PPUF - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Co - Director
- Co - Founder
- President / Poor People 's United Fund
Fran Froehlich has been a consistent and tenacious voice for social justice for well over 30 years. She has been an educator, an administrator, an organizer, a fundraiser and an outspoken advocate for social change since the mid-60's.
Fran was born and raised in Brooklyn, and received her B. A. in Biology from St. Mary of the Woods College in Indiana in 1964. She was a member of the Sisters of Providence from 1964 to 1986, and during that time taught elementary and junior high school as well as completing an M. A. in Humanities at Manhattanville College.
In the mid 70's Fran came to Boston as the Director of Religious Education at St. Jerome's Parish in Arlington. While there, she met Kip Tiernan and in 1980 they co-founded The Poor People's United Fund, creating a team that has endured and prevailed for well over 25 years. They went on to co-found Community Works in 1982. Fran became the Interim Director during 1993 and 1994 and in 1999 she became the Director. From 1988 to 1990 Kip and Fran were fellows at the Bunting Institute at Radcliffe College and from 1993 through 2002 they taught a class in Ethical and Moral Principles and Social Policy at UMASS, Boston.
Fran has been the recipient of numerous awards for community service and social justice and has served on the Board of Directors of many non-profit organizations. Today, Fran continues to serve as Director of Community Works, is Co-Director of the Poor People's United Fund and is a founding member of the Ethical Policy Project.
Job Titles:
- Project Coordinator
- Founding Member of Financial Resources for Women
Georgia has fought for the rights of excluded populations, particularly women and children. After graduating from the University of California with a BA in Sociology, she spent the years from 1967-1972 teaching English in the Peace Corps in Iran and in the Boston Public Schools. In 1975 she received an MA in Special Education from Antioch University and began her work as a child nutrition advocate. She went on to co-found the Boston Food Bank with Kip Tiernan in 1978 where she retired from the Board of Directors in 2002.
From 1985 through 1992 Georgia worked as an advocate for Medicare and Medicaid patients for the Visiting Nurse Associations. Since 1993 she has taught critical thinking at Mass Bay Community College and the College of Public and Community Service, UMASS Boston.
Georgia is a founding member of Financial Resources for Women and Children which provides funds and training for women in domestic violence shelters. Georgia has received many awards for her work at the Boston Food Bank, most notably the 1988 Channel 7 Thanksgiving award. She published a book on women advocates titled, Women in Citizen Advocacy: Stories of 28 Shapers of Public Policy, McFarland & Company, Inc., 1992. In 1992 Georgia joined Kip Tiernan and Fran Froehlich at the Poor People's United Fund as Project Coordinator where she continues to work tirelessly with the PPUF member groups, chronicling their situations in the Misery Index and taking on special advocacy and research projects for food stamp and other welfare programs. Georgia is a founding member of the Ethical Policy Project.
Job Titles:
- Member at Large - Acupuncturist
Job Titles:
- Co - Director
- Co - Founder
- Co - Founder / Co - Director / Board of Directors
Kip Tiernan is a longtime, militant, social activist dating back to the late 50's. In her relentless crusade to help poor and homeless people she has protested, lobbied, advocated, fundraised, rabble roused and made a general nuisance of herself with a degree of conviction and commitment rarely seen.
Kip is a native of Connecticut who was orphaned as a child and raised by her grandmother. Always unorthodox, by the time she was 16 she was taking flying lessons and playing jazz piano.
She arrived in Boston in her early 20's and embarked on a career in advertising, writing direct mail programs and TV commercials. She began writing articles for the "Catholic Left" which appeared in The Boston Globe, The Phoenix and Boston After Dark. In the 60's she discovered St. Philips/Warwick House, a Boston based Catholic civil rights and anti war movement ministry. She eventually joined their "team" because, as she says, "Poor people need public relations, too." She hasn't looked back since!
On Easter Sunday in 1974, Kip founded Rosie's Place, the country's first drop-in emergency shelter for women. Today, Rosie's Place has evolved from providing shelter, to offering solutions. In addition to founding Rosie's Place, Kip was a founder of the Boston Food Bank, the Boston Women's Fund, and Healthcare for the Homeless. In 1980, Kip and Fran Froehlich co-founded the Poor People's United Fund and they have been working as a team ever since. In 1981 they co-founded Community Works, from 1988 to 1990 they were fellows at the Bunting Institute at Radcliffe College and from 1993 through 2002 they taught a class in Ethics, Moral Principles and Social Policy at UMASS, Boston.
Kip has been the recipient of many awards and honorary degrees over the years, and today, at the age of 77, she works tirelessly, continuing to focus her energies on eliminating the root causes of poverty. She continues to work closely with the Board of Directors and staff at Rosie's Place, and with Fran Froehlich, continues as Co-Director of Poor People's United Fund. Kip is a founding member of the Ethical Policy Project. In Kip's words, "We seek justice, not charity and the journey to justice can only be made in the company of others".
Job Titles:
- Member at Large - Doctor of Philosophy / Retired Assoc Professor, UMass
Job Titles:
- Member at Large / Retired Retired Faculty, College of Public and Community Service, UMass / Boston