Innsider
Innsider
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Evelyn Cordero — Pine Street is a Village
Fall Edition|As director of coordinated housing solutions, Evelyn Cordero works to streamline the pathways to housing for people experiencing homelessness.
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Hispanic Heritage/Latino History Month
Fall Edition|Hispanic Heritage/Latino History Month celebrates and honors the history and culture of the Hispanic and Latino/Latina/Latinx communities.
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Delphia Bizzell — Consumer Engagement Coordinator
Spring Edition|Pine Street Inn’s consumer engagement coordinator, Delphia “Del” Bizzell, drives engagement strategy and ensures that shelter guests and tenants have a forum to provide feedback and to have their voices heard.
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Lyndia Downie President & Executive Director
Summer Edition|Lyndia Downie has served as Pine Street Inn’s President & Executive Director since 2000 and on Pine Street’s staff for 40 years, working in roles throughout the organization. As a result of her leadership and vision, Pine Street is now the largest provider of permanent supportive housing for individuals moving out of homelessness in New…
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Chris Frangolini — Associate Director of Unit Acquisition and Landlord Engagement
Spring Edition|Chris is the associate director of unit acquisition and landlord engagement for the Place Me Home program, managing the housing search for placements into non-Pine Street-operated properties. Place Me Home matches chronically homeless individuals with permanent housing that fits their individual needs, whether providing case management support, assisting with first and last month’s rent, or…
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Sean Ahearn — Daytime Outreach Operations Manager
Spring Edition|As Pine Street Inn’s daytime outreach operations manager, Sean Ahearn prepares case managers and clinicians to serve Boston’s unsheltered community on the street. “I’m sure many have heard the term “outreach” used. If you turn the word around, it defines exactly what we do. We reach out,” says Sean. “Our role is to meet humans…
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August is Black Business Month
Summer Edition|August is a time to acknowledge and celebrate the more than 3 million Black-owned businesses across the country and their important contribution to innovation, entrepreneurship, diversity and the economy.
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Justice LaForest — Triage Supervisor
Summer Edition|Justice LaForest is Pine Street’s triage supervisor, focusing on finding alternatives to shelter for guests.
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Betul Gaffari
Summer Edition|Originally from Istanbul, Turkey, Betul Gaffari (she/her) came to Boston to attend Boston College. She learned about Pine Street Inn through BC’s Pulse program, which teaches students about social justice, by having them fulfill a volunteer service requirement.
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Juneteenth
Summer Edition|This year marks the third anniversary of the Juneteenth holiday in the US. Juneteenth commemorates the June 19, 1865, proclamation of freedom for the enslaved people in Texas which was the last state of the Confederacy with slavery. While Juneteenth is considered the “longest-running African-American holiday” and has been called “America’s second Independence Day,” it…
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Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month
Spring Edition|Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month is observed in the United States during the month of May and recognizes the contributions and influence of Asian Americans and Pacific Islander Americans to the history, culture, and achievements of the community in the United States.
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Zoraida Batista – Housing Placement Specialist
Spring Edition|Zoraida is one of Pine Street Inn’s housing placement specialists, helping shelter guests secure housing to move back into a community.
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Josh O’Brien – Senior Director of Emergency Shelters
Spring Edition|As Pine Street’s senior director of emergency shelters, Josh O’Brien works to meet the needs of our guests across four shelters. After almost 30 years of providing services to those experiencing homelessness, Josh aims to make an impact one day at a time.
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Johnnisha “JoJo” Willis – Using Life Lessons to Help Others
Spring Edition|For Women’s History Month, we highlight Johnnisha “JoJo” Willis. JoJo is a supervisor at Yawkey House, Pine Street Inn’s shelter for women. She is dedicated to helping homeless individuals, drawing on a deep well of empathy from having personally experienced homelessness.
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Tara Snider – Director of the Men’s Inn Shelter
Spring Edition|For International Women’s Day, we highlight Tara Snider. Tara has been with Pine Street Inn for seven years. While she has held various positions, Tara is currently the director of the Men’s Inn shelter and works to improve our guests’ experience.
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Women’s History Month
Spring Edition|Women’s History Month is a celebration of women’s contributions to history, culture and society in the United States. In 1981, Congress passed a resolution establishing a national Women’s History Week. Six years later, the National Women’s History Alliance successfully petitioned Congress to expand that event to the entire month of March.
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Black History Month
Winter Edition|Black History Month was unofficially started in 1915, 50 years after the Thirteenth Amendment abolished slavery in the United States. That year, the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History was founded to research and promote the achievement of Black Americans and other people of African descent.
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Women’s Inn renamed “Yawkey House”
Winter Edition|On Jean Yawkey’s 115th birthday, we celebrated the Yawkey Foundation’s $15 million gift to Pine Street Inn with the dedication of our women’s shelter to “Yawkey House.”
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The Ninety Nine Restaurants’ Annual Have a Heart Fundraiser
Winter Edition|We are thrilled to partner again this year with 99 Restaurants for their annual Have a Heart fundraiser. From February 5 through February 11, 2024, 48 locations in eastern Massachusetts and Salem, NH, are raising funds for Pine Street Inn.We are thrilled to partner again this year with 99 Restaurants for their annual Have a…
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Martin Luther King, Jr. Day
Winter Edition|Martin Luther King Jr. Day is observed on the third Monday of January each year to honor one of the most important leaders in U.S. history.
