1986-2000

In 1990, the Sisters of Loretto invited interested religious congregations in the St. Louis area to collaborate in the conversion of the former Loretto Academy building into low-income family housing with supportive services. The Dominicans of Sparkill joined with eighteen other congregations to form the Intercommunity Housing Association (IHA) in 1991. Pillar Place Apartments welcomed […]

Thorpe Family Residence completes the total rehabilitation of an abandoned building on 184th Street and Park Avenue in the Bronx. On May 29, 1998, TFR Executive Director, Sister Barbara Lenniger, cuts the ribbon at the official opening of Park Avenue Thorpe (PAT), providing apartments for 20 families, many with special needs.

In 1997, the congregation founds One to One Learning to assist immigrants and refugees, many of whom had fled violence and poverty and are living and working in neighborhoods surrounding the Sparkill motherhouse. With the leadership of its founding director, Sister Cecilia LaPietra, One to One Learning has provided language and citizenship education for more

As residents of Thorpe Village aged, many could no longer live alone safely without additional services. The Sisters then envisioned another setting that would allow for frail but otherwise healthy seniors to maintain their independence in a non-medical setting. Named for Mother Dominic Dowling who purchased the Sparkill property in 1884, Dowling Gardens opens in

Dominican Sisters of the Sick Poor began what is now Dominican Sisters Family Health Services in 1879.  By the late nineties, the agency was providing services within the five boroughs of New York City and in Westchester and Suffolk Counties and several Sparkill Dominicans serve as administrators, social workers, and nurses. Sponsorship is expanded in

The Family Center opens in East St. Louis with a mission to invite individuals from varied backgrounds to be catalysts for change by providing them with opportunities to work side-by-side with each other on programs and projects that cultivate positive changes in their lives and their communities.    In 1995, East Side Heart & Home

On May 5, 1989, the Dominican Sisters opened Thorpe Family Residence, named for the founder of the congregation, Mother Catherine Antoninus Thorpe, whose foundational ministry was reaching out to women and children in New York in need of safe, decent housing. TFR provides housing for families in transition, working with young mothers to develop the

Through the advocacy of Sister Una McCormack, Executive Director of Catholic Home Bureau, Incarnation Children’s Center opens on March 21, 1989, with Sparkill Dominican, Sr. Bridget Kiniry, as Assistant Director. ICC continues to provide children relief from some of the worst ravages of AIDS under the loving care of registered nurses, nutritionists, childcare workers, and

Seventeen communities of Dominican women religious collaborate in the creation of a common Dominican novitiate in St. Louis. Beginning in 1990, Sparkill novices participate in the Collaborative Dominican Novitiate program, becoming acquainted with their peers in other communities and benefitting from outstanding Dominican teachers.