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Our Programs

Welcome to the Programs page, where you can learn more about our programmatic activities!

 

Freedom House’s Programs:

The Otto and Muriel Snowden Center for Civic Engagement and Action

Otto and Muriel Snowden were community activists dedicated to making the world a better place. The results of their efforts can be seen across the city, and in some instances, across the nation. With Freedom House’s history of involvement in civil rights, education, and public policy, we strive to ensure that the doors to the halls of power are to all, regardless of race, class, or gender.  The Center seeks to engage all in convening, advocacy and partnership efforts to identify, educate and ultimately to reduce educational disparities within low-income communities of color in Boston.  The Center stands as a shining symbol of the legacy of Freedom House founders, Otto and Muriel Snowden and it will build on the legacy of inclusion they established at Freedom House.  From the early days of the civil rights movement to the educational equity issues still prevalent today, Freedom House has brought together diverse groups to identify solutions and connect to policy leaders. 
 The Center will help people acquire the skills needed to build healthy social, economic and politically viable and engaged communities and to address today’s most pressing social issues by:

  • Becoming more involved in advocacy and organizing efforts;
  • Participating in information gathering in order  to assess the community impact of policy decisions and; 
  • Facilitating public dialogue by hosting forums, debates etc.

Our programs also help bridge the digital divide by providing academic support, technology education and access to computers for neighborhood residents through the Timothy Smith Technology Center.
(Introduction to basic computer skills.  For information on classes, please call (617) 445-3700 for information.)

Technology Programs

Given the central role computers play in everyday life, communities must get the most out of every opportunity and resource available for their residents. Whether it is free computing time, classes on computing basics or tools to strengthen and enhance skills, Freedom House is providing support to help people thrive in the information age.

Open Access Computer Lab

On any given day, dozens of our neighbors visit the Timothy Smith Computer Learning and Educational Center computer labs to look for jobs, find a recipe or catch up on current events. This is but one way we help communities stay connected to the world.

The computer labs are typically open from Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday from 10 am to 2 pm for adults and seniors and Saturdays from 9 am – 12:30 pm. There is no charge to use the lab, and it is open to the public.  While visiting the lab, we ask that you observe the lab policies. We are taking applications for basic computer, Microsoft word and email skills in English and in Spanish.

Technology classes

Freedom House provides basic computer classes in Spanish and English. If you would like to register or learn more about the programs, contact (617) 445-3700 as soon as possible. 

Freedom House REACH (Road to Educational Achievement) Institute

A quality education is essential to both an individual’s career aspirations and financial well-being, and a community’s overall health and vitality. Freedom House offers a high-quality educational programs which help students thrive, create, explore, challenge and grow!  The Reach Institute is the program platform to help students to develop the skills, strategies and support networks necessary to ensure that urban students graduate from high school, access higher education and graduate from college with 21st century skills which prepare them to contribute and succeed in a global economy.

The Freedom House REACH Institute is the program platform designed to help Boston students develop the skills, strategies and support networks necessary to ensure their successful completion of college.  Programs include Project Listen, a year long high school academic and leadership program; One Step Closer, a mentorship program to encourage completion of high school for at risk students and the Freedom House PUSH Initiative. 

Preparing Urban Students for Success in Higher Education

The Freedom House PUSH Success Boston Initiative ensures that participating Boston High School students have access to the best support network and resources that will ensure their successful graduation from 2- and 4-year colleges in Boston, contributing to the initiatives goal of doubling college graduation rates of Boston High School students by 2013.  The program serves 20+ Boston high school students each year and provides transition and continued college supports through 1) On-going Summer Institutes, 2) the development of high leverage peer and mentoring support networks, and 3) by providing timely “on” and “of” campus advising to remove historical barriers that prevent college success.  The collaborative effort provides Boston youth the PUSH they need to achieve a college degree.  The initiative is funded by the Boston Foundation.

PUSH Initiative Program Components

Freedom House is actively recruiting BPS students of the class of 2010 who will enter college in the fall into our Summer Institute – Through a series of workshops provided each summer, participants will receive coaching to improve and support their college writing, financial aid advising, enrollment assistance, self advocacy skills and efficacy training through specially programmed institutes facilitated by key leaders, education professionals and Freedom House Project REACH Alumni.  The workshops are designed to better prepare students for their college transition in the fall; and transitions each subsequent year until graduation.  The goal is to support a student’s preparation, successful arrival on campus, and ability to “thrive” in a college environment. 

