What We Do

Community support is vital in every neighborhood. MPDC partners with residents and other agencies to promote the community support goals of Roxbury.

MPDC has been actively engaged in public safety and violence prevention efforts for over 15 years as a key component of its comprehensive community and economic development efforts. Through its Community Support initiatives, MPDC strives to implement creative, resident-driven, and coalition-based solutions to community violence and other public safety challenges in the Roxbury neighborhood, particularly the Nubian Square/Lower Roxbury areas MPDC’s affordable housing footprint is most significant. We work in close partnership with various partners and collaborators, including the Boston Public Health Commission, Whittier Street Health Center, the Orchard Gardens Resident Association, and MPDC’s property management partners, including WinnResidential and Trinity Management, and their teams of Resident Service Coordinators.

How We Do It:

Village in Progress (VIP)

MPDC has been the lead agency for the Boston Public Health Commission (BPHC)-funded Violence Intervention and Prevention (VIP), otherwise known as the “Village in Progress” program in the Orchard Gardens and Madison Park Village communities of Roxbury, since 2008. VIP includes intensive violence prevention and community capacity-building efforts undertaken by cross-sector neighborhood coalitions. The five prevention goals of VIP include:

1) Each Resident-led VIP Neighborhood Coalition recognizes and promotes neighborhood assets as it determines the needs and issues of the neighborhood;

2) Children and youth are engaged in positive activities, developing leadership skills and taking leadership roles in the neighborhood;

3) Residents have equitable access to resources necessary for physical and emotional wellness; 4) The physical environment of the neighborhood encourages outdoor activity and social connection;

5) When incidents of violence occur, community members lead public actions that shift norms and expectations about violence and promote community building.

Roxbury Neighborhood Trauma Team

Through the Roxbury Neighborhood Trauma Team, MPDC partners with Whittier Street Health to provide a continuum of services to individuals, families, close friends, and communities impacted by community violence. Three key elements of this continuum are:

1) individualized services to immediate family and friends of impacted individuals;

2) outreach, community engagement, information, and, as needed, referral services for the broader community as a whole; and

3) behavioral health and related support services to community members of all ages vulnerable to lasting adverse effects of exposure to violence. Responses are initiated in cases of gun-related homicides, any shooting or stabbing incident that impacts more than one victim and/or someone under the age of 18, or any traumatic event that impacts the broader community (for example, the suicide or accidental death of a youth or young child).

Community Building Events and Activities

MPDC works to foster a safe, vibrant neighborhood environment through multigenerational events like National Night Out, family movie nights, and community forums and dialogues. MPDC also holds monthly public safety meetings, connects residents and other community members with key health, education, and employment resources, and engages Block Captains, a team of resident leaders who conduct street outreach and serve as important liaisons among the community, MPDC, and other external public safety stakeholders.

To Learn More, Please contact Lydon Vincent /  617.849.6227

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