Boston Higher Education Resource Center (website)
Samuel Acevedo, Esq., Executive Director

The mission of the Boston Higher Education Resource Center is to provide disadvantaged youth, adults, and their families with the tools necessary to overcome the barriers to higher or other education and employment.

Programs include: “Keys 2 College” one-on-one college and financial aid counseling; “Let’s Get Ready!” a free nine-week SAT, MCAS, and college counseling/preparation program for high school students ages 15-18 years; “The Mentor Program”, which pairs college/graduate students with at-risk middle and high school youth for a minimum of one school year; and “Passport,” a comprehensive two-year college preparatory initiative that supports at-risk/low-income high school juniors and seniors. We also offer Adult English-as-a-Second Language (ESL) and Computer Literacy classes and have a Computer Lab available to the community.

Children's Services of Roxbury (website)
Pamela Ogletree, President & CEO

Children’ Services of Roxbury’s mission statement reflects its commitment to building healthy communities and families: “We strive to provide high quality services to economically disadvantaged infants, children, adolescents and their families, thereby promoting and strengthening family life and individual growth.” CSR’s 35-year history is rooted in community and diversity. Its predecessor agency was established in the early 1960’s to provide family and child welfare services to disenfranchised communities. On July 1, 2005 CSR merged with United Homes for Children, Inc., another child welfare agency with a strong record of service to disadvantaged minority families. This merger dramatically expanded CSR’s ability to reach families state-wide, while strengthening the agency’s administrative and financial capacity.

CSR currently provides a spectrum of community-based resources—ranging from transitional housing and support services to homeless families, preparing them to become self-sufficient, to child development programs that nurture and prepare children to succeed in kindergarten. CSR is known for its commitment to advancing practice through skillful use of collaboration with a variety of stakeholders at the community, regional and state levels. Recently, CSR’s capacity to coordinate a wide range of formal and informal community supports was demonstrated in the local response to Hurricane Katrina: CSR served as lead agency in a statewide effort to coordinate housing and services for more than 398 displaced families.

La Alianza Hispana (website) Since 1971, La Alianza Hispana has been an icon of Latino leadership and has served as a portal to hope for well over 30,000 Bostonians. La Alianza is a results-oriented organization strategically focused on family support services, elder care programming, and workforce development and education. People and families are at the heart of its work, and its impact is measured in the number of individuals and families who have: stabilized their lives, developed healthy parenting styles, are living independent, healthy lives, and have obtained sustainable employment.

Roxbury Multi-Service Center (website)

Roxbury Multi-Service Center, Inc.'s mission is to define and continuously expand the art of building family and community through quality programs, services and partnerships. Our purpose is to serve, support, enrich and empower individuals and families from within our community as well as the community itself.

Roxbury Multi-Service Center services include crisis intervention, sexual assault intervention and prevention education, emergency financial assistance for utility and rent, fuel assistance, homeless shelter, home based family services, clinical counseling, after school programming, academic enrichment, computer instruction, college scholarships, financial literacy, college and career counseling, to name a few.

Roxbury Youthworks, Inc. (website)
Mia Alvarado , Executive Director

RYI is a community-based nonprofit organization whose mission is to create healthy families and strong communities; to inspire young men and women to recognized and develop their strengths; and to prepare them to lead independent and self sufficient lives. We combat the roots of juvenile delinquency in the inner city neighborhoods of Boston by providing innovative support services to court involved and other youth up to 21 years of age.

RYI is one of the oldest minority-based non-profit organizations in the city of Boston. Conceptualized and then initiated by Justice Julian T. Houston in 1981, RYI’s primary focus was to help decrease recidivism among young men and women from the Roxbury District Court. Today RYI also provides community-based supports, positive alternatives, advocacy, and an array of social services to young people and their families. We partner with the Department of Social Services as both the Lead Area Agency for the Dimock Street Area Office and as a network provider; with the Department of Youth Services with our Community Re-Entry Centers; and with the Department of Mental Health with our Juvenile Court Clinics.

YouthBuild Boston (website)
Ken Smith, Executive Director

YouthBuild Boston is a leader in the provision of educational and workforce development services for inner city youth and young adults who seek to contribute to the growth of their families and communities. Through effective collaborations with both private and public sector partners, YouthBuild provides services and develops strategies that create and expand pathways to careers in the building trades and related fields.

Founded in 1990, YouthBuild Boston's mission is to improve opportunities for young people in Boston by teaching skills that will equip them to support themselves and to develop personal and neighborhood responsibility. The guiding principle of YouthBuild Boston is; Youth and young adults, when treated as valuable resources and equipped with academic credentials and vocational skills, will become successful adults and partners in rebuilding their community. We provide career exploration and leadership development for in school and out of school youth ages 14-18, construction/pre apprenticeship training (skills, education and leadership development training) for 18-24 year olds, after school and summer programming for teens, and a computer repair training program. Annually we serve 180 young people, ages 14-24.

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