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Northeast Community Center reports 11,000 families served, expands housing stability and workforce programs
Summary
Northeast Community Center leaders described a range of neighborhood services — from a housing-stability initiative and workforce-development coffee kiosk to a proposed mixed-use project at 3011 Wellesley that would include evening and weekend child care — and said they served more than 11,000 families last year.
Leaders of the Northeast Community Center (NECC) presented a biannual update to the committee, detailing services, partnerships and special projects focused on northeast neighborhoods.
Dave Richardson, executive director, and Jenna Rae, associate director, said the center sits on the Hilliard Community Campus and reported it served more than 11,000 families last year with about 120,000 units of service that included medical, dental, pharmacy, nutrition, child care and early-childhood-development programs. They reported delivering more than 17,000 hours of behavioral-health and therapy service through a partner clinic.
The NECC described several initiatives: - A housing-stability program (funded in part by ARPA and philanthropic partnerships) that offers case management, direct assistance and financial coaching. The center said household expenses in the program decreased by about 25% on average and that families increased savings and access to benefits through coaching. - A workforce-development coffee kiosk that serves as an on-site job-readiness training program in customer service and cash handling; the kiosk is expected to fully launch within weeks. - An ADU (accessory dwelling unit) test-bed project on center-owned property to study barriers and best practices for permit and construction processes for small-scale infill housing. - Support for a proposed mixed-use project at 3011 Wellesley, where the Development Authority is pursuing a mixed-use building with bottom-floor childcare and housing above; NECC and partners are seeking partial state funding to support the childcare component and cited local employer and nonprofit backing.
Why it matters: NECC’s programs aim to link housing stability, workforce readiness and youth programming to neighborhood health and mobility. NECC leaders emphasized resident-driven planning: a resident steering committee helps set annual priorities and programming.
Staff and board members also highlighted the center’s role in coordinating with schools and community partners on out-of-school-time programs (before/after/summer), early-learning supports and financial-opportunity services. NECC said roughly 70% of participants in some programs are people of color and about one-third are English-language learners.
Closing note: NECC leaders asked the committee for continued partnership where city funding intersects program and facilities needs and highlighted an EPA grant application for safer sidewalks, protected bike lanes and bus stops that would improve neighborhood connectivity if awarded.
