On Earth Day, Wednesday, April 22, middle schoolers from East End House, Frisoli, and Gately Middle School programs visited the Charles River for an invasive species removal project. The programs partnered with the Charles River Conservancy, a non-profit organization that works to make the Charles River parklands more attractive, active and accessible to all. John Broderick from the Charles River Conservancy greeted the 15 young people, two community volunteers, and 4 staff memebers who participated with a lesson on the riverbed and the importance of invasive species removal. The group then set to work, in the midst of rainy weather, removing the invasive plants that would otherwise out-compete all other plants on the riverbed. The project encouraged the biodiversity that is vital to the long-term health of the riverbed.

The youths' work received a glowing report from the Charles River Conservancy, who stated that "the students were impressive, inquisitive, hard working, and largely impervious to setbacks such as less-than-ideal weather." The youth celebrated on May 29 with a family trip to two local urban farms and a family dinner to appreciate their hard work.

Michael Delia, President and CEO of East End House, was named to the Board of Directors of the United Neighborhood Centers of America(UNCA). UNCA is a national organization of neighborhood-based member agencies, all of which have roots in the settlement house movement. It was started by Jane Adams in 1911 to meet the unique needs of community centers that developed across the country as a grassroots solution to meet pressing community needs. Today, UNCA operates all across the country and is dedicated to serving as a forum for agencies to collaborate and advocating for policy initiatives that strengthen opportunities for the most vulnerable and that strengthen the fabric of entire neighborhoods.

East End House is proud to trace its roots to the settlement house movement, and for more than 134 years has been providing holistic services that strenghen Cambridge families, individuals, and the community as a whole. As a member of the UNCA Board, Delia will work to strengthen the infrastructure among community centers that are essential to the well-being of many communities across the nation.

East End House recently received a Transformational Science Grant from the Biogen Idec Foundation who awarded three of these grants to agencies across the country. The funds will be used to launch Generating and Evaluating New Adventures in Science After School (GENASAS) in our Middle School Program. The program uses interactive classroom curriculum, field trips to local companies, guest speakers, and mentors from the field to get youth excited about Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) and to expose them to careers they may never have considered. Classes like Food Science, All About Composting, and Robotics teach concepts in fun and relevant ways. The programming will be documented and evaluated by Program in Education, Afterschool, and Resiliency (PEAR), a group out of Harvard University and McLean Hospital who specialize in out of school time programming. The rigorous evaluation will help pull out best practices so the progarm plan, curriculum, and other materials can be widely disseminated. "The support from the Biogen Idec Foundation will help us to significantly expand and create new apporaches to bringing science to Middle School youth in engaging, creative and enriching ways and to serve as a model for other programs," said Michael Delia, President and CEO of East End House.

East End House, in collaboration with the United Way of Massachusetts Bay and Merrimack Valley, created a STEM Volunteer Toolkit as a guide for businesses and agencies to engage with one another to help youth get excited about science and technology. Additional funding for this project was provided by the Amgen Foundation.

On Friday, Jan. 16, East End House held its first MLK Day of Service, sponsored by the Massachusetts Service Alliance. Seventeen youth from the Middle School Program, alongside eight community volunteers and eight East End House staff members, performed service through the East Cambridge community. While many others were starting thier long weekend, the youth, volunteers and staff gathered at the Kennedy-Longfellow School for an Invocation. The group congregated around a projector screen displaying Dr. King's famous "I Have a Dream" speech. Students reflected on various activities over the past week, which had provided context for understanding Dr. King's ideals.

At the Community Supper to close the event, staff and youth reflected on the event over Italian food catered by La Hacienda Restaurant. The event was so successful that the residents and service coordinators at the housing complexes asked the youth back for more fun and games, and the seniors boasted about the work done in their homes.

The youth expressed interest in continuing the spirit of service through connecting with local residents and lending a hand. East End House is planning to coordinate similar service opportunities for its youth and the community each season.

To celebrate the spirit of the day, East End House, in collaboration with the Massachusetts Service Alliance, the Cambridge Police Department, the East Cambridge Crime Prevention and Community Policing Group, and the East Cambridge Planning Team, held a Community Ice Skating Party on Tuesday, Jan. 27, at the Kendall Square Community Ice Skating Rink on 300 Athenaeum St. in Cambridge. The Community Ice Skating Event served to expose and celebrate the service performed on Friday with the community. Skating and dinner was free to all who attended, and there was a barbershop quartet, hot cocoa, homemade chili, and hot dogs.

East End House recently accepted a national Family Strengthening Award from the Annie E. Casey Foundation and United Neighborhood Centers of America. The award, presented at its National Policy Summit in Washington, DC, is given to six organizations in the country. The Family Strengthening Award recognizes community-based agencies that offer innovative programs to connect families to essential services and engage them in their community. President and CEO Michael Delia accepted the award and sat on an expert panel aimed at sharing innovative approaches to family support and engagement with community organizations from around the country. "The diversity of programming at East End House allows us to take a holistic approach to engaging families," said Delia. "We are thrilled to receive the recognition."

