Social Worker
Jennie Lee In, the youngest of seven children, was born on April 29, 1921 in Hālawa, Kohala, Hawai’i to Kui Sung Lee, a Chinese immigrant, who labored in the sugarcane fields and also peddled fish, and Tung Moi Lim, a third-generation American citizen. She referred to her mother as a “pioneer woman” who did the wash in the stream, made underwear out of flour sacks, raised animals and had a flourishing garden. She fondly recalled how her mother nurtured her, reading to her and giving her special attention until her early death, when Jennie was six or seven years old.
After her mother’s death, the family moved to Honolulu where Jennie Lee graduated from McKinley High School. She earned a degree in vocational home economics from the University of Hawaii in 1942 and a certificate from the University of Hawaii School of Social Work in 1944.
Jennie Lee In’s first social work job was as a caseworker at Palama Settlement* where she worked in a program that helped people become integrated in the community. Her early work and field work for her higher degrees helped her hone skills that served her throughout her long career committed to offering care to the community.
In 1947, In earned a Master’s Degree from The New York School of Social Work. Her field work included helping with seniors in a community center and in public welfare in poor areas of Brooklyn, New York. She also worked with pregnant teens during her time in New York City.
Jennie Lee In returned to Hawaii and to the Palama Settlement with all of this experience and new expertise. She noted that as she advanced in her career at Palama, her skills in group work grew “sharper.”
In the 1950s, In became Executive Secretary and a lobbyist for the Commission on Children and Youth. She brought various agencies that dealt with children’s issues, legal, health and education, social services and labor together, to deal with the crossover needs of children in the community. One of her major roles was to provide the first community services for the intellectually challenged, including making sure the mandates to provide education and evaluation were being met.
After spending twelve years raising her family, In returned to the workforce in a variety of jobs, including with the state hospital as a social worker, nutritionist lecturer, as a lecturer at senior centers and for Head Start staff with the University of Hawaii.
Jennie Lee In worked full-time with the State Department of Education and asserted that she loved this job because it combined her experience and training in home economics and social work. In also started a class for pregnant teens on the Windward side of Oahu that she ran for thirteen years and which grew into a program that provided for credit classes to the young women enrolled. She retired in 1983.
Source: Reflections of Palama Settlement;
https://scholarspace.manoa.hawaii.edu/handle/10125/30121
*Established in 1896, Palama Settlement is a non-profit, community-based social service agency serving the Kalihi and Palama neighborhoods whose mission is to partner with those who have the greatest needs in our community, empowering them to enhance their well-being through education, health and recreation.
