Our History
Important developments in our history
Started in a slum in France in the 1950s, ATD Fourth World has transformed the struggle to end poverty by recognizing poverty as a violation of human rights.
“The families I met there, made me think of the poverty of my mother. The children could have been my brothers, my sister, or me, forty years earlier.” – Joseph Wresinski
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Key moments in our history
In 1956, Joseph Wresinski, a Catholic priest, became the chaplain to 250 homeless families. They (...)
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Joseph Wresinski
While Joseph Wresinski (1917-1988) was not the first person to listen carefully to people living (...)
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Our Name
ATD Fourth World — it’s a name with a lot of history. To Joseph Wresinski, (...)