Bus Route 45

Worker Education Program

Phone: 

(617) 822-0130

Website: 

www.workereducationprogram.org

Mission: 

Worker Education Program (WEP), is a non-profit workplace education program. The mission of WEP is to provide worker-centered educational and training opportunities to entry-level unionized workers. WEP partners with employers and unions to offer classes that help workers communicate better in English, increase their literacy skills, improve their math, acquire high school diplomas, explore career advancement, or prepare for college. Since 1991, WEP has served over 4,000 Massachusetts workers.

WEP currently offers 12 classes at five sites. WEP classes are funded by grants from the Massachusetts Department of Secondary and Elementary Education, English for New Bostonians, and First Literacy. WEP is a provider for the 1199SEIU Training and Upgrading Fund Massachusetts Division.

Location

Worker Education Program
1803 Dorchester Avenue Suite 101
Dorchester, MA 02124
United States

Codman Square Health Center Food Pantry

Mailing Address (if different than physical location): 

Phone: 

(617) 825-9660

Website: 

http://www.codman.org/

Hours of operation (or meeting times & dates): 

8:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. on Tuesdays

Mission: 

We do not want our neighbors to be hungry. Both Codman Square Health Center and Dorchester House Multi-Service Center have an on-site food pantry for members of the community. In addition to gathering food to take home, you’ll have the opportunity to learn about nutrition and other public health issues.

Location

Codman Square Health Center Food Pantry
637 Washington Street
Dorchester, MA 02124
United States
Key Partners: 

How to get involved/application guidelines and procedures: 

Key Programs Offered: 

Community Meeting Space Available: 

no

Caribbean Foundation of Boston, Inc

Phone: 

(617) 445-1228

Mission: 

The Caribbean Foundation of Boston is a nonprofit agency that was established in 1973. The organization was founded by a group of Caribbean women who wanted to expand home care for their culturally diverse and economically disadvantaged community.

Location

Caribbean Foundation of Boston, Inc
317 Blue Hill Avenue
Dorchester, MA 02121
United States
Key Programs Offered: 

Homemaking & Home Health Aides, Friendly Visitors Progam, Training Apartment Program

Urban Community Homemaking

Urban Community Homemaking was founded in 1973 by a group of women united in their desires to offer improved and expanded home services to members of their community. The program provides homemaking, home health aide, chore, and friendly visitor services to people who are disabled, frail or elderly in Boston's urban neighborhoods.

Our goal is to prevent unnecessary institutionalization and assist and support families with care giving. In addition, our staff who are local residents, receive training and stable employment which contributes to the economic health of our community. Over 250 people receive services monthly. Nearly all are low-income clients who require ongoing home care support to remain safely in their homes.

Homemaking & Home Health Aides

In its training and employment practices, the agency has developed and uses a unique concept, "Peer Homemakers and Home Health Aides." These are trained employees attuned to the language and culture of the people with whom they work. Familiar and reliable assistance is particularly important in serving a frail population that is constantly dealing with the multiple losses of functional ability, independence, and friends.

Our employees receive ESL training so that they are fully equipped to meet the needs of the people we serve. They are trained to teach efficient household management techniques and encourage family members to assume responsibility for the client whenever possible. Our staff are also encouraged to help ease the loneliness and isolation many of our clients experience by being empathetic.

Friendly Visitors Program

While many public and private agencies have formed over the last two decades to provide home care services to the elderly, state cutbacks have significantly decreased both the number of people served and the hours of services offered. To solve the problem, Urban Community collaborated with Senior Companions of Boston and the Massachusetts Association for the Blind to create the Friendly Visitors Program.

The program is designed to address the support and social needs of vulnerable, low-income elders and disabled citizens who are not eligible for adequate home care, particularly on weekends and holidays when isolated people feel most alone. We assist disabled and elderly people with shopping and errands, accompanying them outside for visits and light exercise, provide light homemaking, help to organize activities of daily living, and encourage hobbies, interests, and outside contacts.

Mt. Calvary Holy Church

Phone: 

617-474-9871

Email: 

pastorperry@thekingdomchurch.com

Mission: 

To help people because their potential best to serve God, their city and to make disciples of all men, everywhere.

Location

Mt. Calvary Holy Church
234 Norfolk St.
Dorchester, MA 02124
United States
Created: 
11/29/2010

Harvard Street Neighborhood Health Center

Phone: 

(617) 825-3400

Hours of operation (or meeting times & dates): 

Monday - 8:30am to 8.00pm
Tuesday - 8:30am to 8.00pm
Wednesday - 8:30am to 8.00pm
Thursday - 8:30am to 8.00pm
Friday - 9:30am to 8.00pm
Saturday - 9:00am to 3.00pm

Mission: 

-Serve as a primary health care provider without regard to race, sex, color, political philosophy, or religious belief or ability to pay.

-Participate, so far as circumstances may warrant, in any activity designed and execute to promote the general health of families and children of the North Dorchester, Mattapan, and Roxbury communities of Boston in particular, and the City of Boston in general.

