Needham Times: One Family Helps Those Who Help Themselves
Needham Times - - 01-10-2008
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The Boston Herald 1/27/07 There's No Place Like Home Op. Ed.
- - 02-09-2007
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Boston Herald 11.19.06 Homeless Give Prudential a Taste of Home
- - 11-19-2006
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The New Abolitionists, The Boston Globe 10/30/06
- - 10-30-2006
October 30, 2006
Boston Globe editorial published after the Ending Homelessness: Housing First in Policy and Practice conference in Worcester. Dr. Dennis Culhane, cited in the article, was a key speaker at the conference. more..

Homeless Plan Urged for City, Worcester Telegram & Gazette 10/22/06
- - 10-22-2006
Editorial in Worcester's Telegram & Gazette, following the Ending Homelessness: Housing First in Policy and Practice conference. more..

Brookline Congregations Take Lead in Housing
The Brookline Bulletin - John Tozzi, Bulletin Staff - 04-28-2005
In the past year, a coalition of Brookline congregations has taken the lead in helping several
formerly homeless families move into permanent housing in the town, and volunteers are preparing to help as many as 10 more families in the coming year.
On one day in March, members of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church collected three truckloads
of furniture, bedding and house wares and delivered them to a family who had just moved
into Brookline public housing with no belongings of their own. “We actually kind of furnished
this apartment in about six hours,” said Kate Kelley, a nurse practitioner at Urban Medical Group in Jamaica Plain and a member of St. Paul’s parish.
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Bringing homelessness awareness to Tufts
The Tufts Daily - liz Copeland - 04-13-2005
Homelessness Awareness Week, which is sponsored by NSP, began on Monday and will last through Friday.
On Monday, a group of Tufts students visited the Somerville Homeless Coalition (SHC) shelter soup kitchen on College Ave. At the SHC Shelter, students prepared and served food to the residents of the shelter.On Tuesday night, students listened to panelists discuss the politics of homelessness, and debate why government aid for the homeless has decreased. Panelists included SHC Executive Director Mark Alston-Follansbee, Cambridge and Somerville Legal Services Attorney Ellen Schachter, Tufts Urban and Environmental Policy and Planning Lecturer Roberta Rubin (who teaches a class called "Homelessness and Society"), and One Family Scholar Diana Watler.
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The shelter threshold
Boston Globe - Editorial - 04-04-2005
SOME HOMELESS families face a paradox. They need a place to stay, but they earn too much to get into state-funded shelters. If they quit jobs or worked fewer hours, the state could help. But vulnerable families shouldn't have to forgo wages. Shelters are available for families with higher earnings, but more are needed. In February, of the 431 families statewide who applied for shelter, 187 were turned away, 16 because of high earnings. An additional 65 didn't verify their incomes, possibly because they earned too much. more..

Educating Homeless Women
University Business - Editorial - 04-01-2005

Homeless women are making their way into the college classroom, thanks to the One Family Scholars program, which provides college scholarships for low-income and homeless women within the state of Massachusetts. Since the organization's inception in 2000, One Family has granted about 115 scholarships and will soon offer 100 more for the academic year of 2005-2006. Created by Reebok CEO Paul Fireman, "the idea behind the program was to end family homelessness and education is the key to doing that," says One Family's program manager Ann McArdle. more..

PHD IS TIED TO COMMUNITIES
Boston Globe - Cynthia Cantrell - 03-31-2005
With a bachelor's degree in business and an MBA on her resume, Trisha Machado of Dracut said she has always wanted to earn her doctorate. But with three children, in addition to morning and evening teaching jobs, she didn't think she could reconcile her varied interests and focus on a PhD program. more..

My View: 'I was a part of the community again'
Gloucester Times - Editorial/ Jessica Marrocco - 03-31-2005
In the summer of 1999, I fled from my home in Reading to a shelter to escape domestic violence. I had just completed my third year at Emerson College, and my son was 3 years old at the time. I knew that by leaving I was walking away from an education and financial stability. But my son was beginning to be aware of the violence in our home and, at that moment, his well-being was more important to me than a degree. more..

eligibility for family shelter
Boston Herald - Associated Press - 03-29-2005
BOSTON - More homeless families would be eligible for shelter under a proposal announced today by Lt. Governor Kerry Healey.

The plan would also restore move-in assistance.

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New England colleges' deep impact
Connection, the journal for the New England Board of Higher Education - John O. Harney - 03-17-2005
COLLEGES and universities love to tell the happy story of their economic impact. And they should. The money that higher-education institutions and their workers and students spend on goods and services -- from pizzas to glistening new campus centers to lifesaving research -- reverberates through the economy, creating an impact that far exceeds the costs of keeping college property off the tax rolls or, in the case of public campuses, the meager investment that New England states make in the institutions' operating budgets. more..

