What is the COS movement?

Answer 1

The COS (Charity Organization Society) Movement was an era of social consciousness that sought to address poverty in urban America during the late 19th century. It resulted in the formation of a large number of charities functioning with the assumption that poverty was the result of moral deficiency. Therefore, many of leaders were Christian Protestants that sought to correct the malaise through moral education and charitable work. Much of the ideology of the time can be found in the "Handbook of Charity Organization" written in 1882 by clergyman Stephen Humphreys Gurteen.