East End House offers family strengthening activities in all its programming, including a Family Engagement Initiative within the School Age Program, the Child Care Program Family Support Initiative, and community-wide educational outreach and information and referral services through the Community Programs Office.

East End House recently held its annual holiday toy drive and Adopt-a-Family Program. Toys were distributed to more than 700 children, at least 200 more than last year's toy drive. The majority of families who picked up toys were from Cambridge, with all Cambridge neighborhoods represented. The East End House gym was filled with stuffed animals, trucks, dolls, basketballs, baseball gloves, bikes, and anything else a child could want for the holidays. In addition to the toy drive, 38 families, consisting of 67 children and 46 adults, were "adopted" by donors. Every family member received gifts from a wish list they submitted.

The number of children and families who received assistance from the holiday program is an indication that the need for services is growing among residents. East End House saw significant increases in application to both the Thanksgiving Turkey Basket Giveaway and the toy drive this year. Thanks to generous donors, hundreds of families will have a brighter holiday season.

Major corporate donors included: Amgen, Inc., Novartis Institutes for Biomedical Research, Bay State Federal Savings Charitable Foundation, Genzyme, In Graphic Design, Ironwood Pharmaceuticals, Tremont 647, Mirant, East Cambridge Savings Bank, Harvard University, Cushman and Wakefield, Arrowstreet, CPCU Society-Boston Chapter, Boston Properties, ALSTDI, Vertex Pharmaceuticals, Weber Shandwick, Harvard University Wiggglesworth Dorm, Kennedy/Longfellow School, Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow, Garrett and Dunner, LLP, Cleveland Design, Tier One Partners, Pilgrim Congregational Church, MIT Giving Tree, Office Team, and Cigna Healthcare.

On July 11th, Jordan Swain and Jerry Vilbrun, two high school students from Cambridge Rindge and Latin School, sat in the legendary Fenway Park, watching the Red Sox play the Baltimore Orioles. Not only was this Jordan's first Red Sox game; it was the first day of work at Cambridge Innovation Center for both Jordan and Jerry. Tickets to the game were a perk to the unique experience that four Cambridge students enjoyed this summer as the first-ever Interns to work inside the dazzling building located at One Broadway in Kendall Square. Cambridge Innovation Center (CIC) offers a flexible office facility for start-up and emerging companies and provides award-winning facilities and state-of-the-art business and technical services.

CIC collaborated with the Cambridge Challenge — an initiative of the Cambridge Chamber of Commerce Community Outreach Committee, the City of Cambridge's Office of Workforce Development (OWD), and East End House to offer paid summer internships to four teens by recruiting companies within their space to hire these teen Interns. Youth were screened and referred by partner programs such as Cambridge Housing Authority's Work Force and Just-A-Start's TeenWork, as well as the Community Charter School of Cambridge, all of which prepare students for the world of work through training and skill development including resume-building and mock interviews.

Management at CIC worked diligently to secure work placements for the youth. Four innovative start-up companies — New Atlantic Ventures, Pixability, Open Learning Exchange, and CIC itself — all hired Cambridge youth, providing an opportunity for youth to get an inside look at how a business gets its start. Some youth were given Blackberry phones and all were given full access to the state-of-the-art equipment at CIC. Both the youth and their supervisors were oriented to the Internship and provided resources in the form of the CIC Summer Internship Toolkit. The interns also enjoyed the opportunity to sit down with CIC's founder and CEO, Tim Rowe, to learn about the option of pursuing a career as an entrepreneur. They heard Tim Rowe's personal story, in which he started his first business, training adults to use computers, while still in middle school. The group brainstormed ideas for businesses that the interns themselves could start in the future. Employers were particularly attentive to the youths' professional interests and made it a point to connect youth with other companies in their fields of interest. Nephthalie Bernard worked with both Pixability and Open Learning Exchange and expressed an interest in law. Her supervisors provided the opportunity to lunch with a partner from a prestigious law firm in the Kendall Square area and arranged meetings with each company's own attorneys. Zeyu Wang was introduced to a minister to further explore his interest in ministry.

Youth honed essential job skills and gained experience through this collaboration, including marketing research, survey/questionnaire development and administration, data collection and analysis, customer service, and workplace etiquette. One of the youth described the internship atmosphere as "extremely supportive and welcoming from the very first day" and stated that through this experience he has "gained multiple new skills" and has been able to "make connections with some pharmaceutical companies out of CIC" that match his medical career interests.

This partnership is developing programming to extend beyond summer employment and into school year activities to provide creative opportunities for Cambridge youth to learn about entrepreneurship. This collaboration was ignited by the Cambridge Challenge.

