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Yawkey Foundation Donates $1.5M to Father Bill’s & MainSpring for New Brockton Shelter Leading gift for construction of Housing Resource Center and Permanent Supportive Housing [October 9, 2024] Father Bill’s & MainSpring (FBMS) has announced that it has been awarded a $1.5 million donation from the Yawkey Foundation in support of the new housing resource center in Brockton. Located at 124 Manley Street, the facility will meet the needs of individuals FBMS serves in Brockton by preventing or diverting individuals from becoming homeless. The new facility will replace FBMS’s existing shelter, MainSpring House, in downtown Brockton. The donation represents the largest gift to date for the capital campaign for this $20 million project. Scheduled to open in early 2025, the new facility will feature a 16,500-square-foot Housing Resource Center (HRC) offering daily programming and short-term housing assistance for individuals. The HRC will include a commercial kitchen and dining space, showers, laundry services, lockers, and two dormitories with 128 shelter beds, with capacity for additional beds as needed. “We are so grateful to the Trustees of the Yawkey Foundation for continuing to step up to create more opportunity and equity in our underserved communities,” said John Yazwinski, FBMS President & CEO. “This generous gift to our innovative approach to preventing and ending homelessness in Greater Brockton will make a difference in countless lives.” In addition to the HRC, the facility provides an adjacent 15,000-square-foot permanent supportive housing building with 32 individual units for residents who are long-term shelter residents, often needing extended financial and support services to overcome homelessness. In recognition of the Trustees’ longstanding support of FBMS and Tom Yawkey and Jean Yawkey’s legacy of commitment to providing resources to vulnerable and underserved individuals and families, the permanent supportive housing facility will be named “Yawkey Hall.” “Supporting the residents at Father Bill’s & Mainspring in Brockton would have deeply resonated with Tom Yawkey and Jean Yawkey, because they cared deeply about helping vulnerable individuals gain basic needs and self-sufficiency,” said Maureen H. Bleday, Chief Executive Officer and Trustee of the Yawkey Foundation. “Knowing what a difference this safe, dignified, and beautiful permanent housing will make to so many people, the Trustees are honored that it will bear the name Yawkey Hall.” The HRC is designed to address several major social determinants of health: housing, nutrition, and income. By offering comprehensive, collaborative services in one location, FBMS aims to reduce reliance on emergency shelters and other public services, while providing sustainable solutions for individuals experiencing homelessness. This model of comprehensive services in a single location was first implemented with the development of the Yawkey Housing Resource Center in Quincy, MA, which opened last fall. The Yawkey Foundation's lead gift played a critical role in the success of that project. The Quincy facility includes a day center, emergency shelter, and 30 efficiency apartments, providing wraparound support, re-housing services, and co-located resources. These services are designed to reduce reliance on emergency shelters for individuals experiencing a housing crisis, a mission that will continue at the new center in Brockton. For more information, including renderings and additional details, visit pathhome.helpfbms.org. About Father Bill’s & MainSpring Father Bill’s & MainSpring (FBMS) is the leading provider of services to prevent and end homelessness in Southern Massachusetts. The agency, founded in the early 1980s by a group of interfaith and community leaders, helps more than 5,000 people annually who are experiencing, or at risk of, homelessness. FBMS, a proud partner of the United Way of Greater Plymouth County and the United Way of Massachusetts Bay and Merrimack Valley, is a 501(c)(3) non-profit agency with administrative offices in Quincy and Brockton and program offices throughout Southern Massachusetts. For more information, visit www.helpfbms.org. About the Yawkey Foundation The Yawkey Foundation is dedicated to perpetuating the philanthropic legacy of Tom Yawkey and Jean Yawkey, whose eight decades of quiet generosity supported individuals and families in the communities that were closest to their hearts – Massachusetts and Georgetown County, South Carolina. Having awarded more than $575 million to date in charitable grants to organizations focused on health care, education, human services, youth and amateur athletics, arts and culture, and conservation and wildlife, the Yawkey Foundation is committed to preserving and sustaining the Yawkeys’ charitable values by investing in nonprofits that provide resources, opportunity, and dignity to the vulnerable and underserved. For more information and the latest announcements, please visit the Foundation’s website, www.yawkeyfoundation.org.
