PBHA is a student-run, staff supported public service/social action organization at Harvard College providing a variety of services to the Greater Boston community. PBHA is often called "the best course at Harvard." For more than a century PBHA programs have provided vital experiences for generations of leaders in service and activism, simultaneously developing real, meaningful community partnerships.

The mission of PBHA is a joint one of social service and social action. We address this mission in myriad ways, from intensive summer youth programs to transitional assistance for the homeless. Over 1,800 volunteers participate in 72 PBHA programs each year. With professional staff support and advice, PBHA is a unique manifestation of college students' idealism, energy, and initiative.

Founded in 1900 as the Social Service Committee of Phillips Brooks House, and renamed PBHA in 1904, the organization has served the community in diverse ways over time from its origins as a religiously oriented settlement house. Though it ceased to be a religious organization in 1920, PBHA still maintains its commitment to social service and activism in Boston and Cambridge. Often, the creativity of PBHA students has provided innovative models to the human service community. PBHA volunteers were pioneers in working with the mentally ill and incarcerated in the 1950s, developed a volunteer teacher's project in Africa that was studied in the creation of the Peace Corps, and continue to innovate today in the relationship between university students and public housing communities.