Community/Neighborhood Improvement

Thrive in 5

Phone: 

(617) 624-8005

Fax: 

(617) 624-9114

Mission: 

Thrive in 5's mission is to get every one of Boston's 39,000 children under age 5 ready to succeed in school and in life and to prevent the readiness gap currently evident at school entry. For the Fields Corner Children Thrive, please click here.

Thrive in 5 is a public-private partnership sponsored by Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino and United Way of Massachusetts Bay and Merrimack Valley, with additional funding partners. Also see a breakdown of Thrive programs and goals. Contact information for various program branches is available here.

Boston Children Thrive in 5 is currently being implemented in 5 neighborhoods. In each neighborhood a "hub agency" leads and coordinates the effort. Each hub agency works in collaboration with many community partners.

Neighborhood : Hub Agency

  • Allston-Brighton : Family Nurturing Center
  • Roxbury/North Dorchester : Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative
  • South End/Lower Roxbury : United South End Settlements
  • East Boston : East Boston Community Partnerships for Children Neighborhood Cluster
  • Field's Corner : Dorchester House Multi-Service Center

Locations

Thrive in 5
c/o United Way of Massachusetts Bay and Merrimack Valley 51 Sleeper Street
Boston, MA 02210-1208
United States
Key Partners: 

Mayor Thomas Menino and United Way of Massachusetts Bay and Merrimack Valley; Barr Foundation, Boston Medical Center, Boston Public Schools / Community Partnerships for Children, Children's Hospital Boston, Eos Foundation, Partners HealthCare, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, W.K. Kellogg Foundation

How to get involved/application guidelines and procedures: 

Thrive in 5 engages parents and representatives from Boston-based organizations in our Implementation Parternships. These partnerships serve as advisory groups for our work in Ready Families, Ready Educators, Ready Systems, Ready City, and Ready Children. Learn More & Get Involved.

Also (or Previously) Known As...: 

Boston Children Thrive in 5

Created: 
12/29/2010

BostonGLOW - Girls’ Leadership (GL) and Organized Women (OW)

Phone: 

917-291-6666

Mission: 

Boston GLOW aims to foster opportunities for women of all ages to become empowered community leaders and active, engaged world citizens. Women consist of half the world’s population, perform two thirds the world’s work hours, make one tenth the world’s income and comprise 70 percent of the world’s poor. Today in the United States, only 17 percent of elected officials are women. Only one country in the entire world has more than 50 percent female elected officials! Boston GLOW fosters opportunities for women of all ages to become empowered community leaders and active world citizens. Through two specific program areas -Girls’ Leadership (GL) and Organized Women (OW), GLOW strives to provide pragmatic programming, leadership training, and service-learning opportunities.

Location

GLOW Boston
59 St Andrew Road
East Boston, MA 02128
United States
How to get involved/application guidelines and procedures: 

Contact Leah Moschella at BostonGlow@gmail.com. You can support Boston GLOW's IGNITE Change in three ways, and we welcome any contribution, big or small. All contributions are tax-deductible: Donate directly to the IGNITE Change contest, via PayPal or by check. This money will go to the scholarship prizes for the winner and, if our fundraising is successful, to the other finalists as well. Checks can be made out to Boston GLOW and mailed to: Boston GLOW C/o Leah Moschella 59 St. Andrew Road 3rd Floor Boston, MA 02128 Or, you can donate online

Key Programs Offered: 

Boston GLOW aims to foster opportunities for women of all ages to become empowered community leaders and active, engaged world citizens. Working through two program areas – Girls’ Leadership (GL) and Organized Women (OW) – GLOW provides pragmatic programming, leadership training, and service learning opportunities. Girls' Leadership offers internships, IGNITE CHANGE contest and mentoring, and a 2-year leadership curriculum. Organized Women runs an annual V-Day charity campaign (against domestic violence), "Crafting for a Cause" feminist craft sessions and discussions, mentoring, and an annual gala.

Also (or Previously) Known As...: 

GLOW Boston

Created: 
12/27/2010

Release The Hounds

Phone: 

617-388-2250

Email: 

releasethehoundsma@gmail.com

Hours of operation (or meeting times & dates): 

Release the Hounds is available on weekdays, weekends & on some holidays!

