LGBTQ Senior Housing, Inc, along with supporters and community members, earlier this month commemorated a $1 million capital grant award from The Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation. This two-year capital grant is the first $1M foundation grant the organization has received. This grant will close the funding gap in the construction and adaptive reuse of the historic landmark in the heart of the Hyde Park community where The Pryde, the first LGBTQ senior housing project in the state, is being build.
Gretchen Van Ness, Executive Director of LGBTQ Senior Housing, said, “We’re grateful for this important gift, which is vital to completing our beautiful new home here in Hyde Park and delivering on our mission of providing welcoming and affordable senior housing. As the first LGBTQ-affiriming and welcoming affordable senior housing in Massachusetts, our mission is more urgent than ever, especially in the current political climate.”
LGBTQ Senior Housing offered the media and guests a progress update on The Pryde affordable senior living community in the form of a hard hat tour of the renovation of the former Rogers School. (See photos.) The Pryde will feature 74 units – a mix of studio, 1 bedroom and 2 bedroom apartments – where LGBTQ seniors over age 62 can age as their whole selves, with dignity, joy and compassion. The Pryde is scheduled to open to residents in March of 2024, with a ribbon-cutting ceremony tentatively scheduled for June of 2024, as part of Pride month.
Aileen Montour, President and co-founder of LGBTQ Senior Housing, said, “This meaningfulgift allows us to complete the construction costs of the building, which enables us to focus our fundraising efforts moving forward on operations, services, and programming. We’ve raised over $3.5M so far, which we’re immensely proud of, especially as a young organization, but with House Republicans voting to strip $825,000 in Community Project Funding for The Pryde, we need community support now more than ever.”
In addition to affordable senior housing, The Pryde Will serve as Boston’s only LGBTQ community center for people of all ages, within the building’s 10,000 square foot Community Center, which includes a classroom, library, and art exhibition space. The Community Center will be a vibrant public gathering space offering a diverse array of services and programming for residents, Boston’s LGBTQ community, and Hyde Park as a whole, including a community meals program, a multipurpose space for neighborhood meetings and events, and office space for the 54th Regiment, a volunteer-run organization committed to preserving the history of the African American soldiers who served during the Civil War and trained in the Readville section of Hyde Park.
— from an LGBTQ Senior Housing, Inc. press release
More: lgbtqseniorhousing.org
Not a subscriber? Sign up today for a free subscription to Boston Spirit magazine, New England’s premier LGBT magazine. We will send you a copy of Boston Spirit 6 times per year and we never sell/rent our subscriber information. Click HERE to sign up!
