In the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, the average age of a homeless person is eight. Horizons for Homeless Children was founded 30 years ago to mitigate the trauma of homelessness for as many of those children as possible. Working with family shelters across the state, they install specially designed playrooms—then deploy over 1,000 volunteers to play with the children. Horizons also runs three separate Boston-based early education centers.
Kate Barrand, President and CEO, says, “We wanted the Horizons Center to be a source of inspiration, engagement and education for children and families experiencing homelessness. Life is challenging enough for these families.”
To achieve this, BlueHub Loan Fund provided a $7.8 million line of credit to Horizons for Homeless Children to construct its own 45,000-square-foot building called The Edgerley Family Horizons Center. This strengthened its program by consolidating its early education centers into a state-of-the-art space expanded to accommodate almost 30% more children and bring together a range of other agency services to support the homeless families it serves. Owning the building puts Horizons on a more economically sustainable path with more efficient operations.
