Investment Areas

Since the fall of 2010, Boston Rising has convened the community of school principals in Grove Hall to foster improved communication, collaboration, and community engagement. Through this self-driven organizing model, the school leadership:

• Advances its own administrative and management skill set.
• Shares best practices.
• Connects better with parents, families and the community.
• Co-invests resources with Boston Rising to test and refine innovative programs.

In early 2010, Boston Rising began working with the two Grove Hall schools given a Level 4 designation, the lowest achieving status in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The Trotter Elementary and Jeremiah E. Burke High School were given three years to improve their test scores, or the state would take drastic action. Boston Rising has provided a strong combination of strategic consulting and capacity-building grants to the leaders of these schools in an effort to leverage state and federal resources for sustained academic and management improvements.

In 2009, Boston Rising began working to attract a strong charter school presence in Grove Hall to increase the number of high-quality, community-based educational opportunities available to neighborhood youth. We supported Roxbury Preparatory Charter School in its bid to obtain additional charters and create a new site in Grove Hall. Grove Hall Prep will open its doors in September 2011, and Boston Rising will continue to support the school as it serves the Grove Hall community.

The Grove Hall Trust is a first of its kind neighborhood foundation that puts the control and choice of philanthropic investment in the hands of individuals who reside and work within the Grove Hall community. It is based on three key ideas:

1. Communities know what they need to improve their outcomes.
2. Community members have the talent to make their neighborhoods rise.
3. Impact comes from shared risk and responsibility.

The Grove Hall Trust is a fund established by Boston Rising, and matched at 10% by the Grove Hall Community. All decision-making power lies with the Trustees who are residents of Grove Hall. Boston Rising provides administrative support and advice, as requested.

Trustees are residents of the Grove Hall community who agree to the overall vision and values of Boston Rising as part of their terms of service. With Trustees guiding investment decisions, the community itself sets priorities, vets proposals, makes funding decisions and tracks outcomes. Read more about the Grove Hall Trust.

Boston Rising understands that economic independence is a key driver for individuals, families, and communities on the rise. Our Jobs & Community Wealth Task Force is dedicated to strengthening the urban entrepreneurial ecosystem through strategic investment in small businesses and job readiness programs in urban Boston, and the greater Grove Hall area specifically. The task force has identified two potential investment areas: strengthening the urban entrepreneurial ecosystem and workforce development. Read more about these potential areas.

Boston Rising is a lead investor in the Family Independence Initiative (FII), which marked its first year of partnership with Boston families in May 2011. Through these community circles, FII seeks to empower families in charting their own paths out of poverty.

Historically, immigrant and pioneering communities have pooled resources and charted a common, shared path to a better life. FII’s approach mirrors this historic model driven by community initiative. FII’s method recognizes the individual expertise of families and the importance of social connectivity to help families chart their own paths out of poverty.

FII works with cohorts of families across Boston, including one cohort in Grove Hall. Working with FII, Boston Rising is learning directly from individuals and families and about the systems and institutions within and impacting several of Boston’s neighborhoods.

Boston Rising partnered with Grove Hall residents who were motivated to improve their neighborhood by convening community conversations. These neighbors volunteered their homes, and invited community members in for a meal and shared conversation. These Neighbor Circles were meant to increase trust and deepen relationships in Grove Hall.

Grove Hall Neighbor Circles leverage the Lawrence Community Works model, which maintains that the costs of neighbor to neighbor disconnection are enormous. Behind poor communication lurks distrust, bigotry and countless lost opportunities to improve individual lives and communities. A Neighbor Circle is one way of starting up the long-interrupted, neighbor-to-neighbor conversation once again. Read more about Grove Hall Neighbor Circles.

In the summer of 2010, a team of youth Correspondents/Producers interviewed members of the Grove Hall community and produced a documentary focused on learning how Grove Hall residents think about their neighborhood.

The video project sought to understand the different perspectives of Grove Hall held by residents of the neighborhood. The youth team also identified the strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities the community saw for itself. They produced the following video: http://youtu.be/_iuSqRnR_To