Scholarships aimed at homeless women
The Enterprise - Maria Papadopoulos - 03-15-2005
BROCKTON — MainSpring Coalition for the Homeless has signed on to direct scholarships to homeless women in the Brockton area through a nonprofit organization created by Reebok CEO and Brockton native Paul Fireman. more..

Giving women dreams, cash for college
Eagle Tribune - Stephanie Akin - 03-11-2005
Four years ago Jessica Marrocco was homeless and broke. Today, she owns a house in North Andover and has a visual media arts degree from Emerson College in Boston.
Marrocco is part of One Family Scholars, an organization that seems to manufacture success stories, that include:
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Homelessness Program
Weymouth News - Editor - 03-03-2005
One Family, Inc. will participate in an upcoming youth event in on March 6, to help teenagers gain a deeper understanding of family homelessness and to discuss successful solutions for helping families rise above homelessness. Previously homeless mothers will share their moving stories and their path toward personal triumph. more..

One Family Provides Volunteer Opportunity with Scholar-Mentor Program
JCRC Online - Editor - 03-01-2005
Five years ago, Sussy Hidalgo was homeless. By the end of this year, she will graduate from Northeastern University with a degree in Criminal Justice. Hidalgo’s success is due in many ways to One Family, an organization committed to ending family homelessness in Massachusetts, which granted her a scholarship to attend college four years ago. Recognizing that the stresses of homelessness, parenting, and school require additional support, the One Family Scholars Program provides scholars with mentors to bolster their efforts and ensure their success. more..

Letter: We can help end homelessness
Concord Journal - editorial - 02-17-2005
We are seventh and eighth grade students at Nashoba Brooks School in Concord who have been learning about the growing problem of Family Homelessness in Massachusetts. Many of us attended a forum about it and learned some disturbing facts. This year, one in 50 children in the United States will experience homelessness. Most family homelessness is the result of domestic violence and the huge financial burdens of trying to earn enough money to pay rent in Massachusetts. Our state has the second highest cost of living in the country, yet the minimum wage is still just as low as in the rest of the country. This means that a single parent trying to rent a two bedroom apartment in Boston would need to work about 130 hours a week to afford that apartment! Too bad there are only 168 hours in a week. more..

Forum: Homelessness not just a city problem
Concord Journal - Casey Lyons - 02-03-2005
Jessica Marracco's family had a secret. On a quiet street in Belmont, Jessica lived with her parents. She lived what many would consider a comfortable life, and attended the Belmont public schools - Jessica's family seemed just like everyone else. But they were not. more..

Housing aid on the way with RAFT
Boston Globe - Brenda Buote - 11-04-2004
As she rushes from her part-time job at the NAACP in Lynn to her classes at the nearby North Shore Community College, Stacey A. Davis of Gloucester is scrambling to find a way to pay the security deposit on a new apartment. Housing officials have told Davis, who relies on a federal subsidy to pay her rent, that she and her 12-year-old son, Tyrae, must move out of their three-bedroom apartment and into something smaller. more..

Family datebook
Boston Globe - June Wulff - 10-09-2004
Body sculpture at today's Sculpture Park Discovery Day has absolutely nothing to do with cosmetic surgery. It's participatory performance art, just one of the many sculpture-related activities at the DeCordova Museum and Sculpture Park, 51 Sandy Pond Road, Lincoln. From noon to 4 p.m., rain or shine, draw with instructors, talk with sculptors, watch them create, take a park tour (1 and 2 p.m.), and enjoy the live "sculpture tableaux" of Ten31 Productions (1-3 p.m.). There's a scavenger hunt and bingo. (What? No face painting?) Bring a picnic or eat at the cafe. Ticket price of $15 includes museum admission (free under 3). Call 781-259-3629. more..

Homelessness forum Friday
Lowell Sun - staff - 10-06-2004
LOWELL Representatives from One Family Inc. and the Massachusetts Interagency Council on Housing and Homelessness will be in Lowell on Friday for a community forum on housing and homelessness issues. The forum is scheduled to run from 10 to 11:30 a.m. at the St. Joseph the Worker Shrine, 37 Lee St. more..

Ineligible for shelter, family lives in minivan. New state guidelines leave some homeless
Boston Globe - David Abel - 08-25-2004
Robin Lemieux, a single mother of four from Haverhill, lives with her children in the family's eight-year-old Dodge Caravan. With almost all the family's income going to food, car payments, and fees to store their possessions, Lemieux said she cleans houses and does her best to provide for her family. more..

