work.sites.

We are still in the process of finalizing work sites for 2008

Listed below are some of the Work Sites where we have worked in the past:

Asian Community Development Corp.
Contact: Daniel Stolkowski @ 617.482.2380, ext. 206
Location: 888 Washington Street, Suite 102, Chinatown 02111. Take the Green Line westbound (any train) to the Boylston stop. Exit to Tremont Street, walking a few blocks south (away from Boston Common, and with the flow of traffic on Tremont Street). Turn left on Oak Street. After crossing Washington Street, the Oak Terrace apartment building will be on your right; hunt for a glass door with a piece of paper labeled "ACDC Office." Ask for Daniel Stolkowski. Optional route: Take the orange line to New England Medical Center and walk 200 yards down Washington Street.
Organization: Founded in May 1987 in order to develop affordable housing in Chinatown. Its mixed-housing developments include Oak Terrace (where ACDC's office is housed) and Parcel C (across the street from Oak Terrace). Currently ACDC is part of the fight to reclaim a plot of land called Parcel 24 for Chinatown, and it is fighting to protect the Berkeley Street Community Garden for elderly Asians who are being crowded out.
Project: Possible tasks with ACDC include cleaning and touring the Berkeley Street Community Garden, helping ACDC move offices, cleaning up Hudson Street, and working at the Josiah Quincy Elementary School.
Cool thing: For years, FUPpies have visited Parcel C across from ACDC on Work That City to see a mural commemorating Chinatown's fight to protect the land from urban renewal and being turned into a parking garage. Now, you can see the completed development (opened in August), the Metropolitan, which includes community space and 46% affordable housing.
Notes: Get psyched -- many of the activities will give you a great chance to better understand the Chinatown community and its grassroots efforts!


Cambridge Community Center (CCC)
Contact: Ms. Kay @ (617) 547-6811
Location: 5 Callendar Street, Cambridge, MA 02139. Walk down Mass Ave. towards Central Square. Take a right onto Putnam Ave. and mosey for a while, past Peabody Terrace and the MLK school. Take a left onto Callendar, walk about a block, and you will see the Cambridge Community Center on your left.
Organization: The Cambridge Community Center is one of only three settlement houses left in Cambridge. It was founded in 1921 for the purpose of helping immigrant groups settle into the Cambridgeport area, and in many ways its purpose has not changed. It runs education and enrichment programs for children, teens, and adults, many of whom are immigrants and come from all over the world, though most are people of color. In the summer, CCC runs a camp for low-income Cambridge kids, and during the school year it runs an after-school program.
Project: First you'll paint a hallway or two. Then another. Did we mention painting? Paint part of an auditorium. Possibly, clear stuff from storage and put new furniture into an office.
Cool thing: Wicked cute kids.
Notes: We expect you all to become experts on the history of Cambridgeport by the end of the week.


Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative (DSNI)
Contact: May Louie @ 617.442.9670, mlouie@dsni.org; or Jose Barros, jbarros@dsni.org; (fax: 617.427.8047)
Location: 504 Dudley Street, Roxbury, MA 02119. Take the #1 or #66 bus from Harvard Square to Dudley Station. Walk up Dudley Street about 10 minutes till you come to DSNI on your left.
Organization: In the late 1980s, DSNI formed as a group of neighbors attempted to reclaim vacant lots for housing and generally clean up their neighborhood. Since then, the Dudley Triangle (the neighborhood area) has experienced an extreme transformation. Although the group has struggled to maintain its vibrancy and strength in recent years, it remains a vital community resource.
Project: The projects at DSNI include: flyering for local festivals and events; cleaning up playgrounds/school yards; graffiti removal; phone banking.
Cool thing: Every year at FUP we watch "Holding Ground" about DSNI and neighborhood renewal. Now you get to experience it first-hand.

Fair Foods
Contact: Nancy Jameson @ 617-288-6185,
Location: 95 Freeport St., Dorchester, MA 02122. [They just moved, so this address is incorrect, but the directions are corrected. They're very close to their old location, though a bit closer Fields Corner.] Take the Red Line inbound Ashmont (NOT Braintree) train to Fields Corner. Get off, go right down the hill on the Dorchester Ave side, and turn left onto Dorchester Ave. Walk for about 2.5 blocks till you pass Chris' BBQ (on the right), then turn right onto Kimball Street. Roll down Kimball till you almost reach Ellsworth Supply, then turn left on Freeport. Fair Foods is a brown warehouse on the corner of Freeport and Kimball, but you have to walk halfway down Freeport toward Kimball Street to get to the door. Nancy says there is a white sign, "BDW"
Organization: Fair Foods recovers and distributes surplus food (including perishables), paint, and clothing to people throughout the Boston area (including FUP!). It runs a neighborhood "dollar-a-bag" program, which provides many people with cheap and healthy groceries, and provides food to pantries all around the Boston area. Nancy also has started a community fundraising program to make and paint benches from surplus lumber. She sells and donates the benches to people everywhere, from local community parks to lands as distant as Paris.
Project: Organizing paint cans, painting benches and signs, heavy lifting, cleaning out the yard, sorting vegetables and fruits, stacking bread and cookies, etc� Cool thing: Nancy Jameson has invented an instrument that can make electricity using only gravity, and also it makes water. She'll show you the prototype, but you have to use your imagination to see it. You can't? Square.
Notes: Fair Foods just moved from an outdoor lot run out of trailers into a posh warehouse. Chris says, "It's not a missile silo, but it's way bigger than this room."


