The Strong Foundation for Environmental Values traces its roots back to 1912, to St Margaret's House, an Episcopal school. Located in Berkeley, California, St Margaret's House trained women to work in the Episcopal Church as deaconesses. When, in the 1960's, the National Episcopal Church decided to ordain women as priests, a separate school for deaconesses became redundant and the school was closed.
The successor nonprofit became the Berkeley Center for Human Interaction and the fiduciary connection with the Episcopal Church ended. The Center sponsored seminars and retreats on a wide range of topics. In 1979, the Center changed its name to Strong Center for Environmental Values with a new purpose of producing audio tapes of interviews with key environmental leaders of the time and distributing them for use in public broadcasting.
Finally, in the mid 1980's, the Center changed its form and function from a publicly-supported organization to a private grant-making foundation. Thus, The Strong Foundation for Environmental Values was born.
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