Creating new beginnings for young lives was the driving passion of Charles Crittenton, the founder of Florence Crittenton, whose life’s mission was to help communities around the nation serve young women in need. That passion and commitment lives on in our mission today: To give every girl whose life we touch safety, hope and opportunity.
Our mission is supported by our vision of to be the national leader in changing the future for girls. We do this by: Achieving excellence in all we do, growing to serve all girls in need and being the foremost expert in gender-specific services for girls.
Founded in 1896, Florence Crittenton is the second oldest social service agency in Arizona. Throughout its dynamic history, it has been dedicated to serving at-risk and disadvantaged girls and young women with a mission to provide every girl whose life we touch with safety, hope, and opportunity.
The agency was named after Florence Crittenton, who died at the age of four from scarlet fever. Her father and affluent New York businessman, Charles Crittenton, turned his grief into a life-long commitment to provide safe havens for young women in need. The agency was originally a refuge for sick and destitute women and an early provider of daycare for working women before evolving into a home for unwed mothers and their adoptive babies.
Today, Florence Crittenton provides emergency shelter, residential housing, healthcare, education, counseling and social support to girls and young women, ages 10 to 25 through its effective and comprehensive continuum of care. Offering an unprecedented array of gender-specific services, not found elsewhere in Arizona, Florence Crittenton has helped foster the successful healing and recovery of girls and young women who have endured periods of physical and/or sexual victimization, chronic neglect, homelessness, poverty, teen pregnancy, drug abuse and/or mental instability. Our evidenced-based programs provide critical opportunities for girls to develop a strong sense of purpose and accountability, foster a commitment of service to others, while safely and successfully navigating their own unique journey to independence. Our mission is as important today as it was in 1896.