STRIVE Boston, an agency that provides individuals who have been out of the workforce with training and job placement, will merge with Justice Resource Institute, a Massachusetts-based human services agency that provides trauma-informed care to children and adults across the Northeast, the boards of both organizations announced last week. The merger takes effect immediately.
“The work done by STRIVE Boston on behalf of many individuals who have traditionally been viewed as difficult to employ and to help them to get and keep good jobs is both an extension of, and a complement to, the services provided by JRI,” said Andy Pond, JRI president. “Employment is a critical piece of the puzzle in our work in educating traumatized youth and helping them to heal, and we believe the resources that STRIVE can bring to that work will enable career success for many that we serve. As an agency, this merger also strengthens our connection to Boston’s neighborhoods.”
STRIVE Boston was founded 20 years ago and its workforce model includes job readiness training, financial literacy, computer literacy, GED instruction, college prep courses, and opportunities to pursue a college education. It has two training centers, one in Dorchester and the other in Roxbury. From 1994 through 2013, STRIVE Boston graduated 4,428 adults from training and placed 4,187 adults in full-time jobs.
“The merger will enable us to serve not only more individuals, but a broader array of individuals as well,” said STRIVE Boston’s Executive Director Charmane Higgins, who will remain in her role while also taking on the title of vice president for employment and vocational services at JRI. “JRI is able to provide the clinical interventions to help its clients recover from trauma, and STRIVE Boston can now work on creating competencies that will help these individuals to move forward and succeed in the workplace.”
JRI has a longtime — and growing — presence in Boston, including clinical, home-based and day services for a broad range of children and adults, as well as varied residential educational services. The organization also serves individuals with developmental disabilities across the region in both residential and community settings.
STRIVE Boston will maintain its two sites and program staff are expected to remain in place.
