6th Annual Dorchester FAMILY School Initiative (DFSI) Community Night Resource Fair
“What are you doing this summer?” For many students and families in Dorchester, this is a difficult question to answer. According to the National Summer Learning Association, lack of access to summer learning programs is responsible for more than half of the achievement gap between high- and low-income students.
To bridge this gap, the Dorchester FAMILY School Initiative (DFSI) and the Dorchester-Franklin Field Community Learning Initiative (CLI) held the sixth annual DFSI Community Night resource fair on Wednesday, March 3 from 5:30-7:30PM. Nearly 300 people gathered in the Lee Complex cafeteria, including 197 students and family members from the Fifield, Holmes, Lee Academy, and Lee Elementary Schools and 95 other individuals including event organizers, program representatives, and city officials. Those in attendance enjoyed student performances; guest speakers, including Mayor Menino; a free dinner; and information on summer programs in and around Dorchester. >>Read More
The Dorchester Youth Council, in collaboration with Social Capital Inc. (SCI), hosted the seventh annual Safe Love Dance this past Friday, February 19th at the Dorchester House gymnasium. The Safe Love Dance combined a safe place to dance and party with an informative health fair featuring 19 local health organizations, among them Close to Home, Start Strong Boston, MAP for Health, and La Alianza Hispana.
In order to enter the dance, teens were required to interact with at least four of the attending organizations and receive information on healthy teen relationships, safe sex, abstinence, STD/HIV/AIDS awareness, self confidence, nutritional health and violence prevention. By the end of the dance, over 160 Dorchester teens engaged with the attending organizations and improved their relationship skills through role playing skits.
DJ Rolling Rick provided the tunes and beats, while volunteers from SCI and the Dorchester community welcomed and engaged the teens. Eddie Brimage and the Powerhouse Krumpers from the Dorchester Youth Collaborative captivated with a spectacular krumping performance, getting the crowd hyped up for the dance. >>Read More
On February 4th, artwork by the Drawing Club was on display at the Massachusetts State House as part of an After School Advocacy Day program. Speakers at the event stressed the importance of funding after school programs, and displaying artwork created at after school programs helped to stress this point. Works by Trea Crayton, Jose Mendes, Shelton Sterling, and Anslem Edegbe were featured. Photos from the event and their work are shown below. Click on the images to see larger versions.
Free tax clinics began Saturday, January 16, 2010 at the Codman Square Tech Center and the Dorchester House Multi-Service Center, but the state-wide kick off yesterday, February 1, encouraged the Commonwealth to continue to put money back in tax payers hands.
DotWell, in partnership with the Boston EITC Coalition, will professionally prepare your taxes for FREE if you worked and earned less than $49,000 this year.
For more information on our EITC Tax Sites click here.
The Codman Square Health Center was successful in providing 424 gifts to 189 families this past Saturday, December 12, at its Annual Holiday Gift Party in the Great Hall. The Codman Square Health Center, working in partnership with SCI Dorchester at DotWell, as well as receiving support from the Codman Square Neighborhood Development Corporation, Boston Cares, the Blue Crew, and the John D. O’Bryant School, collectively donated over a hundred hours of volunteer service to make the event so successful. Santa greeted families as they collected their gifts, while volunteers distributed flyers to inform families of the free H1N1 Flu Clinic happening next door at the Health Center.
In addition to these 424 gifts given out at the event, 70 gifts were also provided to Mothers With Courage and 40 gifts were provided to students at DFSI schools (a DotWell Program). In total, the Codman Square Health Center and SCI Dorchester provided over 500 gifts directly to the Dorchester Community.
SCI Dorchester would like to thank the generosity of Toys for Tots and the Notre Dame Academy for providing the gifts this year and all the volunteers who gave time to make this event possible.
The Dorchester Historical Society hosted nearly 200 visitors on Sunday, November 15, 2009 at its first Clapp Family Farm (195 Boston Street, Dorchester, MA 02125) Open House, showing off the barn interior and agricultural tools.
The historic houses of the DHS - Lemuel Clap House (1765) and the William Clapp House (1806) - on Boston Street are house museums showing the domestic side of nineteenth-century life.
Earthworks provided a cider making (apple pressing) demonstration.
The Dorchester Youth Council would like to thank everyone who was involved in making this year's Trick or Treat Canned Food Drive a resounding success.
Twelve Dorchester youth and twenty adult volunteers kicked off Halloween with the Dorchester Youth Council’s annual trick or treating service project in the Ashmont Hill and Melville Park neighborhoods of Dorchester. Instead of trick or treating for candy, these civic-minded individuals collected canned goods to benefit the Dorchester House Multi-Service Center and Codman Square Health Center food pantries for the 7th Annual Trick or Treat Canned Drive. During the holiday seasons the food demand increases at most food pantries, including in Dorchester. >>Read More
SCI Dorchester recruited ten community volunteers in addition to three AmeriCorps volunteers for the B-3 Haunted House on October 29, 2009. SCI Dorchester volunteers guided families through the station's haunted house, signed in visitors, helped youth use the moon bounce, and contributed to the overall success of the event. Officer José Ruiz reported that this year´s event, the first ever for the station, engaged over 700 community members. SCI Dorchester would like to thank the District 3 Police Station for having us at the event.
Washington, D.C. – On November 4th, Federated Dorchester Neighborhood Houses (FDNH) received the Coming Up Taller Award for its Art a la Carte program at a ceremony hosted by First Lady Michelle Obama at the White House. FDNH CEO, Mark Culliton and Art a la Carte student, Liana Rae Farmer, attended the White House ceremony as one of 15 youth arts and humanities programs from across the country to receive this prestigious honor. >>Read More
On Tuesday, Oct 27, we were pleased to be invited to visit the Marshall Elementary School and see a happy throng of young students enjoying a nice breakfast of pancakes and fruit while decorating a Pumpkin Pancake treat. >>Read More
6th Annual Dorchester FAMILY School Initiative (DFSI) Community Night Resource Fair
The Dorchester Youth Council, in collaboration with Social Capital Inc. (SCI), hosted the seventh annual Safe Love Dance this past Friday, February 19th at the Dorchester House gymnasium. The Safe Love Dance combined a safe place to dance and party with an informative health fair featuring 19 local health organizations, among them Close to Home, Start Strong Boston, MAP for Health, and La Alianza Hispana. 
Free tax clinics began Saturday, January 16, 2010 at the Codman Square Tech Center and the Dorchester House Multi-Service Center, but the state-wide kick off yesterday, February 1, encouraged the Commonwealth to continue to put money back in tax payers hands.
The 
hundred hours of volunteer service to make the event so successful. Santa greeted families as they collected their gifts, while volunteers distributed flyers to inform families of the free H1N1 Flu Clinic happening next door at the Health Center.
The Dorchester Historical Society hosted nearly 200 visitors on Sunday, November 15, 2009 at its first Clapp Family Farm (195 Boston Street, Dorchester, MA 02125) Open House, showing off the barn interior and agricultural tools.
The Dorchester Youth Council would like to thank everyone who was involved in making this year's Trick or Treat Canned Food Drive a resounding success.
SCI Dorchester recruited ten community volunteers in addition to three AmeriCorps volunteers for the B-3 Haunted House on October 29, 2009. SCI Dorchester volunteers guided families through the station's haunted house, signed in visitors, helped youth use the moon bounce, and contributed to the overall success of the event. Officer José Ruiz reported that this year´s event, the first ever for the station, engaged over 700 community members. SCI Dorchester would like to thank the District 3 Police Station for having us at the event.
