Brookview is….
A BEACON OF HOPE FOR OUR BELOVED COMMUNITY!
We help communities
Thrive!!
Brookview House is a multi-service nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting women, children, and youth experiencing homelessness. By offering safe and affordable housing along with comprehensive support services and programs on site, Brookview House aims to address the root causes of family homelessness. The organization recognizes the unique needs of each family member, including children, youth, and adults, and works to empower them towards social and economic mobility. Through this holistic approach, Brookview House positions families for long-term stability and success.
PROGRAMS
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SAFE AND SECURE HOUSING
Brookview utilizes affordable housing access as a platform to advance social justice, equity and systemic change for low-income others and children. Through a two-generation, culturally responsive, trauma informed program model, our innovative approach reframes housing as a pathway to family and community stability .
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YOUTH DEVELOPMENT
Youth Development Programs offer customized academic, behavioral and social-emotional supports to help school-age children recover from the trauma of homelessness and succeed in school and life.
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BEHAVIORAL HEALTH
Brookview’s licensed mental health clinicians provide onsite services to residential participants and community members. In partnership with graduate level interns from Lesley University and William James College, Brookview delivers culturally competent, trauma-informed individual, group, and family mental health services guided by best practice.
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COMMUNITY BASED SERVICES
Brookview House is committed to supporting all community members who are homeless or at risk of homelessness and helping them remain housed and employed.
WHAT WE DO
H.542/S.341 An Act expanding access to family, friend andneighbor-provided childcare
The problem:
With major workforce development needs in construction, health care, transportation, and other essential industries, the ongoing child care crisis is holding Massachusetts back. Low-income parents and parents of color seeking better career opportunities are unable to find child care that works, especially close to home and open for early or late shifts.
Family, Friend, and Neighbor (FFN) providers, typically grandmothers, are license-exempt and can register for state payment through the child care voucher. But the state pays a maximum of $24 dollars per day for one child in FFN child care. And when families need FFN child care in combination with a formal program, the voucher is not always flexible enough to pay both.
Due to these barriers, less than 1% of state child care subsidy funding goes to FFN providers and the parents and children that rely on them. FFN caregivers, so essential for parents with nonstandard schedules or living in child care deserts, have been left unseen and unsupported.
The solution:
Bills H.456 and S.341, sponsored by Representative Marjorie Decker and Senator Sal DiDomenico, would increase state support for FFN childcare so our most excluded families and caregivers can access care, resources, and opportunities to thrive.
1.Raise FFN provider pay up to the state minimum wage to give parents more child care options and stabilize the providers they know and trust.
2.Fix the childcare voucher so parents can use the full ten-hour daily value for the combination of formal and FFN care that works for their schedules.
3.Promote quality-supportive policies, programs, and practices for FFN child care by establishing a state FFN Advisory Council.
The big picture:
Family, Friend, and Neighbor (FFN) child care has been left out of the conversation, but it is the key to supporting the child care needs of parents seeking workforce development opportunities today, and it is a key building block for the equitable universal childcare system we need in the long term for all parents, children, and caregivers to thrive.
Care That Works (CTW)
The Care That Works coalition is a multiracial, multicultural, multigenerational, feminist, working-class coalition of unions and community groups organizing paid and unpaid child caregivers: parents, relatives and friends, domestic workers, family child care providers, and center-based workers.
Our work is to reimagine, realign, and grow our care ecosystem as a public good to ensure that all care jobs are good jobs and that all forms of care are abundant for all communities.
For more information:
Visit our website at carethatworks.org or email info@carethatworks.org.
Campaign Steering Committee
Community Labor United
La Colaborativa
Brockton Workers Alliance
Brookview House
New England Community Project
Service Employees International Union Local 509
