History of Covenant House

• Fr. Bruce Ritter leaves teaching post at Manhattan College and moves with Fr. James Fitzgibbon to 274 East Seventh Street, near Avenue D, on the Lower East Side, to begin a "ministry of availability" to the neighborhood's poor. Both Franciscans are formally assigned to Saint Brigid's Church in New York City.

• Fr. James Fitzgibbon moves out of 274 East Seventh Street apartment in order to devote more time to drug counseling and other community ministries.
• Bruce Ritter, Adrian Gately, Patricia Kennedy and Paul Frazier create the Covenant Community.

• Covenant House receives a grant from New York City Addiction Services Agency.
• Covenant House formally incorporates and establishes a board of directors.
• The intake center and corporate office are established at 504 LaGuardia Place,
• New York.
• Bruce Ritter writes his first direct mail appeal letter to donors.

• A girls' group home is established at 40 West Eleventh Street, New York, staffed largely by the Franciscan Sisters of Syracuse.
• A boys' group home is established at 207 Wheeler Avenue, Staten Island, New York.
• A boys' group home is established at 746 East Sixth Street, New York.
• A girls' group home is established at 218 West 15th Street, New York.
• Corporate office space is acquired at 40 West 12th Street, New York, and offices are transferred from 504 LaGuardia Place.
• Bruce Ritter incorporates Testamentum as a real estate holding company that would lease property to Covenant House.

• A boys' group home is established at 267 East Seventh Street.
• The boys' group home closes at 274 East Seventh Street.

• Bruce Ritter announces his intention to resign as executive director.
• A girls' group home is established at 264 East 10th Street.
• Covenant House amends its constitution to establish the organization as a "corporation sole," with Bruce Ritter as the sole member.

• Bruce Ritter announces plans to open a "multi-service center" near the Port Authority Bus Terminal.
• Covenant House acquires an assemblage of buildings on Eighth Avenue and 44th Street.
• Covenant House relocates administrative offices from 40 West 12th Street to
• 260 West 44th Street.
• A girls' group home is established on West 47th Street.

• Under 21 opens on Eighth Avenue near 44th Street.
• Faith Community volunteer program established.

• A girls' group home is established on Staten Island.

• Covenant House begins leasing the former Manhattan Rehabilitation Center on 41st Street and Tenth Avenue from the State of New York and relocates most Under 21 operations to this site, expanding medical and social services.
• The Eighth Avenue and 44th Street assemblage remains open as a crisis center.

• Bruce Ritter meets with Knights of Malta in Rome and announces plans to expand outside New York City.
• Covenant House phases out its group home program and closes all group homes, expect facilities on West 47th Street and West 15th Street.

• Covenant House restructures operations into a parent board and subsidiary boards, with Bruce Ritter assuming the title of president of the parent corporation.
• Under 21 (the New York program) is created as a subsidiary corporation.
• Under 21 subsidiaries are proposed in other cities.
• Covenant House staff and Faith Community members travel to Guatemala to establish Casa Alianza program (as Covenant House is called in Spanish).

• Casa Alianza program officially opens in Antigua, Guatemala.
• Covenant House Toronto program is established.
• Institute for Youth Advocacy is established at Covenant House to litigate, lobby and research issues relating to youth homelessness and child pornography.

• Covenant House Texas program is established in Houston.

• President Ronald Reagan praises Bruce Ritter in his State of the Union Address.
• Covenant House purchases the Times Square Motor Hotel on Eighth Avenue and 43rd Street.
• James Harnett is named chief operating officer.

• Covenant House Florida is established in Fort Lauderdale.
• Bruce Ritter is named as a member of Attorney General Edwin Meese's Commission on Pornography.

• Rights of Passage program is created and established at Covenant House New York as a transitional living program for shelter residents.
• "Off the Streets" outreach program is established at Covenant House New York. Program operates vans that travel the city every night, seeking to offer food and counseling to homeless young people.
• Casa Alianza expands programs in Guatemala City.

