Mayor Martin J. Walsh today presented 12 community-based organizations with $400,000 in community benefits money for workforce development initiatives for Roxbury residents. The recipient organizations will provide such services as job training, internship placement, career mentoring, and ESOL instruction.
“All of these organizations make a difference in somebody’s life,” Mayor Walsh said. “It’s about creating opportunities for people to get jobs.”
The community benefits money was generated by the development of the Melnea Hotel project at Melnea Cass Boulevard and Washington Street, just over a mile from the check presentation ceremony at Sociedad Latina.
“It’s really wonderful to have our development dollars come back to the city and our work with young people,” said Alexandra Oliver-Davila, executive director of Sociedad Latina, which is using its community benefits funds to support 125 local youth with work readiness training, academic support, project-based learning, and internship placements.
In addition to contributing community benefits funds, the Melnea Hotel project will bring new jobs to the area. Christine Thomas of Colwen Hotels, which will manage the hotel, called Roxbury “our home and the home of our future employees.”
BPDA Director Brian Golden noted that the BPDA has been working to address the city’s need for jobs and affordable housing.
“That’s what these buildings do,” he said. “They play a profound role in the larger community.”
Since 2015, the Boston Planning & Development Agency (BPDA) has released community benefits funds via an open grant application process. In their applications, organizations must show how the funds will be used to directly serve the immediate neighborhood and make a measurable impact. So far, the open community benefits process has been used in South Boston, Allston/Brighton, and Fenway.
Golden lauded the community-based organizations in these neighborhoods and in Roxbury as “the beating heart of a neighborhood, the life-blood.”
See the table below for a complete list of organizations that received Roxbury community benefits.
| Organization | Amount | Funded Project |
|---|---|---|
| BEST Hospitality Training Center | $75,000 | Job training in hospitality |
| Boston Jobs Coalition | $30,000 | Campaign to promote job targets set by the Roxbury Strategic Master Plan Oversight Committee |
| Boys & Girls Clubs of Boston | $20,000 | Goal-setting initiative for teens in their lives after Boys & Girls Club |
| Building Pathways | $60,000 | Pre-apprenticeship training in the building trades |
| MissionSAFE | $24,000 | Paid internships, career exploration and job readiness training for high- and proven-risk young people |
| Mothers for Justice and Equality | $25,000 | Workforce readiness training |
| Smarter in the City | $15,000 | Technology, resources and education for minority-run startups |
| Sociedad Latina | $45,000 | Stipends and skills training for teens placed in internships |
| Somali Development Center | $26,000 | ESOL, citizenship education, and job search assistance for African-American immigrants |
| The Possible Project | $20,000 | Supplementation of teacher salaries and program expenses at Madison Park Technical Vocational High School |
| Urban League of Eastern Massachusetts | $20,000 | Training in job readiness, digital, and other employment skills |
| YouthBuild Boston | $40,000 | Building trades exploration program |