Today we’d like to introduce you to Shaheer Mustafa and Barbara Duffy.
Founded in Roxbury, MA in 1964, HopeWell is responsible for creating the first community-based residential program for boys in Massachusetts. In the 1970s, the agency became involved in foster care by setting up a series of specialized foster homes to provide long-term placement and treatment for children. At the request of the Department of Public Welfare (now called the Department of Children and Families or DCF), the agency began to recruit and train families who could take into their homes children who would otherwise spend their young lives in traditional group care facilities or orphanages. Today, HopeWell provides a variety of programs and services to individuals and families throughout Massachusetts and in and around Hartford, CT.
HopeWell’s mission is to enrich the lives and expand the opportunities of individuals and families in need of love, support, and safe places to grow and thrive.
Programs and Services: HopeWell’s Intensive Foster Care Program serves the most difficult-to-place youngsters in a family-based setting. This program serves approximately 1,000 children and adolescents annually. Our Residential Services for adults with disabilities provides 9 staffed apartments in Boston, Brookline, Dorchester, and West Newton for approximately 30 adults with developmental disabilities. The Family Support and Stabilization Program partners with intact families who are involved with DCF to avoid out of home placements or parents to facilitate reunification with their children. Our Newburyport residential Pregnant and Parenting Teens Program serves up to 11 teenage mothers – all of whom are in the custody of DCF – who come to us pregnant or with babies. The new My First Place program provides Transition Aged Youth, those aging out of the foster care system (ages 18-22) with stable, secure, housing and case management supports to enable them to become self-sufficient, responsible, healthy adults.
Most recently, the organization has reinvented itself with a new name, HopeWell (formerly DARE Family Services) and has assembled a new Executive Leadership Team led by Shaheer Mustafa as President and Chief Executive Officer. Working in partnership with HopeWell’s Board of Directors, the agency is working to create a three year strategic plan that will help guide the organization through planned and deliberate growth.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Like any non-profit agency, the road has not always been smooth. However, our work with children and families in the foster care system has been done in a comprehensive, thoughtful way so that we are seen as leaders in the field. Our staff’s responsiveness to those we serve be it a foster parent or an adult with a developmental disability is so timely, professional and comprehensive that we have been looked to as a thought partner in the field.
Growing an organization to scale takes extensive dedication and effort and in our 50+ year history, our success has resulted in continued growth. We are currently at a crossroad where we would like to diversify our funding as we work to access more private funds that can support our foster children as they age out through our innovate efforts with My First Place, an initiative of First Place for Youth in California. We know the needs of this population and believe that with a mix of foundation, corporate and individual giving, we can become a solution for the thousands of young adults who age out of foster care each year.
Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about HopeWell, Inc. – what should we know?
HopeWell is a 54 year old non-profit agency with eight program offices across Massachusetts, an administrative office in Dedham and a program office in East Hartford, Connecticut. We are best known for our work with Intensive Foster Care (IFC) where we serve the most difficult-to-place youngsters in a family-based setting. Each year, our IFC program serves approximately 1,000 children and adolescents. In the Boston area, we also provide residential services for approximately 30 adults with developmental disabilities located in 9 staffed apartments in Brookline, Dorchester, and West Newton. Our Family Support and Stabilization Program partners with intact families who are involved with the Department of Children and Families to avoid out of home placements or parents to facilitate reunification with their children. We also have a location in Newburyport which is a residential program for pregnant and parenting teens supporting up to 11 teenage mothers – all of whom are in the custody of DCF – who come to us pregnant or with babies. Our newest program, My First Place provides Transition Aged Youth (those who age out of foster care between the ages 18-22) with stable, secure, housing and case management supports to enable them to become self-sufficient, responsible, healthy adults. We are extremely proud of being selected as the first national expansion site for My First Place as we know how critical this program is for those who age out of foster care. We are also proud of our deep, extensive history working in partnership with the Massachusetts Department of Children and Families. We also know from our foster parents that what separates us from our competitors is our 24/7 care to all those young people, families and adults that we serve. To foster a child with HopeWell gives you a full team who is there to support you throughout the journey.
Is there a characteristic or quality that you feel is essential to success?
I think the primary driver of success for us at HopeWell is that we have a purpose-driven culture. We are considered leaders in the field and we own a tremendous sense of obligation to those we serve. Over the past five decades, we have built upon what we do well and have improved upon those areas of weakness. We have embraced a culture of feedback and teamwork that permeates in our entire workforce. Our team of managers is tireless in their efforts to maximize resources that work to ensure successful outcomes for those we serve. We work to problem solve together and we use our collective experiences, knowledge and best practices to drive our organization’s growth and development.
Contact Info:
- Address: 3 Allied Drive, Suite 308
Dedham, MA 02026 - Website: http://www.hopewellinc.org/
- Phone: 617.629.2710
- Email: bduffy@hopewellinc.org
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/hopewell1964
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/hopewellinc.org
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/hopewellinc
- Other: HopeWell, Inc.
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