Hawthorne Youth Community Center (HYCC)
Contact: Sam Sadd @ 427-0613
Location: 9 Fulda St., Roxbury, MA 02119. Take the Red Line inbound to Downtown Crossing, switch to the Orange Forest Hills line, and take the T to Jackson Square. Exit the subway station to the left, walk down the bus ramp, and cross Columbus Avenue to Centre Street. Bear right onto Highland St.; walk past HYCC's community ceramic wall mural, and keep walking up the hill. Cross Marsalis. Take a right onto Fulda. Follow up and around the curved road. It is a little yellow building on the left.
Organization: HYCC provides an after-school hang-out for neighborhood kids, as well as other programs.
Project: Work will include weeding, painting, landscaping, cleaning the mural, and organizing the center.
Cool thing: Cool kids, and Sam is absolutely fabulous (especially in her blue hat).
Notes: Look for HFUP (that stands for Harvard First-Year Urban Program) on the mural, in remembrance of a past FUP project. Bring rain gear if there is a chance of rain, as many of the HYCC projects will be outdoors.


Inquilinos Boricuas en Accion
Contact: Lisa Morales @ 617.927.1702
Location: 405 Shawmut Ave, Boston, MA 02118 in Villa Victoria. Take the Orange Line to Back Bay T-stop, walk out on Dartmouth Street and turn left. Walk along Dartmouth several blocks past the main plaza of Villa Victoria (on your right) and continue till you hit Shawmut Ave. Turn right and IBA will be on your right.
Organization: In the early 1970s, IBA was the tenant organizing group that rallied residents of the neighborhood against urban renewal efforts that would have displaced them from the area, overcoming significant odds and a language barrier, as most residents are Puerto Rican (Boricua). In recent years, IBA has moved away from strict tenant organizing to a broader cultural agenda including their Escuelita (pre-school program), the Betances festival, and lots of other youth activities.
Project: FUP will help with some community research, cleanup around the surrounding neighborhoods (which aren't covered by IBA's hired grounds staff), and painting in the offices of IBA.
Cool thing: IBA became a national model of community organizing against massive urban renewal still praised today. Come see how that looks and how it's changed since then.


Resurrection Lutheran Church
Contact: Kurt Wallen, 617-427-2066 at church
Location: 94 Warren St., Roxbury, MA 02118. Take the #1 Bus from Johnston Gate all the way to its termination point at Dudley Station. Take a right onto Warren St., and walk uphill. Cross the street and the church is on your left.
Organization: The Resurrection Lutheran Church serves a predominantly African-American and Latino community in historic Roxbury. In the last few years, the ministry has implemented many service and outreach projects in the community, including mentoring programs for youth, a food pantry, a fatherhood program for people leaving the criminal justice system, a college prep program for area youth, a child-care center, a shelter for people with mental health disabilities, a jobs program connecting Roxbury residents with work in the suburbs (and providing transportation), an HIV dinner, and leadership in the Greater Boston Interfaith organizing initiative.
Project: Painting and cleaning up the church and its facilities.
Cool thing: Resurrection Lutheran is a key player in the Greater Boston Interfaith Organization (GBIO), a broad-based organizing movement which has grown into one of the most influential and progressive grass-roots organizing efforts in the region. Also, Kurt's jokes.
Notes: Reverend Heinemeier just left after 30+ years of work at the church.


Solutions at Work: Children's Clothing Exchange
Contact: Macy Delong @ 617.492.0300 ext. 15, cell 857.544.6047; Sonya Darcy @ 617.576.0039
Location: 56 Magazine St., Cambridge MA 02139. Take Mass Ave to Central Square, turn right at the big intersection where Starbucks is. Bear left on Magazine St. Children's Clothing Exchange is in the basement of Grace United Methodist Church, a gray and white building. The entrance is on the corner of Perry and Magazine Sts. You can also get to Magazine St through Peabody Terrace.
Organization: Solutions at Work is run entirely by people who are or were homeless. They run the Children's Clothing Exchange, which allows low-income families to trade in clothes as their children get older, or for volunteer hours at the Exchange, as well as a number of other programs. The Exchange has been closed since last year for financial reasons, but will be opening the day after FUP finishes!
Project: Painting and cleaning space for the re-opening of the Exchange. Also packing up the summer season clothes, then organizing 325 boxes of fall and winter clothing so parents can get school clothes for their kids.
Cool thing: The Exchange has been so short-staffed in preparing to re-open that they've literally waited till FUP could come to open their doors.
Notes: The Clothing Exchange is pretty close, so take a different route each day and get to know Cambridge better.


