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Committee hears grantee reports: Unidos helpline, mentoring and housing supports highlighted
Summary
At the July 8 Healthy Neighborhood Advisory Committee meeting staff summarized 2025 grantee reports: Unidos reported about 1,700 helpline calls and ~145 families helped; Big Brothers Big Sisters described new matches and committee members asked about mentor supports; Heart Room described year-long housing support for a family. Members also reviewed summer events and outreach plans.
Committee staff provided a series of grantee updates at the Healthy Neighborhood Advisory Committee meeting on July 8, summarizing services delivered in 2025 and raising several follow-up questions the committee asked staff to pursue.
The Catholic Multicultural Center (now merged with Catholic Charities) reported food distribution and community programming across Fitchburg neighborhoods; staff said the center reached dozens of residents in priority neighborhoods and reported programs such as family nights, parent groups and school-based STEM activities.
Committee members read into the record figures for Unidos, a bilingual helpline: "2025 marked a record year for calls to the Unidos bilingual helpline, which received approximately 1,700 calls" seeking support, safety planning and access to services, and Unidos provided emergency financial assistance to roughly 145 families to help prevent eviction, homelessness and utility shutoffs, a committee member read. The committee asked staff whether those counts could be parsed down to Fitchburg-only recipients; staff said some grantees do not collect city-specific counts.
The committee also reviewed Big Brothers Big Sisters' report. Staff summarized that the program strengthened about 35 matches in priority neighborhoods, created new community-based matches and reported improved socioemotional and educational indicators for youth served. Several committee members questioned whether mentor supports and out-of-pocket costs were budgeted; staff said the organization's submitted budget did not include a dedicated line item for mentor reimbursement and suggested the committee could request follow-up details.
Heart Room described a case where its assistance kept a Salto-neighborhood family housed for a year; members praised the deep, sustained impact of that support and asked about the organization's transition plan once emergency supports taper off.
Members closed grantee reporting with a request that staff collect follow-up information where data were missing (for example, Fitchburg-specific participant counts) and then share specific questions with grantees by email. The committee also used the meeting to highlight summer neighborhood events — community dinners, mobile food distributions and Parks Alive events — and asked staff to circulate an events calendar and reminders.
Next steps: staff will follow up with grantees that did not submit full data (Root to Rise was noted as missing), request clarifications on budget line items (mentor supports) and attempt to obtain Fitchburg-specific participation counts where feasible.
