WESLEY HOUSE HISTORY

Wesley House was founded in 1927 by the Methodist Church as a settlement program for Key West 's Cuban Community; this included a kindergarten to teach English to Cuban children and ease their transition to public school. Over the years the program expanded to include a variety of social, religious, educational and recreational services for Key West 's diverse population, from Girl Scouts to senior citizens.

In 1971, in response to an overwhelming need for professional child care in Key West , Wesley House instituted the area's first full-time child care center for working parents. An infant program was established in 1983. Wesley House operated all of these programs in a single building on Varela Street in Key West , Florida .

By 1989, the need for affordable, quality child care had become critical throughout Monroe County . The State of Florida convened a meeting of child care specialists, the Wesley House Board of Directors and the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries staff liaison. This meeting resulted in Wesley House signing a contract with the state to be the coordinating agency for all of Monroe County 's subsidized child care services (School Readiness and Education Services). Since then, Wesley House has become a multi-faceted agency that provides a wide range of direct services to Monroe County children and families through a seamless system of early childhood programs, foster care home recruitment, training and retention services, supportive foster care case management and family intervention and prevention services covering a service, including intensive crisis counseling, victims of crime assistance, neighborhood centers, family builders, Healthy Families-Monroe, and parenting classes, area of 120 miles.

During 2006 Wesley House assumed responsibility for services related to the full case management of approximately 225 children countywide. These Monroe County children have significant needs that are not funded by the State of Florida . Wesley House plans to develop funding opportunities and strategies to make sure that these children have a high quality permanency support system.