Wayside Youth & Family Support Network receives funding from the Boston Children’s Route 128 Community Health Initiative
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
August 11, 2023
Contact: Betsy Freedman Doherty
774-287-6418 (cell)
Betsy_FreedmanDoherty@WaysideYouth.Org
Wayside Youth & Family Support Network receives funding from the Boston Children’s Route 128 Community Health Initiative
Framingham, MA. August 11, 2023. Wayside Youth & Family Support Network has received $147,651 over three years from Boston Children’s Hospital as part of the hospital’s Route 128 Community Health Initiative. The funding is designed to help advance the health and well-being of children and families.
Empowering Caregivers for Generational Change will provide short-term parent and caregiver skill-building consultations and community programming in Waltham and Needham to
increase caregiver’s awareness of children’s mental and behavioral health development (both strengths and needs) and support caregiver’s ability to respond to behavioral and mental health needs of youth. The Clinical Director of Wayside’s community-based site in Waltham, Elizabeth Garreau, will be overseeing this project.
The grant to Wayside Youth & Family Support Network is part of Boston Children’s total commitment of $15.1M over the next seven years (2023-2029) to aid community organizations and agencies in their efforts to support underserved children, youth, and families in the communities of Brockton, Framingham, Needham, Quincy, Randolph, Waltham, and Weymouth. An initial $7.7M has been distributed to funded partners for use over the next three to four years and is focused on two key areas – Mental Health and Well Being and Flourishing Families.
“Wayside is very grateful to Children’s Hospital for this substantial funding that allows us to provide enhanced support and education to parents and caregivers with the goal of achieving greater emotional health and wellbeing,” says Sara Mcabe, LICSW, Wayside’s President and CEO.
“We are so pleased to broaden our community health commitment even further to children and families outside of Boston. Through the Boston Children’s Route 128 Community Health Initiative, we will support organizations that are addressing the mental and behavioral health concerns of children and youth, as well as ensure that parents and caregivers have the capacity to build a strong future for their families,” says Shari Nethersole, MD, Vice President for Community Health and Engagement. “The hospital has long recognized that one of the best ways for us to make a difference is to partner with others in the community. This is now an incredible opportunity for us to encourage collaboration and strengthen the connections between these organizations. We hope this funding will promote partnerships, allow them to grow in new ways, and create an even stronger network of support for children and families.”
About Wayside Youth & Family Support Network: Founded in 1977, Wayside Youth & Family Support Network is a non-profit, nationally accredited human services agency headquartered in Framingham, Mass. dedicated to building strength, hope and resiliency through its family-based outreach services, residential treatment programs, and community-based counseling services to thousands of children, youth and families throughout Eastern and Central Massachusetts. To learn more about Wayside, please visit www.waysideyouth.org.
