symphony of a City






	Here are some ways to get involved:



		Fair Housing Center of Greater Boston does regular volunteer training for people interested in helping to end housing discrimination in greater Boston. Visit their website or call 617-988-0620 to find out ways to volunteer. To speak to deputy director Ginny Hamilton-Ashe, call 617- 988- 0621. www.boston.fairhousing.com

		Action for Boston Community Development (ABCD) is an organization devoted to promoting self-help for people and neighborhoods. ABCD offers numerous ways to help Boston's homeless families and promote better housing service. ABCD Housing Services staff specializes in all aspects of housing search and counseling. The staff concentrates on immigration law and includes people who speak Spanish, French, Haitian Creole, Vietnamese, Chinese, Italian, American Sign Language, and they have plans to add more. Housing Services also publishes a weekly directory listing apartment vacancies throughout Massachusetts. They have also developed a free booklet explaining tenant-landlord rights and responsibilities; and holds weekly workshops on housing issues open to all members of the community. Particular programs at ABCD include SAFE (Safety and Advocacy for Families in Emergency and TIL (Transition to Independent Living), which provides housing search and placement or eviction prevention for women or families who need help due to domestic violence. Funding provides for critical needs including rental assistance for start-up, arrearage, moving expenses or whatever assistance is needed. Also the Rental Assistance Program (RAP) helps low-income tenants and homeless non-welfare families to obtain or maintain permanent housing by providing rental assistance cash payments for start-up or average costs. This program provides that critical deposit needed to secure an apartment and prevents tenants from becoming homeless upon missing rent. The program is funded through the state's Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) with Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funds. Find out more at www.bostonabcd.org/programs/crisis-housing.htm or cal 617- 357- 6000 to get involved. Or simply help Boston's homeless families by making a donation by mail, 178 Tremont Street, Boston, Ma. 02111 or on-line at homeless@boston.abcd.org

		Shelters and Soup kitchens in Boston at which to volunteer or donate: Boston Living Center (for people with HIV): (617)236-0212 Boston Rescue Mission: 39 Kingston St., (617)481-8819 Bridge Over Troubled Waters (for adolescents): 47 West St., (617)423-9575 Friday Night Supper Program: (617)536-7057

		Groups involved in Boston tenant organizing include: City Life/Vida Urbana in Jamaica Plain: (617)527-3541 JP Neighborhood Development Corp: (617)522-2424 Fenway Community Development Corp: (617)267-4637 Allston Brighton CDC: (617)787-3874 Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative in Roxbury/Dorchester: (617)442-9670

		Habitat for Humanity is a Christian-based housing ministry seeking to alleviate the shortage of quality affordable housing in urban areas. Due to the immense need for fundraising, planning, management, etc, Habitat is always looking for volunteers. One does not need to be a specialist to join in, and it only takes 10-15 hours per month to be a part of a committee. Below are some examples of ways to help out. To join a committee Habitat invites you to submit an online volunteer application form at www.habitatboston.org/volunteer_application.php3 There are a variety of distinct causes to which you can donate your time and energy. For example: The Construction Committee is responsible for the construction of homes that Habitat for Humanity Boston builds to ensure more houses are affordable, functional and safe. The committee allows families with low incomes to own and support their own homes. Committee meets the second Tuesday of each month at Christ's Church, Harvard Square, Zero Church Street. To contact Chairmen and find out more information on these committees and others, go to www.habitatboston.org/committees.html To call Habitat for Humanity Boston, dial (617)524-8891.