Mission: 

To provide tailored and negotiable dog care services. Typical service includes three times daily house visits, with one half-hour in the morning, around noon, and in the evening. But the business is flexible: if an owner feels as though their dog just needs a quick ten-minute walk once a day, RTH will work out an arrangement. Sabrina and Jen focus on individual care: in order to gain clients’ trust, they always schedule an initial appointment to get to know the owners and dogs.

Key Programs Offered: 

Dog sitting & Dog walking

Created: 
12/14/2010

Release The Hounds was picked for MyDorchester's Business of The Month in December 2010, you can check out our article on them here

Peace Boston

Mission: 

Peace Boston was created by members of the local Hip-Hop community, youth workers and youth on December 21, 2005 in Boston, MA. The debut event was the "Peace in the Streets" vigil held in Dorchester, MA at the rise of youth violence in Boston.

Peace Boston's Founding Members are: · The Academy of Public Service at the Dorchester Education Complex · The FloorLords Movement, Inc. · The Hip Hop Mecca Project · LisiVian, Inc. · Louis D. Brown Peace Institute · PLO Style Graphics · R.A.W. (Revealing Artistic Works) · Save the Youth Ministries · Showdown Youth Development Inc.'s Violence Free Zone Initiative · True Hiphop Culture Program · United Youth and Youth Workers of Boston Peace Boston's united mission is to mobilize the arts, youth, and youth development communities to increase the peace in the city of Boston. Peace Boston practices the seven principles of Peace as encouraged by the Louis D. Brown Peace Institute: Love, Unity, Faith, Hope, Courage, Justice, Forgiveness and endeavors to promote peace through peer education, training, supporting activities, events, and initiatives that promote Peace.

Created: 
12/13/2010

Bobby Mendes Peace Legacy

Mailing Address (if different than physical location): 

The Bobby Mendes Peace Legacy
c/o Touchable Stories
65 East Cottage St. Dorchester, MA 02125

Website: 
Mission: 

The Bobby Mendes Peace Legacy is an anti-violence initiative co-directed by Dorchester peace activist Isaura Mendes and Shannon Flattery of Touchable Stories. It is named in honor of Isaura's oldest son Bobby who was murdered in 1995. It is rededicated to her youngest son Matthew who was murdered in 2006.

The program began in 1999 to help stem the tide of growing homicides in the Dorchester/Roxbury neighborhoods. Programs include public speaking in schools and prisons, grief counseling for families and friends who have lost loved ones, roundtable dinners with community members and their elected officials, holiday celebrations for local children and The Annual Parent's & Children's Walk for Peace.

Location

65 East Cottage Street
Dorchester, MA
United States
Key Partners: 

Touchable Stories; The Riley Foundation Family Strengthening Small Grants Fund, The Lenny Zakim Fund, Floyd Williams Funeral Home, Maxwell Community Business Park, Suffolk County Sheriffs Department, Boston City Councilor Felix Arroyo, Humphrey Street Studios, M.Y.H.O.O.D, PeaceWorks, Project Hope, Louis D. Brown Peace Institute, Massachusetts Alliance of Portuguese Speakers, Maxwell Flea Market, Radio Nha Terra, Sovereign Bank, Toys for Tots, Wainwright Bank

How to get involved/application guidelines and procedures: 

Contributions may be made directly to support this work by making checks payable to:
“The Bobby Mendes Peace Legacy”
c/o Touchable Stories
65 East Cottage St. Dorchester, MA 02125

Secure contributions can also be made online at http://communityroom.net

Key Programs Offered: 

Parents and Children's Peace Walk | Back to School BBQ | Christmas with Bobby | Anti-Violence Roundtables | Survivor Outreach and Family Breavement Support | Find Your Voice | Louis D. Brown Peace Institute

See here for details.

Created: 
12/07/2010

Touchable Stories

Mission: 

Touchable Stories began in 1996 with the idea of using the talents of contemporary artists to help individual communities define their own voice and give it public expression. The idea caught on, and has since become a series of community profiles telling the unique stories of these routinely marginalized neighborhoods.

