Residents Services Overview
Springfield Housing Authority Manager of Resident Services Pamela Wells oversees a staff of 16 dedicated men and women whose aim is to help residents improve and manage their daily lives. The philosophy behind the mission is to provide services that help improve and create self-sufficiency, and enhance living situations. Residents who have questions or need help may call 737-9376 for referral to the proper in-house service or, in some cases, to an outside agency.
Families will find a solid network of services and help for a variety of situations. Services are aimed at helping parents and children from infancy to adulthood, with a special focus on enhancing educational opportunities. After-school and summer programming is also provided for youth at seven family developments.
For adults, the authority focuses on education and job training. Our GED and English-As-A-Second-Language programs are offered at the Deborah Barton Neighborhood Network Center, at John L. Sullivan Apartments, 160 Nursery St. Programs are free and open to all, regardless of tenancy. The authority also provides workshops and help with financial and computer literacy, career planning and placement, nutrition training, and more.
For senior and disabled residents, the authority provides services that will help people age in place and live comfortably. Staff is always on hand to help with any issues that may arise. Often, outside agencies visit to help residents maintain their living situations. Speakers visit to help educate residents on issues like health care, fostering community, and more.
Neighborhood Network Center
Located at the John L. Sullivan Apartments in the Liberty Heights section of the city, the Deborah Barton Neighborhood Network Center provides services for adults, families and children.
The center is open Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., and is open to Springfield Housing Authority residents as well as the public. It is located at 160 Nursery Street.
The center includes a computer lab, where classes are offered aimed at improving computer literacy, English speakers of other languages (ESOL), and employment search skills such as resume writing and interview preparation. There is also a GED class that runs 15 hours per week.
The center runs twice-weekly play groups for young children.
The after-school and summer programs are run by the YMCA of Springfield, Monday through Friday afternoons.
The center also has a Behavioral Health Network clinician on site that works with families, as well as with families at Boland and Dorman elementary schools.
For information, call 413-785-1562.
Senior Services
The Springfield Housing Authority includes six developments with 1,337 units that are home to elderly and disabled residents, and services are offered at each location to help residents live independently and stay in good health.
SHA housing developments for elderly and disabled residents are Forest Park Manor, Gentile Apartments, Jennie Lane, Morris Apartments, Riverview Apartments and Tri-Tower Apartments.
All SHA housing for elderly and disabled residents host regular programs aimed at promoting good health, including exercise classes, visits from health professionals, and classes that focus on nutrition and independent living.
In some cases, outside groups or agencies visit to provide services. Some outside providers are the Springfield Department of Elder Affairs, Jewish Family Services of Western Massachusetts, University of Massachusetts Extension Services, and Peabody Resident Services.
Some developments have programs specific to those locations. For example, Forest Park Manor has weekly walking group, where residents walk through and around the nearby Forest Park in friendship and for good health. At Riverview, several residents have formed a community garden, where they grow and harvest fresh vegetables and herbs
Youth Programs
The Springfield Housing Authority has developed a new program aimed at helping teens and young adults complete their education, do well in school, enrich their lives, and get jobs.
At Robinson Gardens, a 136-unit family development, former high school counselor Jimmie Mitchell works on weekday afternoons with about two dozen young men and women in their teens and early 20s. Daily activities include working on establishing positive personal relationships, working on applications for jobs, school or training programs, and meeting an array of needs to keep or get participants on track toward productive lives.
In the fall of 2012, the youth program formed a collaboration with the YEAH! Network, or Youth Empowerment Adolescent Health Network, and its Teen Leadership Program, which trains and educates youth leaders in sexual reproduction, health, advocacy, community mobilization, public speaking, and more.
The SHA hopes to expand the youth program to other family developments, as part of its ongoing quest to bring residents to self-sufficient and productive lives.
Mitchell holds formal meetings on Tuesday afternoon, when he speakers visit to talk about careers, life choices, and other things aimed at helping the teens and young adults. The program also includes educational field trips, and youth group members helping out with SHA activities such as back-to-school events and other family programs.
The youth program, in its second year, has shown success, with many participants actively employed or, in some cases, back to school or in training after having left high school before graduation. Some have gone off to college.
Talk/Read/Succeed! is a collaborative program that unites two Springfield Housing Authority developments – John L. Sullivan Apartments and John I. Robinson Gardens—with two city elementary schools, Edward P. Boland and Hiram L. Dorman—in an effort to boost early literacy.
Funded primarily with a grant from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation and guided by the Davis Foundation, T/R/S! marshals a broad-based coalition to bring lasting and positive changes for SHA families and the Springfield community.
- Boost parent involvement in their children’s early literacy and education.
- Improve access to early education and smooth transition to kindergarten.
- Expand participation in summer programs.
- Promote family stability, self-sufficiency, and health.
- Align social and family services for easy access.
Some two dozen local agencies participate, including United Way of Pioneer Valley Square One, Springfield Education Association, and the Regional Employment Board of Hampden County, the Springfield Parent Academy, the Behavioral Health Network and the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children.
The program goal is to make children successful readers starting from the earliest ages and extending through grade three. To accomplish this ambitious goal, Talk/Read/Succeed! provides an array of programming and services to adults and children of all ages, under the philosophy that children succeed best when their families learn good child-rearing skills and receive support at every turn.
In just two years, T/R/S! has shown success in empowering parents to participate in the early literacy process, and with children. The Hasbro Summer Learning Initiative has proven successful in boosting or retaining reading levels when most children slip back while school is out.
Farris Mitchell Scholarship
Applications Now Available
Applications are available in guidance offices at all city high schools, by writing to Jimmie Mitchell, care of the Farris Mitchell Scholarship Committee, 186 Arcadia Boulevard, Springfield 01118, or by emailing him at jmitchell@shamass.org. The deadline to apply is May 1.
The Farris Mitchell Scholarship provides two one-time, $1,000 scholarships to qualifying Springfield Housing Authority residents who are going to college.
The scholarship, begun in 1995, was named after a man who lived for many years with his wife and 10 children at Riverview Apartments in the Brightwood section of the city.
Mitchell, who died in 1994, loved children, and instilled in his own children and many others a desire to improve their future through education. All of his children finished high school and several went on to college.
The scholarship is administered by an SHA committee that includes Farris Mitchell’s son Jimmie Mitchell, a retired Springfield educator who is now youth engagement coordinator at the Springfield Housing Authority.
The Farris Mitchell Scholarship was awarded in June 2012 to Taylor Smith, who graduated from New Leadership High School and is attending Westfield State University.
Families living in Springfield Housing Authority developments will find there are programs for their children after school and during summer vacations.
After-school programs focus on homework and schoolwork first, and then on entertaining and frequently educational programming to keep children productive and busy. Activities include arts and crafts, cooking, computer work and fun, self-defense classes, and more.
Summer programs include similar activities, and frequent field trips to parks, museums and more, to further enrich summer experiences.
Programs are ongoing at Duggan, Marble Street, Moxon, Pine-James, Reed Village, Riverview and Sullivan apartments.
Program providers include the YMCA, Square One, Springfield Girls’ Club Family Center, and ADC Prevention & Associates.
For information, contact the manager at your development.