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Celebrating Kwanzaa
Winter Edition|The PSI People of Color Coalition (POCC) Committee is committed to promoting diversity and acceptance of People of Color within the organization through education and by sharing our experiences with our peers. As a result, we would like to take this opportunity to share the history of Kwanzaa.
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Tina Cheek — Resource Center Supervisor, OPHP
Winter Edition|Tina Cheek is the Resource Center Supervisor at Pine Street’s Rapid Engagement Center. Tina supervises a staff of six, who are dedicated to ensuring that shelter guests have access to resources such as phones, computers and staff who can assist them in finding a job and housing.
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Season of Celebration
Winter Edition|Pine Street Inn is expanding the number of holidays that we observe during November and December as we acknowledge and celebrate the diversity of our guests and staff.
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National Hunger & Homelessness Awareness Month
Winter Edition|“There is no one simple answer to why people become homeless, and no one size fits all solution. At Pine Street Inn, we work every day to move individuals off the street, out of shelter and back to a home and community.”
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Annmarie Smith — You Can’t Give Up, and Neither Will We
Fall Edition|Annmarie began her Pine Street Inn career sixteen years ago working on the facilities team. Her commitment to helping others led her to become a residential counselor in shelter and then a case manager at a permanent supportive housing site for formerly homeless women.
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Will Ayala — Compliance, Property Management
Fall Edition|Helping us celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month is a member of our Pine Street Inn team. Will, a Boston native, has family ties to both Puerto Rico and Spain. Growing up, Will lived in tight-knit communities in Dorchester and the South End that were a melting pot of people from Puerto Rico, Cape Verde and more.
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Mominul Islam — Making a Difference Through Data
Fall Edition|Mominul Islam is a data analyst with Pine Street’s Department of Program Evaluation. In his role here, Mominul works to tell the story of Pine Street through data, while improving processes to ensure that the organization has solid data for the most accurate reporting.
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Katelyn Anderson
Summer Edition|Katelyn Anderson, Pine Street Inn’s director of men’s stabilization and the MATCH program, has always had a passion for working with the most vulnerable populations.
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Incorporating Metabolic Risk Factor Education into iCater
Spring Edition|Metabolic syndrome is when three or more risk factors co-occur. The combination of hypertension, high blood glucose, abnormal cholesterol/triglyceride levels and obesity can result in the increased risk of heart disease, Type II diabetes, stroke, and death.
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MassHealth Redetermination Helps Pine Street Guests Stay Covered
Spring Edition|As COVID-era automatic renewals for MassHealth end, thousands of people across Massachusetts are at risk of losing their health care coverage. As a response, Pine Street launched the MassHealth Redetermination Campaign to assist people in retaining coverage.
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Tai — “I’m a connector. That’s my gift.”
Summer Edition|Tai Irwin, one of Pine Street Inn’s employment and stabilization specialists, is a member of the team placing our workforce development trainees in jobs following their graduation.
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Joanne James — A Light in a Dark Place
Spring Edition|Joanne James has been with Pine Street Inn since 2016, working in various roles, including with the Triage team that works to prevent people from becoming homeless. Joanne is currently the director of Yawkey House, where she works to build a team that focuses on making the lives of our guests better.
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Claire Peterson – Moving People from the Streets to a Home
Spring Edition|Claire Peterson, LCSW, is an outreach clinician with Pine Street Inn’s . Now in her second year with Pine Street, Claire has found her calling.
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Allie Cantaffa: WFD Employment & Stabilization Specialist
Winter Edition|Allie is the definition of a “team player.” As a Workforce Development job placement specialist, Allie works with our food service and housekeeping trainees to help them find employment following completion of the training program.
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A Conversation with Wayne Thomas
Winter Edition|Wayne Tomas has worked as the morning Men’s Inn supervisor for the past three years — anyone walking through the front doors can tell that his positive energy is contagious. “I enjoy interacting with the guests and being hands-on. The more I see someone who is feeling down, the more I want to build them…
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Everybody Has a Story
Fall Edition|Every person here — our guests, tenants, staff, donors and volunteers — has a story of how Pine Street Inn has touched their lives. We hope you enjoy learning about just a few of these stories.
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Leo Adorno
Fall Edition|Leo Adorno, director of housing placement for Pine Street’s “Place Me Home” program, has been a part of the Pine Street Inn team for 29 years, working in roles numerous roles throughout the organization.
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Eric Runs Again for Pine Street Inn!
Fall Edition|Eric has been a monthly donor – an Innkeeper – for about three years now. Last year, Eric was part of our Boston Marathon team, and ran a marathon distance during the BAA’s ‘marathon week’ which was virtual due to the global pandemic. This year, he is lacing up his sneakers again for Pine Street…
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David is running a seventh time for Pine Street Inn!
Fall Edition|Whenever I’ve volunteered, I’ve been impressed how dedicated and professional everyone is. There is tremendous pride in their work, and I’m proud to run 26.2 miles this year in honor of Pine Street.”
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Pine Street Inn: From 1969 to Today
Bonus Content|“When others turn away, Pine Street Inn has been there to help — from 1969 to today.”