Kip Tiernan

Content sourced from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

Kip Tiernan, born Mary Jane Tiernan (June 17, 1926 – July 2, 2011), was an American social activist who founded Rosie's Place, the first shelter in the United States for homeless women.

She grew up in West Haven, Connecticut. Her father died when she was a baby and her mother passed away when she was 11, so her grandmother raised her. During the Great Depression she helped feed and clothe others. As a teenager she learned to love music, and she later studied jazz in Boston.

At 21 she moved to Boston to study at The Boston Conservatory. She struggled with alcoholism and was raped around that time. She found sobriety through Alcoholics Anonymous, and learned from people in recovery who were homeless.

Before becoming a full-time activist, she worked in public relations and even ran her own firm. In 1968 she organized a press conference that connected her with antiwar and civil rights activists. She joined Warwick House, an urban ministry that taught a “political theology of justice, not charity.”

In 1974, seeing that homeless women lacked safe shelter, she started Rosie's Place in a former supermarket in Boston with just $250 and a handful of volunteers. It began as an overnight shelter and grew to provide housing and support for women.

Rosie's Place moved to a larger building in 1977 and later opened a housing program for formerly homeless women. A fire in 1984 caused damage, but the shelter was rebuilt by 1986 without government funding. The organization expanded again, adding services such as meals, housing, and a food pantry.

Tiernan also helped start many other programs to help the poor and homeless, including the Boston Food Bank (now the Greater Boston Food Bank) and the Poor People’s United Fund. She worked with partners to create health care, housing, and social services for vulnerable people.

She lived as a lesbian with partner Edith Nicholson for many years; she later married Donna Pomponio in 2004. Tiernan died of cancer in 2011. A memorial service in Boston drew many supporters, including former Rosie’s Place guests and city leaders.

Her legacy lives on in the memories of Rosie’s Place, the many programs she helped found, and the honors she received, including a national recognition as a Woman of the Century, a children’s book about Rosie’s Place, and ongoing commemorations in Boston.