kip Tiernan as the first shelter specifically for homeless women in the United States. It has evolved from providin ...

in Boston, America's first shelter for homeless women. She founded this shelter in an abandoned supermarket after discovering that homeless women disguised themselves as men in hopes of getting into male-only shelters. Kip was also one of the founders of Victory House in the South End of Boston, a residential alcoholism treatment program for homeless, alcoholic men. In 1980, Kip and Fran Froehlich co-founded the

Poor People's United Fund Poverty is the state of having few material possessions or little

income

, and from 1988 to 1990 they were fellows at the

Bunting Institute at Radcliffe College Bunting may refer to: Animals Birds * Bunting (bird) or Emberizidae, a family of Eurasian and African passerine birds * New World buntings or ''Passerina'', a genus of American passerine birds in the family Cardinalidae * Blue bunting, a species ...

. Kip's longtime companion,

Edith Nicholson Edith is a feminine given name derived from the Old English words ēad, meaning 'riches or blessed', and is in common usage in this form in English, German, many Scandinavian languages and Dutch. Its French form is Édith. Contractions and vari ...

, died in the 1990s, and she married Donna Pomponio in 2004. Kip herself died July 2, 2011, of cancer.

References

External links

Papers of Kip Tiernan, 1944-2006.Schlesinger Library
Radcliffe Institute, Harvard University. {{DEFAULTSORT:Tiernan, Kip 1926 births 2011 deaths Deaths from cancer in Massachusetts Homelessness activists People from South End, Boston 21st-century American women