About
Pendleton Place

Our
History

In the 1970s, three members of the Junior League of Greenville (Caroline Johnston, Sheila Lee, and Tunky Riley) learned that children often spent the night in jail cells when they entered foster care because there were not enough foster homes for them.  Finding this unacceptable, the Junior League of Greenville (JLG) purchased a red brick home on Pendleton Street and founded Pendleton Place as an emergency foster care shelter for children aged birth to 18.

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Pendleton Place opened its doors in 1975 to offer a caring, homelike environment to children entering care. In 2000, the original Pendleton Place was replaced by a new, larger building that more than doubled the number of beds available for youth entering the system.​

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In 1986, Pendleton Place expanded to include a group home for teenage girls in foster care in the beautiful childhood home of John I. Smith. Today, we continue to prioritize the cultivation of independent living skills at Smith House, with a dedicated focus on ensuring that our residents who age out of foster care have successful launches into adulthood.

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Although the government defunded emergency foster care shelters in 2012, Pendleton Place has evolved to meet the needs of our hometown. Much of the "new" building was converted in a comprehensive Assessment Center to provide medical and mental health evaluations for children entering the system through partnerships with Prisma Health and Greater Greenville Mental Health.

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In 2024, we we transformed the array of services provided by our Assessment Center as a result of systemic changes enacted from legislation addressing foster care entry.  The program became our current Family Resource Center and now serves as an inclusive hub of family strengthening resources and services. In 2025, we opened the doors to the new site of our Family Resource Center, located directly across the street from our main building.

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Today, the original foster care shelter has found new life as an emergency homeless shelter for youth aged 12-21, and Pendleton Place has added multiple programs to support youth experiencing homelessness. ​​

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Our Youth Resource Center offers drop-in services in a safe space dedicated to meeting the basic needs (showers, laundry, food) of youth experiencing homelessness. Our transitional living program provides up to 18 months of shelter with structured skill building and case management support for youth up to 21 years old who are experiencing homelessness, while we our HUD Rapid Rehousing program provides youth up to 24 years old with a year of support as they transition to living independently.​

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