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Patrick announces $1m grant for Freedom House, Civil Rights icon

E-mail | Print | Comments () Posted by Roy Greene November 17, 2010 04:36 PM

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By Meghan Irons, Globe Staff

The Freedom House, an icon of the Civil Rights era, got a lifeline today as Governor Deval Patrick announced a $1 million grant to revive the aging social service agency.

Patrick said the $1 million challenge grant from MassDevelopment represents a "new chapter" in the 61-year legacy of the Freedom House, which plans to tear down its current three-story site and erect a new facility on its Crawford Street property near the Roxbury-Dorchester line.

"The Freedom House is important,'' said Patrick at the center yesterday. "It's important historically, but it's also important in the here and now. ...We need programs and opportunities for programming in this community as we do in communities all over the Commonwealth."

Gail Snowden, whose parents founded the Freedom House and who now runs the Grove Hall center, said the money will go toward the $3 million the agency needs for its new building.

Freedom House was founded by black social workers Otto and Muriel Snowden, who were champions of education and civil rights. In its prime, the Freedom House was one of the only place where blacks and their supporters could gather to find their voice against unjust policies and build a can-do attitude in their community.

In 1974, after US District Court Judge W. Arthur Garrity Jr. ruled that Boston must integrate its schools, community leaders, parents, and residents huddled in the Freedom House to help shape city policy. But over time, as more nonprofits and social agencies flooded the city, the Freedom House found itself struggling for funding and recognition.

The $1 million grant is provided through the MassDevelopment's Community Service Loan Fund, launched last year to provide low-cost loans and grants to help struggling service agencies like the Freedom House repair their facilities.
Snowden, who took over leadership at the center about two years after a 36-year banking career, said she is seeking out alums of the Freedom House who are now adults to rally to save it.

She said tearing down the Freedom House is bittersweet, but critical to its future.

"We are going to tear this building down, which for me is very emotional because my parents started Freedom House and I spent many years here,'' Snowden said. "But I'm also a pragmatic realist and the cost of renovating something like this is just way too much."