Category: Local
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BPHC joins forces with State health and housing organizations to launch “Hospital to Housing”
December 13th marked the kickoff of the “Hospital to Housing” initiative, a public-private coalition formed by the Boston Public Health Commission (BPHC), the Massachusetts Housing & Shelter Alliance, the Massachusetts Behavioral Health Partnership (Beacon Health Options), and the United Health Foundation. The coalition appointed five community health workers (CHWs) who will work alongside homeless resource-providers,…
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From Homeless to Hopeful: One Woman’s Battle Against Addiction
In the back room of East Boston’s Meridian House, a long rectangular table is covered with blank paper. A group of about 20 people chat idly, sitting on all sides. Some have dyed hair and tattoos. Some speak in thick Boston accents. Some curse. Soon, they are quieted by a woman with bright pink hair…
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Roxbury’s Whittier Street Apartments Receives Major Funding from HUD Grant
Roxbury was one of five communities this month to receive a major grant from the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). HUD Deputy Secretary Nani Coloretti appeared at the Whittier Street Apartments with U.S. Congressman Michael Capuano and Boston Mayor Martin Walsh to announce the $30 million Choice Neighborhood Initiative grant on behalf of…
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At Final HYPET Meeting of 2016, Advocates Talk Midterm State Budget Cuts, Homeless Bill of Rights
Representatives from across Massachusetts met on Dec. 8 for the year’s final Homeless Youth Providers Engaging Together (HYPET) meeting, a monthly discussion that brings together youth and young adult advocates to trade information about policy, trends and programming. The gathering was held at Bridge Over Troubled Waters, an organization that provides support services to runaway…
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Rosie’s Place Spreads Christmas Cheer in Franklin Field
With the holiday season in full swing, Rosie’s Place co-hosted a party at the Franklin Field public housing development. “Everyone deserves to celebrate and be celebrated,” said Erin Miller, Vice President of External Affairs for Rosie’s Place. About 80 guests, which included tenants and their families, enjoyed holiday cookies, a dinner buffet, gifts, and mingling…
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“We Wait for the Light”: Interfaith Homeless Memorial Service 2016
Diamond O’Connell spent 15 years without a home, but in the time she spent homeless, she gained a family. The other people she met living on the Boston streets became her brothers and sisters, a family she would never stop supporting, even as some of their names were read aloud Wednesday at the 27th Annual…
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Veterans’ Services Office in Cambridge Hosts 1st Annual Veterans’ Appreciation Day
Cambridge Veterans’ Services office hosted its first annual Veterans’ Appreciation Day event on Nov. 11. The events represents an important focus on veterans and their families, was open to the public and incorporated many different types of activities. The director, Neil MacInnes Barker, created the unique event with his amazing staff members, Jeremy Haladorff and…
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Senate and Massachusetts Coalition for the Homeless criticize budget cuts
Republican governor of Massachusetts Charlie Baker has drawn criticism from the Democratic Senate and other organizations for his unilateral budget cuts. The cuts, allowed by section 9C of the Massachusetts Legislature, have drastically cut funding to many public programs in the upcoming year’s budget. After deficient sales tax revenue of it’s the administration’s projection, Massachusetts…
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Baker-Polito Administration Grants $2.8 Million to Communities to End Violence Against Women
Gov. Charlie Baker, Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito and Public Safety Secretary Dan Barrett announced that $2.8 million had been awarded to community-based organizations and local and college campus police to assist with resolving violent crimes against women, the governor’s office said in a press release Oct. 17 . The grants were provided by the Violence…
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Helping Homeless Women Manage Their Periods Around the World
In two short years as of this December, 18-year-old Nadya Okamoto and her organization, Camions of Care, will have managed to provide feminine hygiene care for over 48,000 individual women’s menstrual cycles. That’s a lot of periods. As Okamoto has pointed out many times in her advocacy work, every women on the planet has their…