OUR PROGRAMS
Transitional Housing Program
St. Mary's Center's Transitional Housing Program “First Home,” is housed on our Dorchester campus. With the intentional focus of working with young families on positive transitions, First Home provides access to one-and two-bedroom apartments paired with continued wrap-around support services for 12 young mothers and their child(ren) transitioning from the Young Parenting Living Program.
First Home supports young families in their independent living on-site for an additional two years. This step-down model, offering a comprehensive, wrap-around model of support for up to two years ensures success in transition for the most vulnerable families, being young families of color, on their route to permanent, multi-generation stability and drastically lowers, if not eliminates, return to homelessness. Young mothers navigate increased independence while caring for their child, establishing two generations of stable futures.
100% of young moms who live in St. Mary’s Center’s Transitional Housing program are 100% stabilized after moving into permanent housing with no return to homelessness.
What We Do:
First Home provides wrap-around services to young families transitioning out of Massachusetts’ Young Parenting Living Programs (YPLP) and supports these families in their independent living in apartments on our Dorchester campus for up to two years.
This step-down model, offering a comprehensive, wrap-around model of support for up to four years ensures success in transition for the most vulnerable families, being young families of color, on their route to permanent, multi-generation stability and drastically lowers, if not eliminates, return to homelessness.
By the Numbers:
- 100% of First Home residents are pursuing advanced (post-high school) degrees, compared to the national statistic that only 50% of teen mothers obtain a high school diploma by age 22.
- 100% of the young families moving through St. Mary’s Center’s continuum of support, from Young Parenting Living Program, to First Home transitional housing, to permanent housing, remain stably housed with no return to homelessness.
"The process of being in a shelter is difficult; it is long, but it makes you mature and overcome challenges... to get to the top, you must start from the bottom.”
"Brianna," former St. Mary’s Home resident