From Legacy to Leadership
It has been 177 years...

Andrew Jackson was president.  James Madison was still alive.

New York was young, vibrant
and prosperous.  Yet, already, there were growing numbers
of urban poor, families unable
to care for their children,
the sick and disabled.  And,
there were orphans.

In 1831, John Watts and
John George Leake, brothers-
in-law and law partners, chose
to act.  Leake and Watts
was founded with a mandate
to care for New York's
"helpless orphan children".

We have been there for
New Yorkers in need ever
since.  Through the Irish
Potato Famine and all the
waves of immigration
that followed.  Through all
manner of epidemics - influenza
in 1918, crack cocaine in the
1980's and 1990's, and
the ongoing tragedy of HIV/AIDS.

As New York has grown
and changed, so has Leake
and Watts.  In 1890, after
50 years in our first home,
we moved to make way for a
new church - the Cathedral Church of Saint John the Devine.  Our new residential campus
in Yonkers, designed by
Central Park's Frederick
Law Olmstead, has been a
base for innovative child
welfare services throughout
the 20th and now 21st centuries.

For 177 years, we have
adapted to meet the
evolving needs of children
and families.  We were at
the forefront of new approaches to residential and foster
family care.  We were a leader
in family counseling to avoid
the need for out-of-
home placement.  We established the first pediatric AIDS
foster family program in
the nation at a time when no
one else would care for
children infected with
the disease.  Most recently,
we have been developing state-of-the-art educational programs - from pre-school through high
school - for children, including those with special 
developmental and behavioral
needs.

Today, Leake and Wats serves over 3,000 children and
their families on a daily
basis through a network of
high quality residential,
foster care, educational and
juvenile justice programs.  in
addition to our Yonkers campus,
we offer community-based services at program offices, education center and group homes in Westchester and
New York. 

We believe that our founders would be pleased.