History

In the late 1970s, Jane Mazzarella, a nurse working at Cleveland’s Women’s General Hospital, began to recognize the prevalence of substance abuse among her patients. A strong advocate with ties to the recovery community, Ms. Mazzarella mustered the financial, political and grassroots support necessary to open a ten bed women’s halfway house in 1978 . Hitchcock was originally housed in a home on Magnolia Drive donated by the Hitchcock family. The need for expanded space and treatment options exploded throughout the 1980s with the advent of crack cocaine. Through the continuing efforts of Ms. Mazzarella and the agency’s board, staff and volunteers, the agency purchased the former St. Mary’s Seminary on Ansel Road in Cleveland’s near east side from the Cleveland Catholic Diocese in 1992.

For the past 25 years, we have been able to provide services to more than 12,000 women and their families throughout the Greater Cleveland area. Some of our former clients have moved on to much greater places in their personal and professional lives – lives that include the roles of wives, mothers, professionals, skilled crafts people, nurses and the like. Many of these women have returned the love by volunteering through our HCFW Alumnae Council.

Today, Hitchcock has 53 staff working in 3 main areas.