West Broadway Neighborhood Association and community partner House of Hope Community Development Corporation have been awarded individual Dexter Donation Grants to start a collaborative pilot program this summer at Dexter Training Ground.
The Dexter Training Ground Outreach Pilot Program will use peer outreach workers to engage individuals experiencing homelessness or housing instability in the area of the Dexter Training Ground. Outreach workers will assess needs and advocate for connections to appropriate resources and supportive services, including housing, healthcare, income, and immigration assistance.
The pilot program has the twofold goal of 1) assisting individuals who are homeless or housing insecure in the Dexter Training Ground area; and 2) ensuring that the park remains a safe and welcome space for all. Work is focused on building partnerships and relationships, respecting diversity, and forming solutions.
The Dexter Donation is a trust established in 1824 under the will of Ebenezer Knight Dexter "to ameliorate the condition of the poor, and to contribute to their comfort and relief." It is fitting that the Dexter Training Ground Outreach Pilot Program will focus on the very land that Ebenezer Knight Dexter bequeathed to the city and on which his statue now stands.
Learn more about the history of Ebenezer Knight Dexter's life and philanthropy in this article reprinted by permission of the New England Historic Genealogical Society.