New England Grassroots Environment Fund

Group Resources

Information on Garden Products Health and Safety

Group Details

The Welcome Project is a community-based initiative that began in the Mystic Public Housing Development of Somerville, Massachusetts in 1987. As new residents were arriving from Haiti, Central America, Viet Nam and other parts of the world, many were victims of discrimination and harassment. The founders of the Welcome Project, a dedicated group of tenants and community members, came together to welcome and support our new residents. Over the past twenty one years, the organization has evolved to work with the immigrant community throughout the city, while continuing to be closely linked with Mystic Housing residents.

The group, located in Somerville (MA), received its latest Boston Grants Initiative grant in March 2009 to take important next steps to: to engage more than 50 youth in hands on workshops, field trips, and education that will promote the participation of youth and their families in preserving, protecting, and planning for the resources in their local environment. With more than $3 million in new landscaping improvements in the Mystic Public Housing Development, as well as projects in the neighborhood that will impact the quality of life of local residents, the group seeks to focus its efforts on engaging young people from low income immigrant families at the Mystic to become stewards of their own local ecosystem.