• About Us
• History
• Board of Directors
• Letter from the Executive Director
• Perspective Through Pictures

The South Boston Neighborhood House was founded in 1901 as part of the “Settlement House” movement. The House’s mission is to support family and neighborhood life in South Boston. Community residents affectionately refer to the Neighborhood House as “The Ollie” after its founder, Olivia Buckminster James.

Throughout the years, the Neighborhood House has maintained its mission, designing participant driven programs that respond to evolving needs. The Neighborhood House has been an unwavering source of support to the neighborhood over the last century as the community has grappled with wars, economic recessions and depressions, street crime, suicide and drug epidemics.

Today the Neighborhood House reaches 3,000 individuals annually with a comprehensive array of offerings that extend from early literacy and preschool education to educational and life skills support for school age and adolescents to programming for seniors. Its programs are designed to reach and nurture every resident of South Boston – from all economic levels.

Two of the most telling accomplishments in the South Boston Neighborhood House’s last decade are:

Its leadership role in forming a coalition of South Boston nonprofits, so that community-based organizations, as a force, can better address the needs of the community. For example, the South Boston Association of Non-Profits has provided the foundation for a community-wide initiative to combat the neighborhood’s substance abuse problem.

Its incubation of a tenant association and tenant-driven social services programming located at the Old Colony Housing Development which is predominantly minority. The Old Colony Initiative includes the Neighborhood House’s signature programs such as Mom and Me Literacy Focused Playgroups, after-school programming and special events.

The mission of the South Boston Neighborhood House is to support family and neighborhood life in South Boston. With the constancy of its work since 1901, the Neighborhood House has been a significant source of stability to the neighborhood and will continue this mission when it moves into its new home – a move that will only be possible with the help of many organizations and people like you.

In 2006, the Neighborhood House seized on a once in a lifetime opportunity – one that couldn’t have come at a better time. The Archdiocese of Boston sold the Neighborhood House the Gate of Heaven parish hall, allowing the Neighborhood House to more fully realize its mission just as the call for services has never been greater. Through the renovation of the parish hall, the Neighborhood House will realize its dream of housing its primary services in an accessible, safe and modernized facility.

The new South Boston Neighborhood House must be built to accommodate teen participants during the vulnerable after school and evening hours and to safely and adequately meet the needs of the changing family and neighborhood in South Boston. Its $3.5 million capital campaign will be funded primarily through private sources.