Children’s Services of Roxbury
Children’s Services of Roxbury is MassHealth’s only
Black-specialized children’s behavioral health provider— delivering care through therapy, school-based programs, and family support
Each year, CSR provides affordable early education
to 600 families and supports over 60 small business owners
offering home- and center-based childcare
CSR also provides emergency and transitional housing
to 1,100 children and families experiencing homelessness in the Boston area
Children’s Services of Roxbury was founded in 1972 by community and church leaders, Reverend Richard Richardson and Mrs. Jestina Richardson, to prevent children of color from being removed from their home communities when placed in foster care. Fostering 25 children themselves, the couple built a network of multicultural families across the state to follow their example. In decades to follow, Children’s Services of Roxbury has grown and evolved to meet community needs.
Today, the organization provides wraparound annual services to over 6,000 of Massachusetts' most vulnerable residents through a wide breadth of programs. Their Behavioral Health program is the state’s only Black-specialized provider of children’s behavioral health services, supporting more than 3,000 children and parents across the state. In response to the escalation of family evictions due to Roxbury’s continually increasing rents, their Housing and Stabilization program aids over 1,000 homeless children and parents each year. In addition, they provide early education and care for children in Boston and Worcester. Their center-based care in Roxbury utilizes evidence-based and trauma-informed curriculums to prepare children academically and emotionally for kindergarten. In recent years, CSR developed youth development programs, including Hip Hop Therapy, a Young Adult Access Center for youth aging out of the foster care system, and Youth Purpose and Partnership -aimed to expose and connect young people to STEM career opportunities.
Since Partnering with The Lynch Foundation
In 2021 Children’s Services of Roxbury, acquired its 57,000-square-foot headquarters stretching a city block in Roxbury. This purchase signaled to the Roxbury community that they are forever invested in the children and families who live there.
In 2022, CSR launched a capital campaign to renovate and expand their facility.
The Foundation was excited about the opportunity to help Children’s Services of Roxbury grow their programming by 25%, and serving an additional 1,500 children and parents annually.
The Lynch Foundation’s two-part grant includes a challenge grant component. The Foundation saw the challenge grant as a vehicle to enhance Children’s Services of Roxbury’s fundraising efforts and attract other local funders to support the campaign.
The expansion resulted in increased early education programming by 42%, reaching 132 children at full capacity, a dedicated space for a resource center for families in crisis serving 400 families, and an expanded space for CSR’s youth program serving an additional 200 young people.
The Foundation continues to support this organization by funding its mission of bringing peace of mind to children and families across Massachusetts through many outlets and programs.