Summer Institute – Through a series of Institutes (workshops) provided each summer, participants will receive coaching to improve and support their college writing, financial aid advising, enrollment assistance, self advocacy skills and efficacy training through specially programmed institutes facilitated by key leaders, education professionals and Freedom House Project REACH Alumni.  The Institutes are designed to better prepare students for their college transition in the fall; and transitions each subsequent year until graduation.  The goal is to support a student’s preparation, successful arrival on campus, and ability to “thrive” in a college environment.

College 101: How to Survive Freshman Year

An overview for students on how to navigate the college system and how to avoid many of the common problems freshmen often encounter (July 9th at Freedom House).

 

Paying for College:  An overview of the Financial Aid Process and strategies to get the most out of it.

Students will better understand the ABCs’ of financing a college education. This Financial Aid Workshop will offer one stop shopping for students and their parents detailing the required financial resources to attend college.    Students will learn about federal, state, institutional and private sources of aid as well as understand required annual processes and procedures. (July 16th at Freedom House)

 

Efficacy

A self development workshop to help students commit themselves to achieving Proficiency by year-end, this session will help students understand and apply Effective Effort to their task, while also learning to monitor data about their own performance to guide their learning strategies (Full day Saturday session- July 11th or 18th – Actual date & Location to be determined).

 

Writers Workshop:  Tips & Tools for improve your college writing

No matter what your writing skills are, students will be provided access to tools and strategies that will assist them in planning out college writing assignments (July 23rd and August 6th at Freedom House).

 

Time Management & Effective Study Skills

Students will be introduced to and engage in a "hands-on" review of study techniques that will assist them in getting the best grades possible. Topics include getting organized, note taking, test taking strategies and understanding when and how to get help (July 30th at Freedom House).

 

Managing Change – Transitioning from High School to College Life

Whether you live on-campus or off-campus the college transition will be exciting; and challenging for students and parents alike.  This session will help students and parents better understand the variety of issues that commuter students may face as they transition to college life while still living at home.  The workshop will include communication strategies for how to navigate relationships with parents, children, family members and friends (August 13th at Freedom House.)

Mentor Networking– Working with a strong network of Project REACH Alumni, participants are matched with a mentor who will work with them to assure their success in college.  Alumni will connect monthly with mentees, support their connection to networks that support their personal and professional growth, and serve as a resource address challenges when necessary.

“On” and “Off” Campus Advising – Through regular on campus office hours and periodic special programming at Freedom House, PUSH Participants will have access to advice, including financial aid, and other supports that help to ensure college success.  

PUSH Program application

 *For more information about the program, please contact Vonnessa Goode-Knight, vgoodeknight@freedomhouse.com at
(617) 318-1401 or call (617) 445-3700

Project Listen - High School Student Engagement

Project Listen is an out-of-school time academic, leadership, and civic engagement program for at-risk students from the Boston Public Schools.  Through the program, students develop the leadership, civic engagement, and creative skills necessary to create socially conscious arts and media that are intended to rally their peers to respond to issues affecting urban youth in Boston. 

Urban youth living in poverty often experience gaps in in-school and out-of-school learning and development, and thus face significant obstacles to developing the attributes and resiliency necessary to succeed academically, socially, emotionally, and professionally.  Project Listen targets students who are unlikely to have participated in traditional leadership development programs and yet have life experiences that suggest they would benefit most from such an opportunity.  For example, Project Listen students may be in foster care, court involved, homeless or on the verge of homelessness, or struggling significantly in school.  Yet, they have the desire to succeed and become agents of positive change in their schools and communities.  Freedom House believes our students often have the most to lose, but also the most to gain.

Project Listen Program Components Include:

  • Academic case management and tutoring support throughout the year.
  • A fall civic engagement and leadership development curriculum that builds students’ personal and advocacy skills as student leaders and youth organizers.
  • Artist residencies that strengthen students’ creative abilities and awareness of the arts as a tools for social change.
  • Development of a student-led campaign – traditionally related to school reform –winter and spring based on the skills gained through the fall curriculum.
  • Implementation of the campaign through the Community Awareness Project that is implemented during the Project Listen Summer Action and Leadership Intensive,
  • Production and presentation of the annual Creative Forum. The year’s Community Awareness Project culminates in a presentation to the community using socially conscious art and media.

