BROCKTON, Mass., June 24, 2021 – Father Bill’s & MainSpring (FBMS), a regional leader of services to prevent and end homelessness, has received two grants totaling $600,000 from the Arbella Insurance Foundation in support of a pair of trailblazing initiatives in Quincy and Brockton.
As part of the Foundation’s ongoing efforts to support the local community, the Arbella Insurance Foundation awarded FBMS two distinct grants of $300,000. One grant will support FBMS’ Housing Resource Center project in Quincy, and the other will support the agency’s plan to convert an underutilized hotel in Brockton into 69 permanent supportive housing units for formerly homeless individuals.
“We are incredibly grateful to the Arbella Insurance Foundation. For the past three decades they have been champions of our mission, stepping up year after year to assist the most vulnerable members of our community,” said FBMS President & CEO John Yazwinski. “The Housing Resource Center in Quincy and the hotel-to-housing conversion in Brockton are going to be game-changers in our communities and the first of their kind in Massachusetts. The Foundation has long believed in our vision to end homelessness on the South Shore and across Southern Massachusetts, and these two grants will help move us closer to that goal.”
Last year, the Arbella Insurance Foundation played a vital role in FBMS’ early response to the COVID-19 pandemic, offering to match up to $50,000 in donations to FBMS. For many years, the Foundation has been a leading sponsor of the agency’s annual FoodFest fundraiser and employees from the Arbella Insurance Group have volunteered at FBMS’ emergency shelters.
“Father Bill’s & MainSpring has been a beacon of hope on the South Shore,” said John Donohue, chairman, president and CEO of the Arbella Insurance Group and chairman and president of the Arbella Insurance Foundation. “These two initiatives will have a direct, positive and meaningful impact on the local community. We’re grateful for the opportunity to support FBMS in its mission to make the world more equitable by ending homelessness.”
FBMS’ Housing Resource Center in Quincy aims to transform how the agency assists individuals experiencing, or at risk of, homelessness by replacing its existing overnight emergency shelter with two new buildings consisting of a new day center, an emergency shelter, and on-site efficiency apartments. The new approach would dedicate more staff and resources to homelessness prevention efforts and rapid re-housing to reduce the overall reliance on overnight shelter.
In Brockton, FBMS has partnered with public and private organizations to purchase the Rodeway Inn, an underutilized hotel, and convert the property into housing. The conversion model, which has been adopted in other parts of the country during the pandemic, plays a critical role in depopulating emergency shelters and protecting vulnerable individuals during a public health crisis. The conversion project will reduce Brockton’s individual shelter population by 50 percent, with future investments in housing needed to maintain those gains and achieve further progress.
About Father Bill’s & MainSpring
Father Bill’s & MainSpring (FBMS) is the leading provider of services to prevent and end homelessness in Southern Massachusetts. The agency, founded in the early 1980s by a group of interfaith and community leaders, helps more than 6,700 people annually who are experiencing, or at risk of, homelessness. FBMS, a proud partner of the United Way of Greater Plymouth County and the United Way of Massachusetts Bay and Merrimack Valley, is a 501(c)(3) non-profit agency with administrative offices in Quincy and Brockton and program offices throughout Southern Massachusetts. For more information, visit www.helpfbms.org.
About the Arbella Insurance Group and the Arbella Insurance Foundation
Established in 1988, the Arbella Insurance Group (www.arbella.com) is an A rated company by AM Best, with more than $800 million in revenue and approximately $1.8 billion in assets. Headquartered in Quincy, Massachusetts, Arbella is a customer-focused, regional property and casualty insurance company, providing commercial insurance products in Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island and New Hampshire, and personal insurance products in Massachusetts and Connecticut. The Arbella Insurance Group founded the Arbella Insurance Foundation in 2004. Recognized as one of the Boston Business Journal’s “Top Charitable Contributors” for 12 consecutive years, the mission of Arbella’s Foundation is to engage in activities and to support not-for-profit organizations that have a significant positive impact on the people and communities served by Arbella.