Mentors help other women rebuild lives
Boston Globe - Brenda Buote - 08-22-2004
Cherie Gouthro knows what it is to be alone, poor, and scared. After her divorce in 1993, Gouthro found herself homeless, living in a publicly subsidized shelter, and relying on state welfare checks to make ends meet. Today, she is an honors student at Salem State College, a senior who hopes to earn her bachelor's degree this year and go on to law school. ''I want to be a lawyer so that I can help people who are facing things similar to what I have faced," said Gouthro, 45, a Salem resident who has five children 12 to 28 years old. Her three oldest children are grown and gone; her fourth, 14-year-old Adam, suffered brain damage at birth and lives at the Cardinal Cushing School in Hanover. Gouthro is raising her youngest child, Zahrra, alone. more..

State closes door to placing homeless in motels
Lowell Sun - PETER WARD - 08-20-2004
- LOWELL For a half-year Barbara and Ron Dumont and their four children lived in a Tewksbury motel at a cost to state taxpayers of $5,520 a month. It wasn't the first time they stayed in lodging ordinarily reserved for travelers.
With help from social workers, they finally found an apartment, in Haverhill, and moved in February.
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SINGULAR SUCCESS
Boston Globe - Brenda J. Buote - 08-01-2004
Kelly Kyle, a single mother of two boys, used to eat lunch at a Gloucester soup kitchen. Today, the formerly homeless woman dines with surgeons at Melrose-Wakefield Hospital. more..

The DNC comes to Windmill Point
Hull Times - Stephen Martin - 07-29-2004
Voyager III, Harbor Express’s largest commuter boat, docked at Pemberton Pier at 2:40 p.m. Tuesday. Aboard were 167 passengers, come to view Hull Wind I, the first wind turbine to grace the Massachusetts shoreline.
Delegates to the Democratic National Convention, politicians – including former Congressman Gary Studds – and renewable energy professionals disembarked, guided by Hull Town Manager Christopher McCabe, Selectman Joan Meschino, and Hull Light Board member Malcolm Brown. Bringing up the rear was Hull Community Television (HCTV) videographer Jessica Marrocco, who had chronicled the voyage from Boston, where US Congressman Jim McGovern (D-Mass) had sent the delegates off with a short speech. HCTV Program Director Peter Seitz provided a bird’s eye view of the proceedings from his lofty perch in an elevated Hull Light bucket.
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Protestants want poverty on DNC agenda
Boston Herald - Eric Convey - 06-16-2004
Mainline Protestants who want poverty discussed at next month's Democratic National Convention are planning an interfaith service at Old South Church to draw attention to the issue.

The event and a similar one when Republicans gather in New York are part of a broad campaign to put poverty on the national political agenda, said the Rev. Robert W. Edgar, a former member of Congress who is now general secretary of the National Council of Churches.

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Faith groups target poverty plan to lobby DNC delegates
The Boston Globe - Michael Paulson - 06-16-2004
Saying that both major political parties are paying insufficient attention to the poor, a broad spectrum of religious groups in Massachusetts is planning to lobby delegates to the Democratic National Convention to urge policy makers to focus on eradicating poverty and hunger. more..

One Family One Dollar program launched in city
Standard Times - COLLETTE PELLETIER - 06-02-2004
NEW BEDFORD -- One Family Inc. was founded four years ago with a goal to "give homeless families the good luck they deserve."
That effort is continuing with the One Family One Dollar Campaign in association with Faneuil Hall Marketplace in Boston.
Throughout its yearlong, statewide initiative, the campaign will be launched in several cities in the state.
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PITCHING IN FOR FAMILIES
Boston Globe - Editorial - 05-30-2004
SOLUTIONS to social problems can seem small and doomed. Then a Jane Addams tries something that succeeds. In her case it was Hull House, the famous Chicago settlement house she founded in 1889. The lesson is to take action.
This is what the One Family Campaign, a local nonprofit organization, wants to do to end family homelessness: encourage community action, then have state government and other organizations replicate what works.An example is One Family's work with local congregations. more..

