September 21, 2021 || ISSUE 3 |
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IN THIS ISSUE
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MESSAGE FROM THE CEO
WELCOME NEW HILDEBRAND STAFF
MEET A BOARD MEMBER
BACK TO SCHOOL 2021
FY21 ACCOMPLISHMENTS
SUMMER FUN!
THANK YOU, EDUCATION INTERNS
ANOTHER FAMILY MOVES INTO THEIR PERMANENT HOME
DONOR SPOTLIGHT
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Message from the CEO
Shiela Y. Moore
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September is here already. Children are back to school; families are settling back into their daily fall routines; and traffic is terrible again. Hildebrand families are also settling into their routines and must get their children off to school as well. They too need back-to-school clothes and supplies; whether they are in one of our emergency shelter or permanent housing units, we help with the transition back to school. Hildebrand serves almost 1,000 individuals every year – most are young children. Every school-age child will have the supplies, backpacks, and the new staple, masks, that they need to get off to a good start. We started a Student Success Education Initiative during the pandemic; the program, at first, focused on ensuring students had the tools needed for remote and hybrid learning. As the program evolved and developed, the Student Success Education Initiative advocated within school systems for all of the children’s needs such as IEP testing, monitoring attendance, and addressing barriers to learning.
I’m proud to share an overview of Hildebrand’s FY21 impact in this newsletter. Our dedicated staff are committed to the vision, every family has a home, yet we do so much more in the pursuit of ending family homelessness. We will soon open additional units of emergency shelter for Boston families impacted by the eviction moratorium; expand our portfolio of permanent housing; and develop a strategic plan for the next three years. So FY22 will be another year of growth and expansion. Thank you for being part of this journey. I look forward to updating you on our progress.
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Welcome New Hildebrand Staff |
We are excited to announce a few new additions to the Hildebrand staff including, Case Manager, Amy Ocana. Amy was previously a Hildebrand intern and we are so lucky to have her as a full-time employee.
Additionally, we welcome, David Mijares-Munoz, our newest Facilities Technician, and Residential Assistant, Marie Cornet, who will be working with our families in congregate shelter.
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Meet a Board Member: Michelle Meiser |
Michelle Meiser is a Senior Community Partnerships & Development Specialist at Cambridge Trust, where her focus is loan origination for low- and moderate-income first-time homebuyers and supporting CRA activity within the bank’s assessment area. Michelle brings 25 years of experience in the affordable housing, community development, and asset building fields with extensive program management and counseling experience. Before joining Cambridge Trust’s Community Partnerships & Development team, she worked at Allston Brighton Community Development Corporation where she led the organization’s homeownership and asset building initiatives, and provided oversight of their resident services and community engagement activities. In addition to serving on the board of Hildebrand, she also serves on the boards of the Massachusetts Community & Banking Council, and Financial Education Associates. She received her BA from Wheaton College, her MS at Northeastern University, and was an early graduate of Boston University’s Institute for Nonprofit Leadership and Management. |
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Students are back in school! It was an exciting time at Hildebrand getting all the supplies that our young learners need: backpacks; notebooks; art supplies; etc. There are 200 school-age children currently in shelter at Hildebrand and we want to be sure that each and every student is prepared and ready to thrive in their classrooms. Hildebrand relies on the generosity of donors and community partners to provide the educational resources and supplies for our students – a special shoutout to Liam and Scott Hannon of Liam’s Love; Cambridge Savings Bank; and Cradles to Crayons. |
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Summer is the time for fun! Even with this summer’s strange (wet) weather and issues with the pandemic, the children in Hildebrand’s shelters and programs enjoyed free activities and trips. Some went to summer camp, and many participated in group activities. This year, Hildebrand staff put together a camp enrollment team to help families find age-appropriate opportunities for summer fun and help with applications. Also, there was a push to get children involved with free school-based programs for the summer, and children too young for camp to get into daycare programs. One of Hildebrand’s interns identified free kid-friendly activities in all of Greater Boston for the families to enjoy! Hildebrand provided 50 tickets to the New England Aquarium as well as 75 activity bags to encourage play and learning. |
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Thank you to our Education Interns!
A very special thank you to the Education Interns who made the first year of Hildebrand’s Student Success Education Initiative so engaging for the school-age children and their families in shelter at Hildebrand. In the initial cohort of interns, there were four students from Lasell University and one MSW student each from Boston College and Widener University. With direction and oversight by Education Consultant Nadia Chamblin-Foster, the Education Interns collected student profiles; established relationships with Boston, Everett, and Cambridge Public Schools; and helped with tutoring and academic support. For the summer, Hildebrand had seven interns: six from Colgate University and one from Lesley University. (The intern from Lesley has already been hired as a full-time bilingual case manager!) The summer Education Interns focused on many projects including vaccination tracking and HIPAA research; summer camp enrollment; student profile collection; post-secondary opportunities outreach; a best-practices manual for case management; partnerships with new online tutoring and mentoring programs; and resource materials for families, including food security resources. For the 2021-2022 school year, the new cohort of Education Interns includes two students from Boston University, two from Boston College, and one from Lesley University. The Education Interns are vital to the ongoing success and impact of the Student Success Education Initiative and bring such enthusiasm, energy, and dedication to the new program! It is delightful to work with them, and all of us at Hildebrand are very grateful for their commitment.
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Another Family Moves into their Permanent Home |
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We are so excited to share that yet another family that was in shelter with Hildebrand, at one of the congregate shelters in Cambridge, has gotten their Massachusetts Rental Voucher Program (MRVP) voucher and moved into their permanent home! And – more wonderful news for Hildebrand – the apartment they moved into is owned by Hildebrand. The family will now work with Hildebrand’s Stabilization Services team for the next two years to help them maintain their housing stability. The family has three sons who attend schools in Cambridge so by finding a permanent apartment in Cambridge, the children can continue their educations without the stress and interruption of re-locating. Many thanks to the Cambridge Public Schools for helping this to happen also. The father was so happy that he literally jumped for joy! Congrats to the Hildebrand team that worked so hard to make this happen! |
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Donor Spotlight: Sam Ennis
Sam Ennis and his partner live in The Port in Cambridge, near Hildebrand’s permanent housing building on Pine Street. He enjoys hearing the families talking with each other and the children playing around the neighborhood – he appreciates the diversity that these families bring to the community – and because he believes in social justice and equity, he decided to connect with Hildebrand. Sam has become one of Hildebrand’s leadership donors! He’s lived in The Port for four years and is a software programmer at a government software company with connections to Cambridge and Rhode Island. Sam is passionate about the lack of affordable housing in Cambridge and follows real estate development projects in the area through City Council meetings and A Better Cambridge. He struggles with how families can be without homes in a community with so many resources and so, decided to support Hildebrand’s vision of every family has a home – because that’s his vision too. Sam and his partner make their donations to Hildebrand in memory of Sam’s father who was a professor at Tufts, and we are proud to honor his generosity through this meaningful legacy for his father.
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