Women Making a Difference has been created in partnership with the Women's Fund of the Community Foundation of Tompkins County


©2006 The History Center in Tompkins County

Effie Morse was a very early president of the Ithaca Women’s Club, serving from 1898-1899. Closely involved with children’s education in Ithaca, she organized the first kindergarten in the city. She also oversaw the development of the Social Service League, which built the North Side and West Side community centers. Morse organized the Associated Charities, an umbrella organization that later became the United Way, and was appointed Ithaca’s first woman Commissioner of Charities.