MissionWorks

CONTACT:

39 Smith Street
Roxbury, MA 02120
(617) 879-1620
missionworks.org

Leonard Lee, Executive Director

DESCRIPTION:

MissionWorks is an older public housing development in Boston's Mission Hill neighborhood. Once the most distressed development in the Boston Housing Authority's portfolio, it is being rebuilt under a 1993 grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

MissionWorks was founded in 1999 to assist families in gaining greater self-sufficiency through education, job preparation, computer training and career opportunities. It reaches out to residents who are isolated from the community by culture, language or literacy barriers, and tries to engage them in the larger community by helping them both to sustain employment and to gain education and training for promotion.

Currently over 260 of its residents receiving case management are employed, 99% of whom have been employed for six months or more. In addition, nearly $3 million in non-public housing funds has been successfully leveraged for the direct benefit of its residents. Collaborating with other groups, MissionWorks has provided: GED, ESOL, computer skills, and job readiness training to almost 300 adults; computer skills, academic support, and leadership courses to 178 youth; and job placement of 368 Mission tenants and others. These are impressive results that can only increase with your support.

(2001: HUMAN SERVICES: Well-Being)