Business

Sherrill House CEO Selected as Chair of State Board of Registration of Nursing Home Administrators

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Patrick J. Stapleton, Chief Executive Officer of Sherrill House, a not-for-profit skilled nursing and rehabilitation center, has been unanimously elected chair of the Massachusetts Board of Registration of Nursing Home Administrators, the state body that licenses and regulates nursing home administrators. Stapleton, a national leader in the long-term care profession, will be serving under his third administration when Governor-elect Maura Healey takes office in January. He was first appointed by Gov. Deval Patrick to the board, which protects the health and safety of nursing home residents by ensuring that administrators adhere to quality standards and continuing education. He was reappointed by Gov. Charlie Baker. “I am honored to serve as chair of the Board of Registration of Nursing Home Administrators and am humbled by the confidence my peers have shown by electing me to lead us through what are certainly very challenging times,” said Stapleton, who served as Vice Chair from September 2021 to September 2022.

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Nonprofit

Congresswoman Pressley Celebrates Community Servings’ 11th Million Meal Milestone

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Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley recently visited Community Servings to celebrate the Jamaica Plain nonprofit's 11th million meal served. “This is a unique model that meets the needs of individuals who are vulnerable and isolated, those that are terminally or chronically ill, that shows that food is also medicine. The fact that they have 100 volunteers a day helping at Community Servings is really a testament to just how many people care,” said Pressley after visiting on Sept. 8. “Community Servings is celebrating our 11 millionth meal, which we prepared from scratch in our kitchens in Jamaica Plain.

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Nonprofit

Spontaneous Celebrations Benefit Golf Tourney Returns Sept. 22

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The second annual golf tournament to benefit Jamaica Plain nonprofit Spontaneous Celebrations will tee off on Sept. 22. This year’s tournament will be held at Franklin Park's William J. Devine Golf Course, and will be followed by a BBQ dinner, complete with prizes, and a raffle. The raffle includes four of the Red Sox tickets. Details on how to purchase raffle tickets are online.

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From the Community

Non-Profit Helps Those in Crisis, Victory Programs, Opens Headquarters in Jamaica Plain

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Victory Programs (VPI), a Boston-based non-profit which offers housing, prevention, and recovery services to individuals and families in crisis, has acquired a building at 404 South Huntington Ave to serve as its administrative hub for the more than 20 programs they operate across the Greater Boston area. “We’re happy to be in JP, a neighborhood that has always had compassion for those in crisis," said Executive Director Sarah Porter. "It feels great to be working surrounded by activists, advocates, and friends.”

VPI’s finance, development, communications, volunteer program, human resources, and administrative support staff now work from the new location, along with the agency’s senior leadership. These functions have moved from Victory Programs’ building at 965 Massachusetts Ave. to make way for a new navigation center for unhoused women and trans and non-binary people in the heart of the city’s Mass & Cass area.

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Nonprofit

Jamaica Plain Bethel Math and Science Scholars Join Save the Harbor for Swimming on Spectacle Island

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Twenty-nine kids from Jamaica Plain-based nonprofit Bethel Math and Science Scholars recently set sail to Spectacle Island as part of Save the Harbor/Save the Bay’s free All Access Boston Harbor program. In total seven organizations brought 260 kids to Spectacle Island on Aug. 3. The groups gathered in the Leader Bank Pavilion in Boston’s Seaport where Save the Harbor’s Historian, David Coffin, told kids about the island's history. Coffin spoke about how Spectacle Island was a dumping ground for Boston’s trash, burning continuously for more than a decade.

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Nonprofit

Bikes Not Bombs Doubles Bicycle-Based Training, Employment Opps for Black and Other Marginalized Youth

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Jamaica Plain nonprofit Bikes Not Bombs is reimagining new ways to use the bicycle as a vehicle for social change to achieve economic mobility for Black and other marginalized youth from Boston’s most under-resourced neighborhoods. Through a recently formalized, multi-tiered Youth Pathways program, Bikes Not Bombs is addressing the critical need for safe, supported spaces where young people can connect, build hands-on skills, and develop meaningful, long-term employment plans. The longtime fixture in Boston’s bicycle community will broaden its reach by expanding its physical footprint and deepening its impact on young people by integrating case management and therapeutic support into its youth development model. This work is unfolding at a time when the COVID-19 epidemic has significantly amplified experiences of isolation and self-doubt among young people everywhere, particularly Black and other marginalized youth. This year Bikes Not Bombs teamed up with Children’s Services of Roxbury (CSR) to open a new Bike School “Hub” on Dudley Street in Roxbury this spring.

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Community Servings

Free Cooking Classes for Kids from Community Servings

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Local non-profit Community Servings is offering free weekly cooking classes for children 9 to 13 on several Fridays including July 22. Valerie Machinist, Director of Nutrition and Client Services at Community Servings, passed along the following info. During Kids Kitchen kids will learn basic cooking skills, recipe exploration, nutrition education, and kitchen safety. Kids will learn about healthy after-school snacks, fruit and veggie smoothies, baked mozzarella sticks, oven-baked chicken fingers, and healthy desserts, among others healthy and delicious recipes developed by our registered dietitian nutritionists. This program is open to children ages 9-13 who are accompanied by an adult. Proof of vaccination and masks are required for all participants entering the building.

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From the Community

Community Servings Appoints New Chief Financial Officer

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Community Servings, a Jamaica Plain nonprofit provider of medically tailored meals and nutrition services and a leader in “food is medicine” research, advocacy and policy, announced the appointment of Silifa Wallace, CPA, MBA as Chief Financial Officer. Wallace, who most recently served as the Chief Audit Executive for Boston University, brings more than two decades of experience in internal audit management, financial reporting, accounting and risk management to Community Servings. “Silifa assumes a very important position on our executive team, particularly as we continue to grow our mission and expand our relationships with payers and other health care partners,” said David B. Waters, CEO of Community Servings. “Her experience will be a tremendous asset as she oversees our stellar team of finance professionals.”

Prior to joining Community Servings, Wallace served as the Associate Vice President for Internal Audit & Advisory Services at Boston University, providing guidance on risk and audit issues to the Board of Trustees and senior leadership. Previously at BU, she oversaw a team as Director of Clinical Finance for the Henry M. Goldman School of Dental Medicine.

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Attorney General

AG Reaches Settlement with JPNDC & Management Company for Not Accommodating Young Child with Asthma

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The state's Attorney General's office settled with the Jamaica Plain Neighborhood Development Corporation and a large property management company for violating the state's anti-discrimination and consumer protection laws to make a reasonable accommodation for a young child with asthma, despite repeated requests from the child's parent and medical team. According to the AG’s settlement with Peabody Properties, a property management company, and the apartment’s owner, JPNDC, the two companies allegedly failed to adequately address secondhand smoke that was seeping into the young child's apartment. The companies also failed to mitigate a serious rodent infestation in the building that was aggravating the child’s asthma. Peabody Properties serves as property manager for JPNDC’s family rental housing. The two companies initially provided air purifiers for the family’s unit at the time they moved in, but the air purifiers did not stop the presence of secondhand smoke in the unit and the child suffered serious medical consequences as a result. Requests from the child’s parent and medical team to transfer to a non-smoking unit as further reasonable accommodation were ignored, and the child’s health worsened as a result.

Peabody Properties and JPNDC agreed to pay the family $35,000 in restitution, and implement no smoking policies across all of JPNDC's affordable housing units, announced Attorney General Maura Healey on June 8.

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