After deciding to open their own shelter, the women raised the money to lease and refurbish a former funeral home on East Main Street, and Sojourner House was born. The organization is named in honor of Sojourner Truth, a former slave who became an abolitionist and passionate advocate for the dispossessed in society.

In 1987, a firebomb thrown by a resident's former boyfriend interrupted the program. The fire destroyed the interior of the home, but provided an opportunity. The Board of Directors decided it was time find a place Sojourner House could call its own. In 1989, Sojourner House reopened its doors in the former convent of St. Monica’s Church in Rochester’s 19th Ward -- a move that more than doubled its capacity to provide transitional housing to women and children.

Over the next decade, Sojourner House became a pioneer of supportive housing for women and children, opening Monica Place in 1991, Fairchild Place in 1999 and Nancy Watson Dean Place in 2001. Together, these facilities provide 40 units of permanent, affordable housing for women and their children, who benefit from on-site case management and support services.