From rich and diverse spiritual traditions we:

• address the needs of society's forgotten people
• challenge the structures that create violence
• offer alternatives to the attitudes that perpetuate suffering

Haley House is a lean, feisty non-profit, started in 1966 in Boston's South End. Originally providing basic necessities, we have gradually developed new ways to address the other challenges faced by the people we serve. Our strategy is to mobilize resources to support people in their move toward economic independence and meaningful lives - through these endeavors:

The Haley House Bakery Training Program is designed to promote self-sufficiency for underemployed people with barriers to employment, such as CORI constraints. (The baking field is one of the few in which persons with criminal records can find gainful employment.) The Haley House Bakery Café is an expansion of the Bakery Training Program.

Noonday Farm in Winchendon Springs, a model for sustainable living, grows organic vegetables and flowers to distribute to people of limited means.

The Food Program includes ten meals a week served in our south End soup kitchen to homeless men and to men and women 55 and older, and also a weekly food pantry. Fresh produce and whole grains are emphasized.

Housing Haley House owns and manages forty one units of low income housing in the South End, and owns and manages 69 units of low income housing in partnership with Madison park Development Corporation.

The Residential Community is an intentional community of 6 to 9 people who have chosen to live simply and engage deeply with the poor. The community members oversee many of our services and receive room and board in exchange. This approach provides Haley House with a resource of effective, highly motivated staffing that could not be subsidized with traditional compensation packages.

Other Services include a weekly clothing room for homeless and disadvantaged men, enrichment programs for at risk youth, immersion experiences and internships for college students, and three weekly AA meetings.

• Food: 40,000 meals each year as well as a weekly food pantry-with an emphasis on fresh produce, whole grains and respect
• Noonday Farm: distributes 16,000 pounds of organic produce, eggs and wild flowers each year while living gently on the land 
• Residential Community: six to nine people living simply and engaging with the marginalized while overseeing a variety of services and bringing a spirit of non-violence to their work and the larger society
• Housing: 107 units of permanent housing throughout the South End for individuals and families, incorporating tenants in the management
• Whats Up Magazine: an award winning, independent media outlet for alternative arts, a voice for social justice, and a dignified supplemental income for vendors who become part of a community of creative young people

New Initiatives:

1. G.R.E.A.T. Program (Gang Resistance Education and Training)
A Cooking Program for Teens at Haley House Bakery Café with Boston Police Officer Bill Baxter, Chef Didi Emmons, and a rotation of Guest Chefs

Prejudice: A rigid attitude based on FALSE beliefs and misconceptions in which new information does not change one's mind.

The mindset of gangs flies in the face of what we teach here: that most people come from a mixed background and that generalities, while tempting to make, cannot be made about anything we encounter. Food can teach us to overcome resistance and negativity to something new (which is our inclination) by yielding to exploration or curiosity so that the truth can reveal itself. Using food as the vehicle, the teens come to understand that it is through hundreds of years of ethnic integration that complex, delicious cuisines are formed. Learning to overcome pre-conceptions of unfamiliar foods and dishes through cooking is an excellent tool in learning how to overcome or shed resistance and prejudice in other parts of one's life. Learning what is actually in the mind versus what is on the tongue is a good way to understand how our mind can fool and limit us.

3. Culinary Skills and Creative Writing Classes
Haley House conducted Culinary Skills and Creative Writing classes with at risk students from The McKinley School during the 2005-2006 school year.

The inspiration to develop the classes came from our experience in the soup kitchen. We have come to understand that many of the people who are in need of our services, as well as other social services, had difficulty in school and were unprepared to be independent after high school. This realization led to our goal of providing some at risk students with a supportive setting, along with practical knowledge and skills that will help make their future self-sufficiency possible, with the aim of eliminating the potential future need for services such as Haley house offers.

Our neighbor, The McKinley School, is the ideal setting to provide this type of opportunity, as it is a BPS Alternative School, which serves students who are unable to succeed in traditional classrooms. Many of the students are from difficult home settings, including foster care.

The administration was supportive of these two pilot programs. State educational mandates have compelled the school to eliminate the vocational training that was formerly part of McKinley's curriculum due to the high percentage of students unable to attend post-secondary education. Our program emphasized one-on-one relationship building, using the content as an opportunity to get to know the students in a non-threatening environment. The classes were held twice weekly from September until June and the instructors - members of Haley House's Residential Community - were able to form strong, mentoring relationships during the year.

The classes were a resounding success. The students in the Culinary Classes developed a sense of ease with the instructors and the entire community who live at Haley House - so much so that they invited everyone to taste their creations at the end of each class! They finished the year with confidence in their skills and a solid relationship with the Haley House community. One of the students is considering applying to the Haley House Bakery Training Program. The Creative Writing Classes collaborated with our Whats Up magazine and published the work of ten very proud students. The school administration was enthusiastic about the program inviting us back for the next school year with a request that we consider offering classes on additional topics.

The charism which influences all our work is both practical and intensely spiritual - without any particular religious character. All of our programming embraces our firmly held belief that every person is worthy of respect and dignity. To that end we strive to provide opportunities for relationship building and one-on-one interactions which necessitates keeping our endeavors small in scale. Over its 40 years, Haley House has attempted to craft models that impact the larger community as well as the individuals in specific programs.

The aroma of fresh baked bread transformed our neighbors into an avid customer base whom we served in a tiny shop carved from Haley House's soup kitchen. As interest in our high-quality bakery products spread, cafes and specialty food stores became wholesale clients. Sales from the bakery business supported the development of our formal Job Training. The program was a natural evolution of our mission to the disenfranchised, providing underemployed individuals and those with barriers to employment such as CORI constraints, the necessary skills to move towards self-sufficiency..

Last updated June 17, 2008