BPI's Strong & Healthy Families activities are, in part, led by DSNI's Sustainable Development Committee and other Promise Partners, such as Project Hope and the Family Independence Initiative. The initiative launched within this team is designed to connect with each and every aspect of Promise Initiative. The Strong & Healthy Families team will be responsible for engaging Dudley Village families in economic development, financial literacy, economic empowerment, and housing support. The Committee meets the fourth (4th) Thursday of every month, 6:00pm at DSNI.
This committee facilitates the Development Processes based on a resident-developed comprehensive plan created in 1987 (called the DAC Plan), which set the criteria for all development in the Dudley Triangle, an urban land trust centrally located within the Dudley Village Campus.
CURRENT PROGRAMS
FAIR CHANCE
Fair Chance for Family Success is a Boston Promise Initiative funded partnership with Family Independence Initiative, neighborhood groups, and local families to support families as they set and achieve their goals for family success, including improving their economic well-being. DSNI is hiring a group of neighborhood residents to conduct outreach in the neighborhood and engage at least 200 families in the first year of the initiative.
Residents who partner with DSNI to form groups and set goals will receive cash incentives of up to $2,000 per year as well as a free laptop computer. Residents will also be able to access the Fair Chance Resource Bank that connects them to opportunities for matched savings programs, scholarships and other benefits.
The Fair Chance for Families initiative addresses direct concerns from residents who were part of focus groups that discussed and highlighted some of the economic challenges we face in our neighborhoods.
If you live in the Dudley neighborhood and would like to be part of the Fair Chance Initiative please feel free to reach out to lcolon@dsni.org or jbarros@dsni.org.
NO CHILD GOES HOMELESS
No Child Goes Homeless Campaign is a partnership between Project Hope and the DSNI that creates a strong network of neighborhood partners, institutions, schools, and city agencies to provide crisis intervention, resources, and organizing support to ensure that no child in the Dudley Village Campus goes homeless. The schools that DSNI and Project Hope are partnering with are Orchard Gardens K-8 Pilot School, Dearborn Middle School, Burke High School, and Dudley Street Neighborhood Charter School.
Program Goals:
- Gather data and complete housing resource and needs assessment for all families in the Dudley Village Campus
- Reduce level of evictions in Dudley neighborhood by scaling up successful eviction prevention efforts
- Partner with Schools to make them active partners in foreclosure and eviction prevention efforts
- Implement Anti-Foreclosure organizing and use of community land trust to purchase foreclosed properties
- Increase protection of current housing stock affordability and advocate for new affordable housing.
For more information contact: Harry Smith at hsmith@dsni.org.