Yawkey Foundation Donates $1.5M to Father Bill’s & MainSpring for New Brockton Shelter Leading gift for construction of Housing Resource Center and Permanent Supportive Housing [October 9, 2024]
Father Bill’s & MainSpring (FBMS) has announced that it has been awarded a $1.5 million donation from the Yawkey Foundation in support of the new housing resource center in Brockton. Located at 124 Manley Street, the facility will meet the needs of individuals FBMS serves in Brockton by preventing or diverting individuals from becoming homeless. The new facility will replace FBMS’s existing shelter, MainSpring House, in downtown Brockton.
The donation represents the largest gift to date for the capital campaign for this $20 million project. Scheduled to open in early 2025, the new facility will feature a 16,500-square-foot Housing Resource Center (HRC) offering daily programming and short-term housing assistance for individuals. The HRC will include a commercial kitchen and dining space, showers, laundry services, lockers, and two dormitories with 128 shelter beds, with capacity for additional beds as needed.
“We are so grateful to the Trustees of the Yawkey Foundation for continuing to step up to create more opportunity and equity in our underserved communities,” said John Yazwinski, FBMS President & CEO. “This generous gift to our innovative approach to preventing and ending homelessness in Greater Brockton will make a difference in countless lives.” In addition to the HRC, the facility provides an adjacent 15,000-square-foot permanent supportive housing building with 32 individual units for residents who are long-term shelter residents, often needing extended financial and support services to overcome homelessness. In recognition of the Trustees’ longstanding support of FBMS and Tom Yawkey and Jean Yawkey’s legacy of commitment to providing resources to vulnerable and underserved individuals and families, the permanent supportive housing facility will be named “Yawkey Hall.”
“Supporting the residents at Father Bill’s & Mainspring in Brockton would have deeply resonated with Tom Yawkey and Jean Yawkey, because they cared deeply about helping vulnerable individuals gain basic needs and self-sufficiency,” said Maureen H. Bleday, Chief Executive Officer and Trustee of the Yawkey Foundation. “Knowing what a difference this safe, dignified, and beautiful permanent housing will make to so many people, the Trustees are honored that it will bear the name Yawkey Hall.”
The HRC is designed to address several major social determinants of health: housing, nutrition, and income. By offering comprehensive, collaborative services in one location, FBMS aims to reduce reliance on emergency shelters and other public services, while providing sustainable solutions for individuals experiencing homelessness. This model of comprehensive services in a single location was first implemented with the development of the Yawkey Housing Resource Center in Quincy, MA, which opened last fall. The Yawkey Foundation's lead gift played a critical role in the success of that project. The Quincy facility includes a day center, emergency shelter, and 30 efficiency apartments, providing wraparound support, re-housing services, and co-located resources. These services are designed to reduce reliance on emergency shelters for individuals experiencing a housing crisis, a mission that will continue at the new center in Brockton. For more information, including renderings and additional details, visit pathhome.helpfbms.org.
About Father Bill’s & MainSpring Father Bill’s & MainSpring (FBMS) is the leading provider of services to prevent and end homelessness in Southern Massachusetts. The agency, founded in the early 1980s by a group of interfaith and community leaders, helps more than 5,000 people annually who are experiencing, or at risk of, homelessness. FBMS, a proud partner of the United Way of Greater Plymouth County and the United Way of Massachusetts Bay and Merrimack Valley, is a 501(c)(3) non-profit agency with administrative offices in Quincy and Brockton and program offices throughout Southern Massachusetts. For more information, visit www.helpfbms.org.
About the Yawkey Foundation The Yawkey Foundation is dedicated to perpetuating the philanthropic legacy of Tom Yawkey and Jean Yawkey, whose eight decades of quiet generosity supported individuals and families in the communities that were closest to their hearts – Massachusetts and Georgetown County, South Carolina. Having awarded more than $575 million to date in charitable grants to organizations focused on health care, education, human services, youth and amateur athletics, arts and culture, and conservation and wildlife, the Yawkey Foundation is committed to preserving and sustaining the Yawkeys’ charitable values by investing in nonprofits that provide resources, opportunity, and dignity to the vulnerable and underserved. For more information and the latest announcements, please visit the Foundation’s website, www.yawkeyfoundation.org.