SCHOOL COMMITTEE FORUM
Boston Globe - Christina Pazzanese, Matt Viser, Rhonda Stewart, EmilySweeney, and Erica Noonan - 05-28-2004
SCHOOL COMMITTEE FORUM
The Parent Teacher Councils from all seven public schools and Citizens for Needham Schools are hosting a forum on April 7 with the four candidates who are running for three open School Committee seats in the townwide election on April 13. Incumbents Gary Crossen and Jeffrey Simmons will join challengers Marianne Cooley and Michael London to speak and answer questions from the audience. The forum will be held in the Newman Elementary School auditorium and begins at 8 p.m. - Christina Pazzanese
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Homeless forum raises tough issues
Sudbury Town Crier - Carole LaMond - 04-29-2004
As the door slammed shut on the rented storage room holding everything the family owned, Barbara Brown's 6-year old daughter began to cry hysterically, "Mommy what about my dolls? What about my toys?"
"What can you do?" said Brown who struggled to hold back tears as she recounted the day her family became homeless. "I hugged her, and said, 'It's going to be okay. This is going to be an adventure.'"
That weekend, while other families celebrated the Fourth of July with backyard barbecues, the Brown family of five was on its way to a state-funded one-bed motel room. Unable to pay their rent after her husband's business failed nine months earlier, and evicted from their apartment on July 1, 2002, the family qualified for shelter housing through the state Emergency Assistance Program.
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Group’s Director Finds Homelessness ‘Just Unacceptable’
Banker & Tradesman - Aglaia Pikounis - 04-05-2004
Melinda Marble truly believes that family homelessness can be eliminated, one family at a time.
Which is a good thing, because as the executive director of the Paul & Phyllis Fireman Charitable Foundation she is charged with working toward that goal. Founded by Paul Fireman – chief executive officer of Reebok – and his family, the foundation has funded several initiatives that have helped move families from shelters into permanent housing
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UP FROM POVERTY TO A BETTER LIFE
Boston Globe - Brenda J. Buote - 08-07-2003
A part-time lunch aide at the Gloucester Housing Authority, Susan Record has long dreamed of landing a better job. But without a college degree or any marketable skills, she found it impossible to secure a position that offered a decent wage and health benefits. more..

GROUP AIDS STATE EFFORT FOR HOMELESS
Boston Globe - Brenda J. Buote - 04-27-2003
For people who are homeless, every day can be a challenge, a crash course in crisis management. When Jessica Marrocco fled an abusive relationship four years ago, she found temporary refuge for herself and her son in a women's homeless shelter.
But peace was elusive. She tells of bad advice from caseworkers, making countless calls from pay phones, and filling out endless forms to get the public services she needed to achieve independence. Upset about a system she says doesn't work, Marrocco, 39, is laboring to change statewide policy in an effort to end homelessness in Massachusetts. more..

FAMILY HOMES
Boston Globe - Editorial - 03-22-2003
WHEN JESSICA Marrocco became homeless because of domestic violence, she found that no one listened to her when she said the system wasn't working. She tells of bad advice from caseworkers and making endless calls from pay phones to pull together the public services she needed to achieve independence for herself and her son. more..

OUTCOME OF COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT IS WIN-WIN
Boston Globe - John Edwards - 11-24-2002
As the US economy continues to move forward through a period of uncertainty, we can draw upon proven sources of strength and optimism in our society to see us through. Traditionally, one of these has been the small-business sector, which, by combining the best of business leadership and volunteerism, is a model for success through community involvement. more..

HOMELESS ADVOCATES TRY OPENING MORE DOORS
Boston Globe - Brenda J. Buote - 10-17-2002
As a child growing up in a middle-class neighborhood in Belmont, Jessica Marrocco was silent witness to violent quarrels. As an adult, she fell into her own abusive relationships. Time passed and the seasons changed, but the abuse only escalated. Finally, fearing for her life, Marrocco fled to the safety of a women's shelter. more..

NEEDED: HELP FOR OTHER SETTLERS
Boston Globe - Jeanine Pinto - 06-16-2002
Thank you for your warm story about Sussy Hidalgo ("Settling in, with gratitude," June 2) and her family's journey from homelessness toward self-sufficiency - not without help from many agencies and organizations. more..

SETTLING IN, WITH GRATITUDE
Boston Globe - Rebecca Coleman - 06-02-2002
She lived in a shelter with her six children for 13 months after her husband deserted them. Someone else might harbor hostility, but Sussy Hidalgo doesn't hold back much - except maybe tears when her children's eyes are on her. more..

GOVERNOR CANDIDATES BACK HOUSING PLAN
Boston Globe - Metro/Region - 05-15-2002
Democratic gubernatorial candidates and state legislators yesterday endorsed a plan to help homeless families in Massachusetts. more..

HELPING THE HOMELESS
Boston Globe - Lisa Capone - 12-17-2000
Communities throughout the North Weekly area are putting a new face on lending a hand to those in need. While 19th-century congregations gathered after church to help a family raise a barn, today's faith-based organizations are involved in efforts to raise families out of poverty and, in the process, raise awareness about the North Shore's growing crisis of family homelessness. more..