Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative

Reverse College Fair | Jan 12

Are you a high school student? Are you interested in learning more about options after high school? Do you want to hear from young adults from your community who recently graduated or are current college students?

Boston Promise Initiative/ Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative would like to invite you to join their Reverse College Fair and hear about experiences and opportunities available to you from students like you.

When:  Tuesday, January 12 at 6 PM - 8 PM

Where: Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative 504 Dudley St, Roxbury 02119

 

RSVP: LIZ MIRANDA, Director of Youth Leadership & Development, lmiranda@dsni.org, 617.442.9670x210

Free and open to the public
Light refreshments provided

Multi Cultural Festival | August 8

The DSNI is hosting a multi-cultural fair August 8 starting 12 Noon at Mary Hannon Park (Dudley Park) on Dudley Street in Dorchester. Go out and celebrate the melting pot of cultures in your community next saturday with live entertainment, cultural food vendors and plenty of give aways and hours of fun for the kids. 

Where: Mary Hannon Park (Dudley Park)

Dudley Street , Dorchester 

When: August 8th @ 12 Noon. 

DSNI Open House | POSTPONED

DSNI open house info

The Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative hosts their open house, welcome to the public. You will be able to learn about the missions of DSNI and how you can become a part of it! Childcare will be available for families in need of assistance.

 

When: POSTPONED date and time TBD

Where: Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative

504 Dudley Street, Roxbury

Questions?: Contact the DSNI at (617)442-9670

Pop-Up Boston Children's Museum | Thursdays to August 23

Come to the Dudley Town Common for kids activities involving literacy, health and science! The events take place from 3:30pm to 6:30pm every Thursday until August 23. For more info, click HERE.

The Food Project Seeks Community Greenhouse Proposals, Deadline Jul. 20

The Food ProjectThe Food Project (TFP), with support from the Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative (DSNI), is seeking partners to share community space in the recently opened Dudley Greenhouse. The Dudley Greenhouse is a 10,000-square-foot facility in the Dudley Neighborhood of Roxbury. Owned by DSNI and leased by The Food Project, the greenhouse operates year-round as a food production and educational space.

Space is open to groups serving the neighborhoods of Roxbury, Dorchester and Mattapan, with priority given to projects that directly serve the Dudley Neighborhood. The RFP can be found attached to this post, and on The Food Project website. Applications are due July 20th, 2011.

Interested groups and individuals are encouraged to visit the greenhouse and meet with the Greenhouse Manager Danielle Andrews in advance of submitting a proposal. The greenhouse is open to the public on Tuesdays from 3 to 6 p.m., Thursdays from 1 to 6 p.m., and Saturdays from 9 to 12:30 p.m. Appointments can also be made by contacting Danielle via email or phone (617-442-1322 x13). More details after the break. >> Read More

Fundraiser for Tornado Relief, May 21

Boston Mothers CarePlease join Boston Mothers Care on May 21 from 7 to 9 p.m. at 234 Kennebec Street, Mattapan, MA 02126 for a dinner fundraiser and supply drive. BMC members will be driving donations to tornado victims in Alabama during Memorial Day Weekend. Your donation is tax deductible and even $5 to $10 makes a huge difference. Donations of water, toothpaste/toothbrushes, diapers, toiletries, canned foods and other non-perishable iterms are greatly appreciated. Boston Mothers Care will provide dinner and drinks, networking and a relaxing evening with others who believe in service and action. BMC is mission driven and composed of volunteers.

If you need more details, please contact Fabienne Eliacin at 617-792-1025 or email bmotherscare@gmail.com. Checks can be made out to Boston Mothers Care, Inc. You may also donate online via PayPal (send to bmotherscare@gmail.com).

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
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