• Covenant House New Orleans is established.
• Casa Alianza program is established in Tegucigalpa, Honduras.
• Covenant House Nineline crisis hotline is established.
• Rights of Passage program for women established in New York.
• Bruce Ritter publishes book, Covenant House: Lifeline to the Street.
• Covenant House purchases the National Maritime Union Building at Ninth Avenue and 17th Street in New York.

• Casa Alianza program established in Mexico City.
• National Maritime Union Building officially dedicated as Rights of Passage facility.
• Casa Alianza program established in Panama City.
• Covenant House California program established in Los Angeles.
• Covenant House Alaska program established in Anchorage.

• AIDS education program is initiated at the Covenant House New York Crisis Center.
• Covenant House New Jersey is established via street outreach programs in Atlantic City, Newark, and Trenton.
• Bruce Ritter is accused of sexual misconduct and financial impropriety in December; Manhattan district attorney announces an investigation.
• New York Post spearheads journalistic investigation of Covenant House.

• Bruce Ritter steps aside on 6 February and resigns as president on 27 February, after continuing stream of allegations.
• Manhattan district attorney ends investigations following 27 February resignation.
• Frank Macchiarola is installed as acting president and chief executive officer on 6 February, but is removed from the position and resigns from the board of directors on 27 February.
• James Harnett is installed as acting president and chief executive officer on 27 February, but is removed from the position and returns to his former position as chief operating officer on 23 March.
• Board reaches agreement with John Cardinal O' Connor, whereby Msgr. William J. Toohy and Msgr. Timothy A. McDonnell are appointed as team responsible for directing Covenant House, effective 23 March.
• Sr. Mary Rose McGeady, D.C., is appointed president of Covenant House in July and assumes responsibilities in September.
• Board initiates extensive procedural and administrative reforms.
• Kroll investigative report, commissioned by the board and monitored by an oversight committee, is released in August.
• Covenant House suffers severe budget cutbacks, layoffs, and a $22 million drop in private contributions.
• Covenant House New Jersey opens storefront (non-residential) locations in Atlantic City, Newark, and Trenton.

• New York attorney general concludes civil investigations of Covenant House, expressing satisfaction with the board's structural overhaul.
• A second round of layoffs and budget cutbacks is initiated.
• Covenant House concludes agreements to sell Times Square Motor Hotel.
• First Covenant House International Candlelight Vigil for Homeless Youth takes place on Thanksgiving eve in Times Square.

• Charles Sennott, the New York Post reporter instrumental in investigating Bruce Ritter, publishes his book, Broken Covenant.
• Casa Alianza Panama is closed.
• Covenant House New Jersey closes Trenton program.
• Council of Better Business Bureaus and National Charities Information Bureau restore Covenant House to approved lists.
• First Covenant House community service center established by Covenant House New York and located in the Bronx.

• Covenant House sells assemblage of buildings on Eighth Avenue and 44th Street.

• Covenant House program is established in Washington, D.C.
• Covenant House sells portion of the National Maritime Union Building known as the Plaza.

• Casa Alianza receives Olof Palme Prize to honor its leadership in promoting human rights causes.
• Covenant House New Jersey opens first crisis center in Newark.
• Covenant House Florida establishes program in Orlando.

• Covenant House program established in Vancouver.
• Covenant House Michigan program established in Detroit.
• Covenant House New York opens regional job training center.

• Covenant House Missouri program is established in St. Louis.
• Casa Alianza program is established in Nicaragua.
• Covenant House fund-raising efforts return to pre-1990 levels.

• Covenant House Pennsylvania program established in Philadelphia.
• Bruce Ritter dies at his home in upstate New York on 7 October.

• Covenant House Georgia program established in Atlanta.

• Covenant House revenues exceed $120 million.

• Sr. Mary Rose McGeady, D.C., retires.
• Sr. Patricia A. Cruise, S.C., appointed president and assumes office in September.

• James Harnett resigns position as Chief Operating Officer.
• James White, an early member of Covenant House Faith Community and the Executive Director of Covenant House New Jersey since 1994, is named Chief Operating Officer.