BOSTON – MassDevelopment has partnered with Eastern Bank to provide loan financing to Children’s Services of Roxbury, Inc. (CSR), a nonprofit that has spent close to 50 years finding homes for children and families across Massachusetts and providing them with wraparound services.
Eastern Bank provided an $8.1 million loan, which MassDevelopment enhanced with a guarantee, to help CSR buy its 45,000-square-foot headquarters building at 504 Dudley Street in Boston’s Roxbury neighborhood that the organization had leased for over 20 years. Gaining ownership of the building allowed the organization to cut its occupancy expenses by $300,000 per year, significantly improving its cash flow and resulting in increased capacity to expand valuable social services to the state’s most vulnerable families.
“The mission of Children’s Services of Roxbury is absolutely vital to protecting the most vulnerable among us, and thanks to the partnership involving MassDevelopment and Eastern Bank, CSR can continue its critical work with the financial flexibility it needs to address economic and social inequities in our communities,” said Housing and Economic Development Secretary Mike Kennealy, who serves as chair of MassDevelopment’s Board of Directors. “On behalf of the Baker-Polito Administration, I want to express my deepest gratitude for non-profits like CSR that continue working tirelessly to protect underserved children and families across the Commonwealth.”
“CSR has spent close to 50 years finding homes for the neediest children and families in Massachusetts, so MassDevelopment is proud to partner with Eastern Bank to help the organization buy its longtime headquarters and ensure it has a permanent home base to continue providing crucial services in the community for years to come,” said MassDevelopment President and CEO Dan Rivera.
“Our longstanding work with MassDevelopment helps to create opportunity and good in our local communities and we are pleased to partner with them once again,” said Pamela Feingold, Senior Vice President and Head of Community Development Lending at Eastern Bank. “Providing Children’s Services of Roxbury with a pathway to owning the building where its headquarters is housed will benefit the organization and we look forward to seeing the positive impact it will have on the families and community it serves well into the future.”
“Children’s Services of Roxbury provides vital support to young people and their families,” said Boston Acting Mayor Kim Janey. “I congratulate them on the purchase of their headquarters that was made possible by support from MassDevelopment and Eastern Bank. I look forward to our continued work to create a more equitable and just city.”
Founded in 1972, Children’s Services of Roxbury, Inc. is one of Massachusetts’ oldest and largest minority-run nonprofits, serving more than 6,000 children and parents of color annually. CSR’s mission is to support children and families across Massachusetts through services such as housing for homeless families, culturally attuned behavioral health services, foster care for abused and neglected children, affordable child care for homeless children, and youth development programs.
“Because of MassDevelopment and Eastern Bank, we put a permanent stake in the ground in Roxbury,” said Children’s Services of Roxbury President and CEO Sandra M. McCroom. “MassDevelopment’s guarantee reduced our down payment to 10%, enabling our purchase and thus cementing a historic moment for the CSR community. We are looking forward to renovating the building, expanding the access and opportunity for resources to the thousands of children and their families who pass through our doors each year. The aim is to offer the highest quality, culturally congruent, trauma-informed programming possible. The families we serve deserve nothing less.”