		Teen Empowerment is an organization devoted to the deeper recognition and development of urban youth. Currently looking to provide more academic support to Boston teens and youth organizers, Teen Empowerment needs volunteers for tutoring. Responsibilities include working with education coordinator Miriam Price-Eubanks to tutor youth organizers in specific subject areas, 1-3 hours per week after school. If you are interested call Miriam at 617- 536- 4266, ext. 309, or email her at education@teenempowerment.org To find out more about Teen Empowerment, go to www.teenempowerment.org/getinvolved.html

		Boston Cares is a non-profit organization devoted to making volunteering more accessible. Individual projects that need volunteers include: The Log School Settlement House Boston Cares volunteers spend time with kids from the Bowdoin Street neighborhood in Dorchester while their parents attend English as a Second Language classes. Volunteers read with the kids, help them with their homework, play educational games and just have fun. Community Servings Community Servings delivers meals citywide to people and families homebound with AIDS. Each week, Boston Cares packages 500+ nutritious meals to be delivered the following morning to people's homes. New England Shelter for Homeless Veterans Boston Cares volunteers serve meals every Thursday night at this downtown shelter. Goddard House On Saturday mornings at Goddard House volunteers read to seniors, play games, spend the time in conversation and provide companionship. Gaining Ground Gaining Ground, a non-profit organic garden, produces vegetables for soup kitchens, shelters, and meal programs. Boston Cares volunteers plant, weed, and harvest the crops throughout the Spring, Summer and Fall. To find out more about these projects and more, visit Boston Care's Web site or call the Director of the Volunteer Community Program, Meredith Kniffen, at 617- 563- 4441. Membership is free to both volunteers and non-profit partners. To become a Boston Cares member and begin receiving the monthly project calendar, you must first complete a brief, one-time orientation, either in-person or by mail. In-person orientation takes only one hour and it takes place three times a month after work hours at Boston Cares Headquarters on 15 Congress St. To get directions and sign up, call 617- 263- CARE (2273). To conduct a mail-in orientation, send a business-size envelope, self-addressed to: Boston Cares, c/o Orientation, PMB 200, 167 Milk St., Boston, Ma 02109, and receive an orientation kit with an application form and all the information you need. Once completed, send all documents back to our headquarters. www.bostoncares.org

		Community Change Inc. (CCI) is a non-profit organization with particular focus on systematic racism and generating collaboration between individuals and multi-racial groups for sake of social change. The Special Librarian Yvonne Pappenheim Library is facilitating two workshops at the center's library in collaboration with Cambridge Center for Adult Education. One is a reading circle called the Heritage Reading Circle. The readings focus on life histories/memoirs of people from different cultures who are now citizens of the US and take place every other Thursday from 5:30-7:30. CCI also is also holding an Antiracism Discussion series and there is a workshop taking place on May 5th and 6th called, "Black Women's Lives: Reading and Writing About Ourselves." Visit CCI's Web site for more information www.communitychange.org

		The Cambridge Center for Adult Education is a non-profit organization that has offered quality education for adults for 60 years in Harvard Square. Community-based, the center's goal is to create an inclusive environment for educational and cultural discussion among a diverse group of people. The center especially encourages people of color to be a part of the programs. The center coordinates a diversity initiative called Diaspora Programs on Community, Culture and Diversity. For information on how to get involved call the center at (617)547-6789.

		The Center for Community Health, Education & Research, Inc. (CCHER) is a Boston based health and social services agency serving the city's large immigrant Haitian community. Established in 1987, CCHER continues its mission to provide social services and education to meet the changing health needs of Boston's Haitian community. Besides this primary mission, however, CCHER also has a public health interest in looking at health issues affecting other ethnic groups. For more information, email CCHER at education@ccher.org, or call them at (617)265-0628, ext. 221.

		Register online to take part in a national conference on race and new media technologies called "Race and Digital Space." Guests and speakers will include artists, activists, entrepreneurs, journalists, policy-makers, students, and scholars. All conference sessions will be held in Building E-51 on the MIT campus in Cambridge, MA. Admission to all conference events is free and open to the public. Register now at http://cms.mit.edu/race/about.html




		United for a Fair Economy was founded as a "movement support" organization to provide media capacity, face-to-face economic literacy education, and training resources to organizations and individuals who work to address the widening income and asset gap in our country. Their work is grounded in the belief that our country would be a far more democratic, prosperous, and caring community if we narrowed the vast gap between the very wealthy and everyone else. Their constituency is broad and deep and includes both those directly hurt by economic disparity and those who benefit from it. There are many actions, educational events and ways to be involved with UFE. Check out their website at www.ufenet.org



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