Artists create rooms based on themes from the community. Ten to twelve rooms are then connected to form a walk-through maze, each interactive, each designed by a different hand, each using soundtracks created from the recorded interviews. The result is an intimate and dramatic journey in the life of a singular place through time—a journey with many voices.

Through a process of listening and observation, Touchable Stories networks to bring people and resources together in an effort to create sustainable futures.

Location

Touchable Stories Inc.
65 East Cottage Street
Dorchester, MA 02125
United States
Key Partners: 

Founding sponsors

The Boston Foundation
LEF Foundation
The Martin Fund

Host Site Sponsors

Boston Wharf Co. (Fort Point)
Brighton Ave. Baptist Church (Allston)
First Baptist Church of Cambridge (Central Square)
Maxwell Community Business Park (Upham’s Corner)
Port of Richmond, CA (Richmond: Introduction & The Story Continues)

Other Affiliates:
Bobby Mendes Peace Legacy (Shannon Flaherty, Co-Director).

Key Programs Offered: 

Current projects can be seen here. They include: Animating Archives, Echoes From The Edge, the New England Folk Music Archives, Richmond: The Story Continues, the Bobby Mendes Peace Legacy, and Tent City Peace Movement among others. Recurring themes include music, history, (anti-)violence, and more.

Created: 
12/07/2010

Boston Community Capital

Phone: 

617.427.8600

Mission: 

Boston Community Capital (BCC) is a community development financial institution whose mission is to build healthy communities where low-income people live and work. We accomplish this mission by investing in projects that provide affordable housing, good jobs, and new opportunities in low-income communities, connecting these neighborhoods to the mainstream economy.

Since 1985, BCC has invested more than $550 million to support organizations and businesses that benefit underserved communities. Our loans and investments have helped:

Build or preserve affordable homes for over 10,000 families and individuals

Support child care facilities serving over 7,000 children

Finance schools and youth programs serving over 2,000 low-income students

Renovate over 750,000 square feet of commercial real estate in distressed inner-city communities

Create more than 1,400 jobs in low-income communities

Generate over 1.4 million kilowatt hours of solar capacity annually on affordable housing serving over 1,100 families and individuals,

Provide fixed-rate mortgages that have allowed over 80 families facing foreclosure to remain in their homes.

Location

Boston Community Capital
57 Warren Street
Boston, MA 02119
United States
Key Partners: 

DotWell (BCC refers to DotWell's financial counseling program);

Key Programs Offered: 

BCC’s programs and initiatives include:

Boston Community Loan Fund (BCLF); lends money to community projects such as affordable housing, child care facilities, schools, youth programs and community facilities.

Boston Community Venture Fund (BCVF) makes equity investments in businesses that create jobs or provide services for LICs.

New Markets Tax Credits leverages private sector investment into distressed communities across the United States.

Foreclosure Relief Programs focus on stabilizing neighborhoods hardest hit by the foreclosure crisis, and helping families facing eviction due to foreclosure to remain in their homes.

SUN Initiative; Stabilizing Urban Neighborhoods is a program created to help you keep your home if you are a homeowner or tenant going through foreclosure.
For more information call 617-933-5880. Click here to take eligibility survey.

Created: 
11/04/2010

Loan Committee
Victor Rivera; Chair, Bank of America

Meg Bennett
; Deutsche Bank

Eva Clarke
; MMA Financial

Laura Hackell
; Independent Consultant

DeWitt Jones; Boston Community Capital

Maria Maffei; Independent Consultant

Linnie McLean; Trillium Asset Management (former)

Glenn Morgan;
SkyWorld

Jennifer Pinck; Pinck and Company

Rebecca Regan; Boston Community Capital

Steven Tromp;
Wainwright Bank


Venture Committee
Edward Dugger, III; Chair,
UNC Partners, Inc.


Charles Clark;
Youth Build, USA

Elyse Cherry; Boston Community Capital

DeWitt Jones; Boston Community Capital

James Walsh, S.J., Esq.;
Attorney

Knights of Columbus Dorchester 107

Phone: 

617-620-8514

Hours of operation (or meeting times & dates): 

The Knights of Columbus Dorchester Council 107 meet at 7PM, on the 2nd Wednesday of each month at the St. Mark's Post on Bailey Street.