The program operates from 3:00 – 6:00, Monday through Friday and 12:00 - 4:00 p.m. one Saturday per month.

The Project Listen Summer Action and Leadership Program
An intensive program which operates from 3:00 – 8:00 p.m. for seven weeks during the summer. During the summer intensive, students have paid positions as cultural organizers using both the creative and organizing skills gained during the academic year to create a production that deals with an issue affecting school reform. The community at large is invited to take part in a post show discussion and consider ways to advocate for change in the issue addressed by the creative forum.

Project Listen participants pursuing college are encouraged to transition into Freedom House’s PUSH College Success Program beginning their senior year in high school to help them access, get into, and succeed in college.

Project Listen Program Objectives

Outputs:

  • Students will participate in 15 out of school time program hours per week.
    • Students will homework help and tutoring five days per week.
    • Students will participate in civic engagement and leadership development training curriculum.
    • Students will develop a campaign that will be shared with the community through the Creative Forum presentation.

Participant Outcomes:
Short Term – 80 to 100% of students who regularly participate in Project Listen will:

  • Attain school attendance of 80% or higher.
  • Achieve and maintain a 2.5 GPA or higher.
  • Develop and implement the yearly community awareness project.
  • Create and execute a personal success plan.
  • Increase their awareness of and appreciation for civic engagement.

Long Term – 90% of students:

  • Be promoted to the next grade and/ or graduate from high school.
  • Remain actively involved in civic engagement opportunities in their schools and/or communities.

If you would like to learn more about the program, contact: Cathy Draine Program Manager, Project Listen at (617) 445-3700
or download a copy of our Project Listen application.

The Multi-Cultural Dropout Outreach Collaborative
and One Step Closer

Advocacy and Organizing - Education Reform and Community Engagement

The multi-cultural Dropout Outreach Collaborative (MDOC) is a working group formed to respond to the high dropout rate in the Boston Public Schools and the consequences this has on youth and families in our communities. The group is comprised of the following organizations: Freedom House Inc., The Boston chapter of the NAACP, HOPE, The Boston Campaign for Proficiency, the Young Cape Verdean Club, Inc., and Boston City Council Chuck Turner’s Office.  MDOC is one of the most influential entities in steering the reform and creation of new dropout prevention and recovery policies in the Boston Public School district.

MDOC’s mission is to Support Graduation for All Boston Public High School Students, with a special focus on ensuring the success of youth of color.  We achieve it by…

  • Mobilizing communities of color to support policies and practices that will accelerate and ensure graduation for all students in the Boston Public Schools;
  • Organizing caring adults to provide ongoing, culturally competent support to BPS students of color who are at risk for dropping out, or who have dropped out;
  • Developing powerful student, family, and organizational voices for change.

 

Our vision is that Boston’s multi-cultural and community-based agencies and leaders work in partnership with the Boston Public High Schools to…

  • Cut the BPS dropout rate by 50% in five years by recovering dropouts and helping them to find a pathway to school success, and by expanding effective dropout prevention strategies;
  • Increase public and private sector investments – both financial and practical – in dropout prevention and recovery for BPS students;
  • Enable students of color to believe in one’s capacity to learn, to speak out, and to succeed; and
  • Accelerate the movement of Boston’s communities toward a future in which all residents are well educated, securely employed, and civically engaged.

One Step Closer Mentoring Program

MDOC has also developed One Step Closer, a mentorship program for students at proven-risk, in partnership with Project Reconnect and the Youth Transition Task Force, staffed by The Boston Private Industry Council.  The collaborative effort will focus on increasing the organizational capacity to diversify and complete the circle of multi-racial and multi-cultural parent and community involvement in education advocacy, with a special emphasis on filling the gap in representation of the Black community. 

