Last week District Attorney Kevin Hayden announced the distribution of $60,000 in grants to Suffolk County nonprofit organizations dedicated to promoting the health and safety of the county’s residents.
Two nonprofits doing work in Eastie and beyond were among the 13 nonprofits to receive grants between $2,500 and $5,000 through Hayden’s Community Reinvestment Grant (CRG).
“Throughout my career as a prosecutor and a defense attorney, I’ve witnessed young people with promise veer onto dangerous paths due to lack of opportunity and guidance,” said Hayden. “We fail these children when our intervention starts in a courtroom. We achieve a more just and equitable legal system when we help communities provide interventions, services and opportunities necessary for youth to succeed. We can accomplish far more together than we can alone.”
Action for Boston Community Development (ABCD), an agency Hayden said has been helping improve the lives of 100,000 low-income individuals across Greater Boston each year through comprehensive services, will be one of this year’s grant recipients.
Each summer ABCD’s satellite office, APAC, on Meridian Street helps find summer job employment for teens.
Through funding from the CRG grant ABCD and APAC will help provide stipends for youth participating in the nonprofit’s WorkSMART work readiness and mentorship program.
Over at Community Action Programs Inter-City, Inc. (CAPIC), an agency that has identified and addressed the needs and concerns of individuals and families in Eastie since 1967, CRG grant money will continue to help CAPIC’s mission to empower residents to achieve and maintain self-sufficiency. CRG funding will also support CAPIC’s partnership with the Revere Police Activities League (PAL) Summer Youth Academy for young adults in the region.
The grant program draws from cash and assets seized from drug traffickers to support organizations preventing youth violence or providing substance use prevention or treatment in Boston, Revere, Winthrop and Chelsea. State auditors have repeatedly praised the Suffolk County process for turning “the profits of crime into something positive for the community,” while carefully documenting all forfeiture-related income and expenditures.
“I look forward to visiting each of these partners over the coming weeks to thank them for their invaluable work on behalf of our communities,” said Hayden. “Public safety relies on equity, opportunity, engagement and tireless dedication to our youth. Each of these organizations – as well as so many other vital community agencies and nonprofits – have life changing impacts on our young people and the communities we serve.”
meridian house celebrates 50th anniversary
On Tuesday at the Cottage Park Yacht Club the Meridian House staff, as well as past and current residents, supporters and special guests, celebrated 50 years as the first and oldest residential addiction treatment program in Boston.
During the event Meridian House honored staff members and aired a 50th anniversary video. Guests also heard from alumni speakers that talked about how the Meridian House changed their lives.
Rep. Adrian Madaro, Chair of Substance Abuse and Mental Health, was the evening’s keynote speaker and talked about the impact the Meridian House has had in the community for the past five decades.
The celebration was also used as a platform to launch the inaugural John Meaney Award and present the award to Meaney himself.
Meaney, a former Meridian House resident, is 36 years in recovery. Since Meaney graduated from the program in 1986 he has been a consistent support for the Meridian House and its residents. Every year on his anniversary of getting sober he brings residents pizza and tells his story.
Over the course of the past five decades, Meridian House, working through North Suffolk Mental Health Association, has helped hundreds and hundreds of people find their way to recovery since its inception in the fall of 1971.