Member News
Every day, MHSA member agencies administer more than 250 programs that serve 98 percent of all unaccompanied homeless adults in the state. We are proud to share their news and successes with you.
May 2011
Pine Street Inn President Named One of Massachusetts' Most Innovative People
Lyndia Downie, who has worked at PSI for 27 years, was listed at the top of the Nonprofits and Philanthropies category in the Boston Globe’s “Most Innovative” list, which included the top three innovators in ten categories. The list was compiled by a panel of 70 judges selected from a pool of local executives, academics and venture capitalists. The 30 winners were chosen from 211 nominations.
Downie and the Pine Street Inn have been successful in moving many men and women off of the streets and into permanent housing. Today, about half of Pine Street's beds are in permanent housing, contributing to a roughly 30 percent drop in Boston's homeless population in the past five years. There are 29 locations throughout the Boston area helping nearly 500 formerly homeless or low-income people. Read more.
January 2011
Homeless Narratives & Pretreatment Pathways: From Words to Housing
Digital Journal recently posted an interview by Ernest Dempsey with Jay S. Levy, who works for MHSA member agency Eliot Community Human Services as the Western and Central Massachusetts Regional Manager for the statewide SAMHSA-PATH Program. In the interview, Levy discusses the issues he explores in his recently published book Homeless Narratives & Pretreatment Pathways: From Words to Housing (Loving Healing Press, 2010). In the interview, Levy describes the stabilizing effects of housing and stresses the importance of housing as the solution to chronic homelessness. To read the interview, click here.
Click here to listen to an interview with Jay Levy on Blogging Authors. You can also read “Million Dollar Murray,” a Malcom Gladwell article Levy references in this interview, here.
Visit the Homeless Narratives & Pretreatment Pathways website here.
June 2009
Victory Programs and AIDS Housing Corporation Join Forces
Victory Programs, Massachusetts' leading residential substance use disorder treatment and transitional housing provider, and AIDS Housing Corporation (AHC), a nationally recognized leader in advocacy and technical assistance services addressing the housing needs of people living with HIV/AIDS and other disabilities announced today that they have merged. The Boards of Directors for both organizations unanimously approved this union. This merger will add AHC’s well known and respected housing related Technical Assistance services to Victory Programs’ suite of services.
Victory Programs and AHC have worked closely together over the past 18 years to advance their shared mission of bringing housing and supportive services to some of the most vulnerable people in our society.
Jonathan Scott will remain as Executive Director and President of Victory Programs. Joe Carleo will take on a new role within Victory Programs as the Director of Community Affairs. The organization will retain the name of Victory Programs.
Contacts:
Joe Carleo
617.927.0088 ext. 31
jcarleo@ahc.org
ON-GOING EVENTS
A Summer with Socrates by Parker Lloyd
Some people have no place to call home; others discover home is not a safe place. Christine Covington and the old man she meets in Reno - who calls himself Socrates - have both learned these lessons the hard way. A Summer with Socrates will delight readers with its twists, turns and surprises from the opening pages to its eloquent ending.
About the Author
Parker Lloyd lives in Cambridge. In writing A Summer with Socrates, the author traveled to Reno to research homelessness and the history of gold mining. There, Lloyd met a homeless person of great wisdom, who inspired the character of Socrates. For the novel, Parker Lloyd draws upon the years of growing up on a farm in Alabama and attending the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa.
A Summer with Socrates can be purchased on Amazon.com.
A Welcome Respite: Resident Runs Medical Facility for Homeless
The Brookline Tab featured a story on Dr. Monica Bharel, medical director at the Barbara McInnis House, an inpatient, respite care health clinic for the homeless run by MHSA member agency Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program. The article, and especially the accompanying slideshow, portray the negative impact that homelessness has on health outcomes.
Click here for the article by Jessica Scarpati.
Click here for the slideshow.
Give US Your Poor Inititative
The Give US Your Poor initiative and Appleseed Recordings have released an awareness-raising music CD: Give US Your Poor: 17 New Recordings to Help End Homelessness. There are a number of New England artists who have experienced homelessness who contributed recordings. More details at: http://www.appleseedrec.com/giveusyourpoor/
The CD is available at cost to your homeless organization to use as a fundraising tool for you: holiday gifts to donors, board members, volunteers, or to sell and keep the money it raises. It features terrific homeless and formerly homeless musicians along with Bruce Springsteen, Jon Bon Jovi, Natalie Merchant, Bonnie Raitt, Keb' Mo', Jewel, Sweet Honey in the Rock, Pete Seeger, Michelle Shocked, Madeleine Peyroux, Dan Zanes, John Sebastian, Buffalo Tom, tenor Mario Frangoulis, Sonya Kitchell, spoken word pieces by actors Tim Robbins and Danny Glover, and Mark Erelli, the winner of an international songwriting contest on homelessness. See a video link of recording session with Natalie Merchant: http://nataliemerchant.com/BuriedTreasure/guyp/
Download the order form for homeless organizations here.
