Who We Are:

Vision.  The vision of Family Service of Greater Boston is to be Boston's premier provider of family development and support services for Boston's poor and working poor families.  We achieve this vision through our sustained commitment to programmatic excellence in the areas of family formation, family wellness and family coping skills.  By embracing the critical role of "community laboratory," Family Service l partners with families by offering services that are innovative, informed by research, practical and support the best of the human spirit.

Mission.  Our Mission at Family Service of Greater Boston is to promote the self-sufficiency and well-being of at-risk families and individuals through provision of innovative, culturally competent, and integrated health and social services, thereby contributing to healthy communities. Family Service is committed to prevention, respect for individual rights to self-determination, measurement of outcomes, and continual service improvement.  In keeping with our Mission, FSGB reaches 5,500 mothers and babies, fathers, grandparents, children, other adults, and teens annually.  We provide high-quality clinical mental health services for children and adults who have been victims of physical and sexual abuse.  We offer substance abuse treatment, family therapy, parenting education, and child protective services to help troubled families stay together and rebuild their lives.  In elementary, middle, and high schools, and in after-school programs across Boston, we offer mentoring for young people, school-based counseling, and prevention services aimed at reducing violence, early pregnancy, and substance abuse.  We work in our communities, in the schools, and in our clients' homes to help prevent long-term crisis, violence, and self-destructive behavior, which could lead to permanent disability and continued social cost.

History.  Founded in 1835—only 13 years after Boston was incorporated officially as a city—FSGB has evolved to become one of New England’s most highly regarded child welfare agencies, offering a comprehensive range of programs and services committed to improving the lives of 5,500 highly vulnerable children, youth and their families annually.  The early charities that evolved into Family Service introduced ideas and methods which inform modern concepts of community service and philanthropy.  Family Service's earliest predecessor, the Boston Society for the Prevention of Pauperism, pioneered the practice of serving needy families and individuals regardless of their ethnic or religious backgrounds.  The Boston Society also was unique for developing the notion of "self-help," offering assistance in finding jobs and housing for the poor.  In 1885, the Boston Provident Association and Associated Charities of Boston organized local charities under one roof, and strengthened the evolving concept, "not alms, but a friend."  In 1953, these and other pioneering charities were incorporated to become Family Service of Greater Boston.

FSGB’s relocation in 1999 from its long-term headquarters on Beacon Hill to a renovated building on the border of Jamaica Plain and Roxbury underscored the agency's commitment and connection to Boston's lower-income urban neighborhoods, where the majority of our program participants reside, and where the need for our intensive crisis intervention, trauma services, risk prevention, and high-quality behavioral health care services is greatest.  In addition, we bring a range of FSGB programs and services to high-risk children and families in diverse communities south of Boston.  The move to a new location was part of a strategic initiative designed to ensure agency relevance and effectiveness into the 21st century.

Among the agency’s greatest strengths is that, even after more than 170 years of service delivery, FSGB remains a vibrant, agile organization able to adapt to increasingly complex human service challenges, and committed to embracing change through a dynamically-evolving mission, innovative programming and redeployment of its resources to its maximize effectiveness.  By the same token, like many nonprofit social service organizations, FSGB annually faces the challenge of securing adequate resources to underwrite the cost of delivering its high value services in an economic environment that has produced steadily diminishing public funding, greater competition for foundation support, and a shrinking corporate community committed to supporting a range of nonprofit organizations and programs.

The threads of the agency’s vision, mission and strategic goals are interwoven through its broad array of programs, which have arisen from a wellspring of substantial research and experience indicating that reduction of harm and risk, prevention of emotional and psychological instability, and early intervention can yield positive outcomes and enhanced life opportunities for children and their families.  FSGB focuses on achieving excellence in three core areas impacting children and youth.

·         Family formation is an effort to achieve and sustain healthy mental, physical, and social-emotional development for children through engaged and appropriate parenting.

·         Family wellness focuses on building families’ skills in conflict resolution and communication to enhance long-term, positive relationships among parents, children, peers, and community members.

·         Developing family coping skills is essential to understand stressors that can lead to family violence, abuse or destructive behavior and to reduce/eliminate them by developing self-management skills and healthy family practices that address negative behavior.

Since its founding, FSGB has carried on the traditions of innovation which characterized its predecessors.  By responding to changing needs, FSGB has continued to meet the needs of city residents struggling to overcome the most damaging effects of poverty, racism, violence and isolation.  While maintaining its focus on assisting members of the community in the greatest need, FSGB programs have evolved to become more inclusive, participatory, prevention-oriented, and committed to proven best practice based on empirical research.