Mission: 

The Knights of Columbus is the world's largest Catholic fraternal service organization. Founded in the United States in 1882, it is named in honor of Christopher Columbus. The Order is dedicated to the principles of Charity, Unity, Fraternity and Patriotism.

How to get involved/application guidelines and procedures: 

Any practical Catholic man interested in becoming a member should contact Grand Knight Michael Flynn @ 617-620-8514.

Also (or Previously) Known As...: 

Knights of Columbus

Fair Foods Inc

Phone: 

(617) 288-6185

Website: 
Hours of operation (or meeting times & dates): 

Dorchester locations:
Adams Templeton
455 Adams St
Near Ashmont Red Line
Fridays 1 - 2

Blue Hill Ave
Dorchester Boys & Girls Club
15 Talbot Ave, near Blue Hill Ave.
Tuesdays 5 - 6

Franklin Hill/Wayne Apts.
140 American Legion Hwy
at Franklin Hill Ave
Every other Wed. 12:30 - 1:30
From June 16

Cardinal Medeiros Manor
11 Woodcliff St. (Grove Hall)
Every other Thurs 1:00 - 2:00
From Jan 13

Codman Square
Codman Sq. Global Ministries
675 Washington St.(in parking lot w/white fence)
Saturdays 12:30 - 2:30

Fields Corner
Pasciucco Development
330 Bowdoin St. at Quincy St.(17 Bus from Andrew)
Fridays 4:30- 6:00

Cleveland Middle School
11 Charles St
Fields Corner Red Line
Thursdays 5:00 – 6:00

Dorchester House/Kelly House
1353 Dorchester Ave
Fridays 2:30 – 3:30

A Complete List of Locations

Mission: 

96 billion pounds of food are wasted each year. Fair Foods Inc is an evolution in the fight against hunger and poverty. Since 1988, we have transported daily truckloads of usable surplus goods from industry to low-income communities in eastern Massachusetts and southern New Hampshire. We recycle massive amounts of grocery-quality fresh food and high-grade building materials and bring them directly to the people who need it most. We rely on a commonsense ethic, a core staff of food distributors, and over 200 networked volunteers to get the job done, seven days a week. We focus on being cost-effective, resourceful, and thorough. Our business is to bring tangible change into the lives of thousands of families.

For the low cost of two dollars at the sites listed above Fair Foods will provide you with a very generous amount (about 15 lbs) of vegetables, fruits and possibly more. Food items provided vary each week.

Location

Fair Foods Inc
P.O. Box 220168
Dorchester, MA 02122
United States
How to get involved/application guidelines and procedures: 

It takes one truck to move 20,000 pounds of food, but it takes 200 people to distribute that same amount to the people. They are always in need of help.

Contact Information

Created: 
01/31/2011

On The Rise

Phone: 

(617) 497-7968

Fax: 

(617) 492-9814

Email: 

info@ontherise.org

Mission: 

To create a community where women have the relationships safety and resources they need to move out of homelessness. On The Rise engages with those most in need and support their initiative and strength as they move beyond crisis and discover new possibilities.

Location

341 Broadway
Cambridge, MA 02139
United States
How to get involved/application guidelines and procedures: 

On The Rise gives volunteer opportunities to come in for a Day of Service, coordinate a drive, make lunch, host an event and to fullfill a woman's wishlist. You can find out how to get involved by clicking here

Key Programs Offered: 

The Wellness Program includes a variety of activities such as a weekly writing group. There are also regular opportunities for women to get a massage or a hair cut. Staff and women also go on community outings together to cultural events, the movies, theatre, and local parks.
Keep The Keys offers housing search and move in support, home visits, personalized goal plans, and many other resources for social support and early intervention.
Safe Haven is a community of safety and trust for women where women are known holistically by others beyond specific "issues." The rules of the Safe Haven are based on safety and respect. There is no clean and sober policy and participation is always voluntary.

Created: 
12/01/2010
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