How did reformers like Jane Addams and Lillian Wald influence urban policy?

• A. Women-led settlement houses and reform groups advocated for education, public health, child welfare, labor protections, and civil rights
• B. They opposed education expansion
• C. They focused only on motherhood
• D. They undermined public health

Answer: (B)

Reformers like Jane Addams and Lillian Wald built a model where helping people in their daily lives through settlement houses became a way to shape city-wide policy. Hull House and the Henry Street Settlement offered real services—education, health care, child care, housing assistance, and cultural programs—that addressed urgent urban problems. But they didn’t stop at providing direct help. They used what they observed about urban life to push for systemic reforms: improving public health and sanitation, expanding access to education, strengthening child welfare and protections for workers, and advancing civil rights and women’s rights. Their work connected community services to policy changes, often producing investigations, reports, and advocacy that influenced city and state laws and the way cities organized services.

That’s why the best answer points to education, public health, child welfare, labor protections, and civil rights as areas their efforts touched. The other options don’t fit what they did: they did not oppose education expansion, nor did they focus only on motherhood, nor undermine public health.