ESAC
Administration
Sustainable
Homeownership Center
3313 Washington Street
Second
Floor
PO Box 4
Jamaica Plain
MA 02130
voice: 617.524.2555
fax: 617.524.2430
ESAC is a community-based, nonprofit, multi-service agency that strives to improve the quality of life for residents of Boston and eastern Massachusetts, particularly the young and the old, through innovative programs in homeownership, education and community service. ESAC helps identify problems that threaten individuals and communities, and work in partnership with other agencies to find creative, long-lasting solutions. By sending forth ripples of hope, ESAC serves as a catalyst for strengthening neighborhoods and building communities.
Highlights
ESAC has often served as the wellspring from which other community programs flow. The Jamaica Plain Neighborhood Development Corporation, Urban Edge and Oficina Hispana are among the initiatives that were launched by ESAC.
As the lead agency in the development of the Greater Egleston Community High School (GECHS), an innovative, community-based Boston public school, ESAC has been the prime mover in supporting the operations of the school since it opened in 1992.
ESAC convened the Community Housing Task Force, composed of community-based advocates and representatives of the public and philanthropic sectors. The Task Force helped identify critical housing needs, change public policy, and develop new programs. Successful programmatic outcomes included the Boston Citywide Land Trust, the Renters Revolving loan Fund, and the Freddie Mac Foreclosure Prevention Pilot Project;
ESAC spearheaded collaborative efforts to offer a new general equivalency diploma (GED) program in Boston neighborhoods. Funded by the City of Boston, the program is a partnership with Roxbury Youthworks and Federated Dorchester Neighborhood Houses.
For three consecutive years, ESAC has received an award from the Massachusetts Housing Finance Agency (MHFA) as the top producer in its "Get the Lead Out" program.
History
Founded in 1965 as the Ecumenical Social Action Committee by community and church leaders in Jamaica Plain, ESAC incorporated in 1968 and became a nonprofit organization serving the needs of vulnerable residents, particularly the old and the young. In 1999, the Board decided to adopt a new tag line - Ensuring Stability through Action in our Community - to more accurately reflect the organization's mission and update its community identity.
ESAC is a longtime United Way agency and receives support from charitable foundations, corporations, and contracts with various government agencies.
Overview
Today, ESAC continues to serve as a catalyst for positive social action, responding to the needs of its most vulnerable residents and working in partnership with like-minded organizations. Because safe and sustainable homeownership and individualized, dynamic education can build strong communities, ESAC's efforts are concentrated in these areas.
Sustainable Homeownership
- Foreclosure prevention counseling helps homeowners threatened with the loss of their home. ESAC counsels families and works with lenders to develop strategies that will affordably sustain homeownership.
- Through ESAC's senior homeownership services, eligible seniors receive assistance to complete minor repairs and home rehabilitation projects so they may continue to live safely and independently in their own homes.
- Housing
court advocacy helps homeowners resolve issues in Boston Housing Court.
Homeowners can make their properties lead safe with ESAC's help in accessing MHFA zero percent deferred loans and reduced-interest home improvement loans. - WiseBuys
home purchase assistance program helps eligible families make a successful
and sustainable home purchase.
Education and Youth Opportunities
- In an ongoing partnership with the Greater Egleston Community High School (GECHS), ESAC provides students with an array of support services, including student case management, arts programming and other enrichment programs.
- ESAC
offers GED classes and support services for young adults.
Community Building
- ESAC facilitates the work of the Egleston Square Coalition with more than 30 member agencies that share information and resources for the benefit of the neighborhood.
- ESAC serves as fiscal agent and provides general management support for the Dominican Festival and Cultural Committee.
- ESAC is facilitating the community process to turn a currently vacant and troublesome lot in Egleston Square into a public park.
Selected Outcomes
ESAC's foreclosure prevention efforts were responsible, in part, for the 16 percent drop in citywide foreclosures between 1998 and 1999.
Since 1992, ESAC's lead paint abatement efforts have resulted in an increase of approximately 700 lead safe housing units in the city of Boston.
GECHS has graduated 140 "at-risk" students since its opening in 1993, with over 65 percent going on to post-secondary education or training.
Forty-two young adults have earned their GED at ESAC's program since it began in 1998.