Renovating a key church in inner city Boston

Bostonians have heard in frequent headlines about the wave of violence that has surged through the city in recent years. In any given year, there have been nearly 150 shootings and 50 homicides, and in a single day recently, there were three separate incidents within hours and blocks of each other.

In these challenging circumstances, some figures stand out as sensible voices uniting Boston in confronting the problem and for doing work in the community to bring about change. Among the most notable is Reverend Hurmon Hamilton. For the last thirteen years, Rev. Hamilton has been the pastor at the Roxbury Presbyterian Church. Roxbury is the neighborhood hardest hit by this violence, close to the geographic center of Boston. The church happens to be right in the middle of two of the ‘hot spots’ of violence, a point tragically demonstrated in the untimely murder of the teenaged daughter of a church staff member.

From the beginning of his tenure at RPC, Rev. Hamilton has focused on building up social service programs in the neighborhood. These programs – such as after-school programs and outreach to teens – have aimed to help individuals, and heal families and the Roxbury community as a whole. The need is real, and the church’s willingness to help was firm.

The church’s physical plant, on the other hand, was severely limiting the capacity of the programs. So the church began to plan for capital improvements to allow its programs to grow. Unfortunately, the historic structure held some unpleasant surprises for their initial plans, as serious structural issues emerged that would add additional costs.

Joining some existing supporters of RPC (most notably, the Executive Director of Trinity Boston Foundation, Louise Packard), SixSeeds helped lead a citywide effort that raised the necessary funds. As a result, RPC now operates out of a renovated building that includes a Social Impact Center. The Center runs a number of vital programs for the Roxbury community:

• An after-school program, licensed for up to 50 high-risk students.
• A teen alternative program, designed to give teenagers constructive alternatives for the vulnerable time between 1:00 p.m. and 6:00 p.m. each day.
• A computer technology center–fully funded to remain on the cutting edge for at least 12 years–that will provide job training and skills development coordinated with a variety of other community programs.
• A virtual counseling center to provide access to licensed therapists for individuals and families.
• Two additional programs are planned: one that specifically helps parents and teenagers together; and another that aims to help the 200 ex-offenders who re-enter the Boston community each month.

If you desire to serve a troubled community, be wary of funding efforts that reinvent the wheel. Often times, the best respondents are already on the field and may have been operating there for decades. These institutions may have a great deal of stored knowledge but need reinvestment in their infrastructure to make better use of their experience. Consider contributing to – and maybe even helping to lead – that underlying investment.