The Cambridge Challenge is a multiyear, city-wide initiative of the Cambridge Chamber of Commerce's Community Outreach Committee to bring businesses and youth together as partners in diverse, creative and practical ways. Contributions that professionals might make include conducting mock interviews to help students hone their skills, volunteering to mentor a young person, assisting with a hands-on service project, becoming a guest speaker, employing a young person, and much more. For more information on The Cambridge Challenge call the Cambridge Chamber of Commerce at 617-876-4100.

The Annie E. Casey Foundation and United Neighborhood Centers of America announced today that they have chosen East End House as a 2008 Family Strengthening Award recipient. The award is given to six The Family Strengthening Award recognizes community based agencies that offer innovative programs to connect families to essential services and engage them in their community. East End House offers family strengthening activities in all its programming, including a Family Engagement Initiative within the School Age Program, the Child Care Program's Family Support Initiative, and community wide educational outreach and information and referral services through the Community Programs Office.organizations nationwide, and only two in each of three organizational size categories.

"The diversity of programming at East End House allows us to take a holistic approach to engaging families. We are thrilled to receive this recognition," said Michael Delia, President and CEO of East End House."

Last Sunday twelve supporters and staff of East End House plunged into the Atlantic to raise money for summer camp and childcare programs run by the agency. They were part of a group of over 100 who participated in the New England Network's Polar Plunge for Children.

The water temperature was in the 30's and the air, with the wind chill, was below freezing, but that did not damper the spirits of the plungers, who raced in, dunked, and sprinted back out to the cheering of spectators on the shore. The East End House team included a 10 year old who attends the East End House afterschool program.

The money raised by Team East End House went, in part to support the programs New England Network provides to children and families in the community, and the majority to fund summer camp and childcare scholarships at East End House. The team raised over $5,000, which will help children from low income families have a safe, fun, and educational summer and give young children the opportunity to learn in a safe, nurturing environment while their parents work. According to Michael Delia, President and CEO of East End House,

"This was our first time participating in the Polar Plunge and, in spite of the cold, everybody had a great time and raised money for a great cause. The importance of quality childcare and summer camp cannot be overstated."

It is important to remember that hunger and poverty are issues that affect every neighborhood every day of the year. These are complex issues requiring our attention on both the policy and community levels, and eradicating them will take time and a multi-system approach. More effective and compassionate policies that make it easier for working families to make ends meet are part of the long-term solution. In the meantime, community programs that can meet immediate needs ands serve as a point-of-entry for services are equally important. Community centers like East End House in Cambridge have been filling this role since the 1800s.

There has been a 77 percent increase in the number of households using the East End House Emergency Food Program in the last year, and the majority of families utilizing this service survive on a single income. This is generally not enough to support a family as is evident by the fact that 65% of consumers fall below the Federal Poverty Level. According to Project Bread, a family of four living in Massachusetts needs an income twice the Federal Poverty Level to be economically self-sufficient. The reality for many families is a choice between paying rent or purchasing adequate food.

Too often families in this situation go hungry or purchase less expensive foods that tend to be high in saturated fat and sugar. Here at East End House, we use a holistic approach that includes offering healthier options at the food pantry and in the community. Last year, our Emergency Food Program distributed over 11,000 pounds of groceries including meat, cheese and fresh produce to over 380 households every month, and most of those people receive government benefits such as Food Stamps or Social Security Income. This demonstrates the need for community assistance programs in combating hunger and malnutrition.

In addition to the regular food pantry services, we undertake an annual Thanksgiving Turkey Basket Giveaway to families who could not otherwise afford a Thanksgiving meal. This year we provided over 475 baskets filled with all the ingredients for a festive holiday feast, including a turkey and fresh produce, to families using one of our many services or those referred through a social service agency.

We also provide fresh fruits, produce, eggs, breads, and lean meats to seniors who are not mobile enough to come to the pantry. East End House partners with two low-income senior housing facilities in Cambridge to offer the Free Farmer's Market. Once a month over 200 seniors walk to the lobby of their building to pick out their favorite foods. This event additionally provides seniors with an opportunity to socialize and enjoy some entertainment, including live music and even performances from Shakespearean plays. And through the Infant Needs and Necessities Program, families in need can pick up formula, diapers and many other infant supplies from the Community Programs Office.

East End House strives to provide community services that mitigate the effects of poverty and work towards eliminating hunger in our community. There are many needs that go beyond nutrition. The Emergency Food Program, for example, meets these needs by serving as a referral source for mental health services, government assistance programs and many other services that provide assistance to struggling families and individuals. Sound policies that make it easier for families to reach economic self sufficiency, coupled with community programs that address immediate needs and serve as a point of entry for longer-term services are al part of the solution to eradicating hunger and poverty in our communities.

Michael J. Delia is the President and Chief Executive Officer of East End House in Cambridge.