Solutions at Work: Cambridge Furniture Bank
Contact: Macy Delong @ 617.492.0300 ext. 15, cell 857.544.6047
Location: 391 Evereteze Way, Cambridge, MA 02139. Walk (or take the #69 bus from Johnston gate) up Cambridge Street, past Inman Square, past Columbia St., until you see the Roosevelt Towers housing development on your left. Take a left onto Evereteze Way, which takes you to the heart of Roosevelt Towers, and bear left at the big tree in the middle. The furniture bank is in the basement on your left. Also Metropolitan Storage at 134 Mass Ave, on the corner of Vassar St and Mass Ave (near MIT). Take the #1 bus (or the M2 shuttle) till you cross the railroad tracks past Central Square. Head down Vassar Street (toward Cambridgeport) and the entrance is on the right.
Organization: Solutions at Work is run entirely by people who are or were homeless. They run the Cambridge Furniture Bank, which used to provide free furniture for people moving out of homelessness and a number of other programs. Last year, due to financial struggles, they had to close the entire organization. Some parts have re-opened (see Clothing Exchange) but the future of the Furniture Bank is still uncertain. They're hoping to open early next year.
Project: Moving furniture in a warehouse. A lot of it. Also moving furniture in the old warehouse, cleaning there, and preparing some of the space to be rented out. And maybe a mural to boot.
Cool thing: If you are really lucky, you may have a chance to ride around in the delivery truck. Even if you aren't, this is a unique opportunity for FUP to play a critical role for the existence of an organization. We've worked with the Furniture Bank for years and hope this will continue yet.
Notes: Make sure that at least two people--one leader and one FUPpie--go out on the delivery van at a time. If you have dust allergies, be sure to tell your leader right away.


Women's Education Center
Contact: Chris Womendez @ 617.436.2002
Location: P.O. Box 1154, Jamaica Plain, MA 02130. Take the Red Line inbound Ashmont (NOT Braintree) train to Fields Corner. Call Chris from a pay phone on Dorchester Ave., and she will pick you up.
Organization: Women's Ed. is a shelter for battered women and their children. They provide legal advocacy programs and play groups for the children.
Project: Painting several rooms, including rooms for children (think CREATIVE!); re-paining exteriors and heavy-duty cleaning.
Cool thing: Chris Womendez, the founder of this program, was one of the first women to organize the battered women's movement in America. And her name is Chris Women�s-ed-ez. Get it? Huh? Huh? Get it?
Notes: The Women�s Ed Center is at a secret location, for the necessity of protecting guests from their batterers. Lunch is provided, but bring sandwiches the first day just in case.


Mary Ellen McCormack Youth Center
Contact: Kate Johnsen @ 617.308.9121
Location: 7 Sterling Square, South Boston, MA 02127. Take the Red Line inbound to Andrew Square. Cross both Dorchester Ave and Dorchester St (seriously), then head up Preble St. Turn right on Mohawk St, following it across Gen. Devine Way. It then becomes Logan Way. Continue on Logan till you see a Planet Walk on your left. (You'll know it when you see it�planets in the sidewalk.) Follow the planet walk as far as it goes, then look straight ahead for the basement door into the youth center.
Organization: Youth on the Rise is the only youth center in McCormack. It hosts an after-school program, summer activities (as a SUP site), and other community events. In the wake of recent youth violence, the center's role has become even more important to McCormack residents.
Project: Painting and cleaning up the center for the after-school program, which will begin in the middle of FUP week. Also fixing the American flag mural, and generally overhauling the entire space.
Cool thing: The director, Kate Johnsen, graduated from Harvard two years ago and is currently the only youth worker in McCormack. Also, McCormack is the oldest housing development in New England.


El Concilio Hispano
Contact: Sylvia Keber @ 617.661.9406
Location: 105 Windsor St, Cambridge, MA 02139. Take Mass Ave (bus, T, M2, foot) to Central Square and continue down Mass Ave till it forks. Veer left on Main Street and follow it for a couple blocks. Turn left on Windsor and it's on the left side of the street.
Organization: Concilio was one of the first Latino community organizations in the Greater Boston area. Since it was organized in 1959 (officially formed in 1969), the group has worked for better education, health, language services, and community culture. Expect to paint and clean up the grounds around the center in Cambridge, and possibly in Somerville too.
Cool thing: Situated behind Central Square, Concilio offers a very different perspective on life in Cambridge than Harvard Square. Also, Sylvia can't wait to introduce you to the Beastie Boys new album.
Notes: Ask Sylvia about the impact of students on residents of Cambridge.