Founders
Fran Froehlich
Fran Froehlich has been a consistent and tenacious voice for social justice for well over 50 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 BA 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 MA 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, she is Director of the Poor People’s United Fund.
Kip Tiernan
Kip Tiernan, deceased, was a longtime, fierce, 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 was 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 never looked back!
On Easter Sunday in 1974, Kip founded Rosie's Place and served on its Board of Directors, 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 worked as a team until her death. 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 was the recipient of numerous awards and honorary degrees. She worked tirelessly, focusing her energies on eliminating the root causes of poverty. In Kip’s words, “We seek justice not charity and the journey to justice can only be made in the company of others.”