Charlestown: Good Neighbors

When asked about Charlestown’s Bridgeview Center, Dafna Krouk-Gordon began by talking about why she founded Toward Independent Living and Learning (TILL) in the first place.

She described how the origins of the old state institutional system dated all the way back to the 1800s. By the 1970s, she said the system had deteriorated and 8,000 people were being “warehoused” simply because they were different, first because society wanted to protect them and later because society wanted to be protected from them.  She talked about how dismantling this system triggered the building of a new community-based approach focused on a person’s abilities rather than their disabilities. She said Bridgeview is the latest example of her organization’s efforts to help people with developmental disabilities become “a vital part of a neighborhood and community.”

Built on City of Boston land next to Bunker Hill Community College, Bridgeview is a new five-story building with 61 affordable apartments and 6,000 square feet of commercial space that is slated to house a pharmacy. It has 17 one-, 29 two- and 15 three-bedroom apartments for low-income families, some who are taking care of family members with disabilities. It also has a five-bedroom group home for residents who receive services from the Department of Developmental Services. Bridgeview was funded primarily with federal and state low-income housing tax credits. MHP provided a $3.9 million permanent loan from its bank-funded loan pool.

The group home is located on a floor with other conventional apartments. Its door opens into a much larger space, with a kitchen-dining room area to the right and a long interior corridor to the left leading to five bedrooms, all with large windows that look toward Bunker Hill Community College and the Boston skyline.  “We design our homes in an open concept flow of private and common spaces rather than create bedrooms centered around an administrative or medical office,” said Krouk-Gordon, whose organization serves over 2,000 people and operates 55 residential properties throughut eastern Massachusetts.  

The opportunities Bridgeview provides can be seen through the eyes of Michelle Simpson, a 42-year-old Revere High School graduate who lives in the group home. This is her first apartment. When we visited, she showed us her room. She talked about her weekly schedule, which includes working at Meals on Wheels in Medford, swimming at the nearby YMCA on Mondays and Wednesdays, and Zumba classes on Friday. She showed us the bowling and track medals she won in regular weekend activities with residents of the other TILL houses.

At night, she looks forward to gathering with her fellow residents for dinner. On our visit, she set the table while the staff cooked dinner. When it was time to eat, she pulled up a chair next to her friend Vincezna, grabbed a spoon and served Vincenza first. That gesture of kindness and thoughtfulness is exactly what Toward Independent Living and Learning fosters in all its homes.

“This might not happen if they were living in segregated settings,” said Krouk-Gordon. “When people live with each other, it creates opportunities for them to be good neighbors.”