-Serve as a primary source in all health education activities relating to rendering care to the sick and injured, or to the promotion of physical and mental health.

-Provide assistance to the community in the development implementation and analysis of health services and policies.

-Initiate and participate in health related research which promotes the well being of the communities served..

It is also HSNHC’s philosophy that quality health care should be made available, accessible, and acceptable to all people, and rendered in a dignified manner as a right rather than a privilege.

Location

Harvard Street Neighborhood Health Center
632 Blue Hill Avenue
Dorchester, MA 02121
United States

Perkins Community Center

Phone: 

617-635-5146

Email: 

perkinscc@cityofboston.gov

Website: 

www.cityofboston.gov/bcyf

Location

Perkins Community Center
155 Talbot Ave
Dorchester, MA 02124
United States
Key Partners: 

Boston Centers for Youth & Families Joseph Lee Elementary School Lee Academy Pilot School Codman Square Library DotWell

How to get involved/application guidelines and procedures: 

For Adult Education, including GED and ESOL classes, contact Papa Diop at (617) 635-1894. Drop-in registration every first and third Wednesday of the month. For all other after-school, summer, and recreation programs: call the front desk at (617) 635-1895.

Key Programs Offered: 

School Age Child Care After-School and Summer Program Piranhas After-School Program: Meets M-F, 3:20 - 6. 4 - 5pm writing. 5 - 6pm pool. $150/year. 1st month: Deposit and &35. Then: $35 every 3 months. Piranhas Swim Team: Membership overlaps with After-School Program, but open to others also. Swim meets 6pm Fridays.** Open Swimming: Saturdays. 10:15 - 11 Children, 11 - 12 Lap Swimming, 1 - 2:30 Community/Open Swim, 2-4:30 Adults.** Fire Star Homework Drop-in: Call center for more info Boston Raider's Mentoring: Academic help for youth aged 7-18. M-F, 3-8pm. $20/month. Strong Women, Strong Girls: Mentoring for girls in grades 3, 4 and 5 at Perkins on Thursdays, 4 - 5:30pm. Open Gym Peewee Basketball: Saturdays, 9am - 1pm. $65/season. Season runs approximately October - April. Self-Defense: Free self-defense classes taught on Saturdays from 9 - 11:30 am. 16 years and up. Karate: Classes offered for ages 5 and up, adults included, on Tuesdays and Wednesdays 6-8. Call center for pricing information. Dorchester Adult Literacy Coalition site

Community Meeting Space Available: 

Yes

Created: 
11/29/2011

Franklin Park Coalition

Mailing Address (if different than physical location): 

P.O. Box 302333 Boston, MA 02130

Phone: 

(617) 442-4141

Hours of operation (or meeting times & dates): 

Office hours are from 9am-5pm. For all other events please check out our website for date & times.

Mission: 

The Franklin Park Coalition is a non-profit organization founded in 1974 to expand community participation in the stewardship of Franklin Park—Boston’s largest urban greenspace. Coalition members work to bring diverse park constituents together across the divides of racial and class boundaries, finding common ground through park involvement, advocacy, and stewardship.

Location

Franklin Park Coalition Office
2010 Columbus Ave
Roxbury, MA
United States
How to get involved/application guidelines and procedures: 

Please contact us via phone, email or through our website

Community Meeting Space Available: 

No

Casa Esperanza

Phone: 

(617) 445-1123

Email: 

info@casaesperanza.org

Hours of operation (or meeting times & dates): 

M-F: 9-5

Mission: 

Casa Esperanza Inc.’s mission is to help men, women and families overcome homelessness, recover from alcoholism and drug addiction, gain the skills they need to be self-sufficient, contributing members of society and to repair and strengthen families torn apart by substance abuse.

Location

263 Eustis Street
Roxbury, MA 02119
United States
Community Meeting Space Available: 

No

Created: 
03/04/2010

Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative (DSNI)

Phone: 

(617) 442-9670

Hours of operation (or meeting times & dates): 

Office Hours: 9 am to 5 pm

Mission: 

The Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative (DSNI) is a nonprofit community-based planning and organizing entity rooted in the Roxbury/North Dorchester neighborhoods of Boston. DSNI's approach to neighborhood revitalization is comprehensive including economic, human, physical, and environmental growth. It was formed in 1984 when residents of the Dudley Street area came together out of fear and anger to revive their neighborhood that was devastated by arson, disinvestment, neglect and redlining practices, and protect it from outside speculators. DSNI works to implement resident-driven plans partnering with nonprofit organizations, community development corporations (CDCs), businesses and religious institutions serving the neighborhood, as well as banks, government agencies, corporations and foundations. The Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative has grown into a collaborative effort of over 3,000 residents, businesses, non-profits and religious institutions members committed to revitalizing this culturally diverse neighborhood of 24,000 people and maintaining its character and affordability. DSNI is the only community-based nonprofit in the country which has been granted eminent domain authority over abandoned and within its boundaries.

