Family Service of Greater Boston is one of Boston’s oldest and biggest human services organizations.  Until the late 1990s, though its clients hailed mostly from Roxbury, Dorchester, Mattapan, Hyde Park and JP, FSGB was located on Beacon Hill.  Cognizant of the incongruity, the organization sought a new space within the community it serves and found an ideal home here in JP.

I spoke with Randal Rucker, chief executive officer of FSBG, about the organization’s work and its impact on JP and surrounding neighborhoods.

How did your organization get started and what is its work?

Family Service of Greater Boston (FSGB) was founded in 1835 as the Society to Prevent Pauperism.  The intent was to help people be self-sufficient through work, housing and social support.  We’re ingrained deeply in the fabric of Boston:  past, present and future.   

We were founded to work with everyone—individuals and families of every social strata, ethnicity and religion.  Over 175 years, we’ve come to focus on children, youth and families.  We’ve seen the needs become deeper, more intense.  Kids have been neglected, witnessed abuse, seen their mothers victimized, many live in communities where it’s not safe to play outside.  Trauma permeates the lives of many of our clients. 

We’re still about helping build strong families that are self-sufficient but the definition of family has really shifted.  We focus on who are the loving adults in a child’s life—that’s family.

We serve 5,800 families each year from JP, Roxbury, Dorchester, Mattapan, Roslindale, Hyde Park.  We have some clients from outside this area, but the heart of our population is right around here.

Seventy per cent of our clients are African-American and Latino.  The remainder are Caucasian.  We find all our clients have a strong desire to be healthy and incredible reservoirs of strength.  We help them call that up. 

Our many programs offer a continuum of services from wellness promotion and prevention to intervention when families are in crisis. 

We have a number of parenting programs.  Our Effective Black Parenting program puts parenting in the context of history.  Many Black parents continue to use strategies designed to protect children in a world where it was dangerous for Black children to speak their minds.  It’s a three hour per week, 15 week course with a curriculum and homework that helps parents re-learn praise, dialogue and boundary-setting.  During that time they have the opportunity to transform themselves, unlearning poor parenting they themselves might have experienced.  We’ve graduated more than 300 people who, in turn, go on to become role models and support networks for others.

For a variety of reasons, urban fathers are seen negatively, but we know that children benefit from interaction with both mother and father.   “Deadbeat Dads” are, in reality, often dead broke.  They think, if I can’t spend a lot of money on my child, I’m not a good dad, so they pull back.  Our Helping Fathers be Fathers program creates an environment of safety in which men receive a range of services including counseling and job readiness training, education about child development and support to grow healthy relationships with their children.  That has value to those individuals and to the community that can’t be measured in dollars.

YouthAIM! develops character and leadership capacity.  This year-long program develops critical thinking and other skills, involves youth socially and in working on projects with caring adult mentors.  Youth demonstrating special commitment to the program may be chosen as group leaders and receive stipends.  When they graduate, youth are prepared to do advocacy work in the community and to realize the vision for themselves they’ve articulated during their participation.

Our Clinical Programs bring licensed and experienced professionals into schools, clients’ homes and community settings to address behavioral health issues, emotional disturbance due to trauma, developmental and mental health conditions.

The Family Independence Teen Living Program is a residential home for pregnant and parenting teen girls ages 13-18 whose children are 0-6 and who would otherwise be homeless.   Being a teenager is tough.  Couple that with parenting and you’ve got double the challenge.  The program provides participants with a comprehensive array of services including job readiness, life and household management skills, nutrition education, parenting and conflict resolution.  Of 450 graduates of the program, many have earned college degrees and advanced degrees.   Some have even returned as social workers to assist girls in FITLP.

Advocacy is also important.  In my position, I’m able play a role.  If I can be a lynch-pin between the on-the-ground reality and the policy, clients’ lives will be affected positively. 

What brings you to this work?

I’m here because I’m continually challenged to make a difference—that’s the ultimate passion for me.  That’s what got me here and that’s what keeps me here.  I had the gift of having really engaged parents.  I reflect on that often when I see kids decoupled from that—that’s what I want them to have.

What’s the best thing FSBG had done for JP?

One of the best things we’ve done for JP was coming into this building.  [FSGB renovated the old Roxbury Brewing Company building, c.1896, which had sat empty and dilapidated for 15 years.] 

If you had seen this building—  there were trees growing on the roof.  There were raccoons, skunks and squirrels living here… and then there were folks who were homeless.  It was a blighted building.  We turned it from something that had blight to something that has light.

Now it’s an anchor.  It brings people to JP who otherwise might not be coming. 

Why is JP a good home for FSGB?

It’s rich in diversity, culture and green space.  There are great collaborative partners like Hyde Square Task Force, schools such as the Hennigan and the Curley, the Bromley-Heath development.  For FSGB, JP’s proximity to the hospitals is helpful, since we work with them around trauma care.  We also work with Martha Eliot Health Center, Dimock and RoxComp.

The sense of collaboration is a key.  I’m a collaborator by nature.  We can’t be siloed.  Organizations can’t move the needle by themselves.  When we weave efforts together, that’s significant.  That benefits the community.