OUR HISTORY

 The multi-cultural Outreach Dropout Collaborative (MDOC) has partnered with Project Reconnect, the Youth Transitions Task Force, and The Boston Private Industry Council to create One Step Closer.  In March 2008, One Step Closer began as a pilot program, and offered support to our first cohort of nine male students.  These students were former high school dropouts who had reenrolled into a Boston Public School or GED program with the support of Project Reconnect.  Our goal was to ensure that they stayed in school after being reenrolled.   At the end of the first year of work, one student had graduated from high school, another had completed his GED, and 100% of the One Step Closer youth were pursuing further education at either the high school or post-secondary level.

 

OUR MISSION

 
The mission of this mentorship programis to support young men and women, who have dropped out of school or who are at high risk of dropping out in becoming successful adults with a life plan.  We feel that the chances of success for a young person will be enhanced by pairing him or her with a caring adult from their community who has encountered similar experiences. 

One Step Closer’s vision models that of MDOC and other partners, to see the high dropout rate eliminated and to ensure that the Boston Public School system truly supports young people graduating from high school to pursue post secondary education and a viable career.

 Our overarching goal for the program is to work with a new cohort of students each year and to initiate relationships for youth through mentoring with adults that will last a lifetime.

We seek the volunteer involvement of people who share our vision!

If you would like to learn more about the program, contact:
Charmaine Arthur-Neverson, Program Manager, multi-cultural Dropout Outreach Collaborative (MDOC) at 617 445-3700
or download a copy of our One Step Closer Mentor application.

Affiliated Initiatives

The Goldernaires of Freedom House

For over thirty years, the Roxbury Goldenaires have given seniors a place to stay active serving in their community and socializing among their peers.  The group is involved in a number of community service programs, including singing at nursing homes and donating gift baskets during holiday seasons.  Members of the Goldenaires meet regularly to discuss ways in which they can be involved in the community, and produce a monthly newsletter to spread the word about their efforts.  Each year the Goldenaires host their Spring Fling, an annual gala and fundraising event celebrating the year’s accomplishments and honoring community involvement.
Some of the other activities they are involved include:

  • Tai Chi
  • Arts and Crafts
  • Line Dancing
  • Social Outings

Boston’s Leadership Pipeline: the Project REACH Alumni

In celebration of the 20th Anniversary of the launch of Project REACH, an initiative was launched to allow Freedom House to connect with graduates of the Freedom House program to engage an untapped pool of professionals to secure a diverse leadership pipeline for Boston’s future. In the late 1980s, Boston’s youth murder rate was out of control, gun violence was on the rise, and the city’s neighborhoods were hostage to a vicious cycle of violence and hopelessness.  As a powerful counter to that reality, Muriel Snowden, Founder of Freedom House, Inc. along with local philanthropist, Aulikki Olsen of the Stratford Foundation, had a vision – a program that would empower the young people of Boston to create a long-lasting, positive change in their communities.  To that end, Snowden convened a group of community and educational leaders and their charge was simple: create a program that would allow young people of color from Boston to attend and graduate from college, achieve their personal goals and foster in them the desire to utilize their knowledge to positively impact their communities and the lives of others.  The result of long hours of planning and discussion was Project REACH (Road to Educational Achievement).

With the establishment of the Project REACH Oversight Committee in 1987, and the first class of Project REACH Scholars inducted in the summer of 1988, the REACH model spanned eight years. It provided each REACH Class of 50 “scholars” with four years of academic, financial and personal support. This was offered in conjunction with a leadership development and community service curriculum that emphasized the importance of self-confidence, effective effort, hard work and the value and importance of “giving back” for the betterment of the community. 

Now, because of the many resources that Project REACH provided to over 350 African American, Latino and Asian youth between 1988 and 1995, Muriel Snowden’s vision of a “cadre of highly developed and educated people of color, committed to service and actively engaged in the civic life of their communities” is taking shape.  Today, Project REACH Alumni are engaged and contributing at high levels in the city of Boston.  Among Project REACH Alumni are lawyers, obstetricians, teachers, engineers, community activists, and socially responsible entrepreneurs who are engaged in civic life and represent the next generation of leadership in the city of Boston. There are five Project Reach alumni/ae on the Freedom House Board of Directors.

Key Partners

Freedom House partners with a number of organizations to enhance service delivery, offer educational and training opportunities, and create strategic connections.  Some of these partnerships include:

Freedom House partners with the organizations below in High School Renewal effort within Boston Pubic Schools.

 

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