The Dudley area of Roxbury/North Dorchester is one of the poorest neighborhoods in Boston. This diverse community of African American and Cape Verdean (72%), Latino (24%), and White (4%) residents has a per capita income of $12,332. Approximately 27% of the area’s population falls below the federal poverty level of $17,029 for a family of four and 62% fall below the Family Economic Self-Sufficiency of $37,591. The unemployment rate for the neighborhood is around 13.6%. Just over a quarter of the housing is owner-occupied as compared to the city’s average of 32%. A third of the population is 19 years or under and about two-thirds of the population is 35 years and under. Families with children under 18 years represent almost half of Dudley neighborhood households, which is twice as large a share as in Boston citywide.

Located less than two miles from downtown Boston in Roxbury/North Dorchester, the DSNI neighborhood had a staggering amount of vacant land (21% or 1,300 parcels) in the 1980s -- vestiges of fires, discrimination and neglect of the '60's and '70's. Dudley Street is a trilingual neighborhood of 5,197 African-American, Latin American, Cape Verdean, and White families speaking English, Spanish and Cape Verdean Creole. It is a remarkable reservoir of multi-generational resident leadership, talent, spirit and determination.

Partly through its diverse, 34 seat Board of Directors including 16 residents from each of the 4 major ethnic groups (African-American, Latino, Cape Verdean, White) plus 2 additional Board-appointed residents, 3 youth, 7 nonprofit agencies, 2 churches, 2 businesses, and 2 CDCs, Dudley residents and its community partners develop strategies that will ensure that local residents are the primary beneficiaries of the community economic growth, and that human development and environmental issues are addressed.

DSNI's major accomplishment has been, and continues to be, organizing and empowering the residents of the Dudley Street neighborhood to create a shared vision of the neighborhood prioritizing development without displacement and bringing it to reality by creating strategic partnerships with individuals and organizations in the private, government, and nonprofit sectors. That shared vision first emerged from a community-wide process conducted initially in 1987 that resulted in a resident-developed, comprehensive revitalization plan.

The 1987 comprehensive plan was updated in our urban village visioning process in 1996, involving over 180 residents and organization representatives. Their ideas affirm many elements of the 1987 plan, add important refinements and renew their commitment to creating an "urban village" and declare their belief that "Anything Is Possible". From this process, a major commitment was made to enhance economic power in the Dudley neighborhood. Through DSNI’s community land trust, the Dudley neighborhood has the only permanent affordable housing in the city of Boston.

Residents continue to guide this plan which established community control over a critical mass of the 1,300 parcels of abandoned land that had come to characterize the neighborhood. Residents gained control by convincing the authorities in Boston’s city government to take the unprecedented step of granting the community the power of eminent domain over much of the vacant land combined with a partnership with the city on the publicly-owned vacant land. The Dudley neighborhood thus acquired valuable assets, established a community land trust, set a criteria for development and a "place at the table" for the planning and development of the community.

The eminent domain authority obtained by the community applies to the vacant land in a 60 acre area called the "Dudley Triangle" that is bounded on two sides by Dudley Street and Blue Hill Avenue – two corridors that link three commercial centers within the DSNI area: Dudley Square, Upham’s Corner and Grove Hall. That area is established as a community land trust known as Dudley Neighbors, Inc. (DNI) to ensure community land ownership, permanence and affordability.

The Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative is an innovative, high performing holistic community change effort that continues to thrive. Residents lead a community collaboration with the shared goal of creating a vibrant, high quality diverse urban village. Today, the dramatic rebuilding of human, social and physical infrastructure has signaled that this is a neighborhood on its way back. DSNI focuses on three strategic areas: community economic development, leadership development and collaboration, and youth opportunities and development. Talented young adults return to the community in large numbers to play their role in sustaining change. To date more than half of the 1,300 abandoned parcels have been permanently transformed into over 400 new high quality affordable houses, community centers, new schools, Dudley Town Common, community greenhouse, parks, playgrounds, gardens, an orchard and other public spaces. Dudley residents are proud of their neighborhood and committed to the continuation of the revitalization effort.

Location

504 Dudley Street
Roxbury, MA 02119
United States
Key Partners: 

GOTCHA (Get Off the Corner Hanging Around): DSNI is one of several organizations involved in the GOTCHA Youth Jobs effort.

Community Meeting Space Available: 

Yes

Created: 
11/18/2010

Franklin Park Zoo

Phone: 

(617) 541-LION

Hours of operation (or meeting times & dates): 

Summer Hours (April 1 - Sept. 30) Weekdays: 10 a.m. - 5 p.m. Weekends & Holidays: 10 a.m. - 6 p.m. Winter Hours (Oct. 1 - March 31) 10 a.m. - 4 p.m. daily (closed Thanksgiving and Christmas)

Mission: 

Zoo New England's mission is to inspire people to protect and sustain the natural world for future generations by creating fun and engaging experiences that integrate wildlife and conservation programs, research and education.

Location

Franklin Park Zoo
1 Franklin Park Rd
Dorchester, MA 02121
United States
How to get involved/application guidelines and procedures: 

To learn about education programs, special events, conservation initiatives or volunteer opportunities, please visit www.zoonewengland.org

Community Meeting Space Available: 

Yes

Syndicate content