Innsider

“There is no one simple answer to why people become homeless, and no one size fits all solution. At Pine Street Inn, we work every day to move individuals off the street, out of shelter and back to a home and community.”

Taylor Doan, associate director of housing clinicians, oversees a team of eight behavioral health and medical clinicians who work with tenants. “I started working at Pine Street in 2020 after I earned my Masters of Social Work,” Taylor says. “My goal is to help improve people’s lives — whether through stabilization services, behavioral health care…

As director of coordinated housing solutions, Evelyn Cordero works to streamline the pathways to housing for people experiencing homelessness.

Hispanic Heritage/Latino History Month celebrates and honors the history and culture of the Hispanic and Latino/Latina/Latinx communities.

Pine Street Inn’s consumer engagement coordinator, Delphia “Del” Bizzell, drives engagement strategy and ensures that shelter guests and tenants have a forum to provide feedback and to have their voices heard.

Lyndia Downie has served as Pine Street Inn’s President & Executive Director since 2000 and on Pine Street’s staff for 40 years, working in roles throughout the organization. As a result of her leadership and vision, Pine Street is now the largest provider of permanent supportive housing for individuals moving out of homelessness in New…

Chris is the associate director of unit acquisition and landlord engagement for the Place Me Home program, managing the housing search for placements into non-Pine Street-operated properties. Place Me Home matches chronically homeless individuals with permanent housing that fits their individual needs, whether providing case management support, assisting with first and last month’s rent, or…

As Pine Street Inn’s daytime outreach operations manager, Sean Ahearn prepares case managers and clinicians to serve Boston’s unsheltered community on the street. “I’m sure many have heard the term “outreach” used. If you turn the word around, it defines exactly what we do. We reach out,” says Sean. “Our role is to meet humans…

August is a time to acknowledge and celebrate the more than 3 million Black-owned businesses across the country and their important contribution to innovation, entrepreneurship, diversity and the economy.

Justice LaForest is Pine Street’s triage supervisor, focusing on finding alternatives to shelter for guests.

Originally from Istanbul, Turkey, Betul Gaffari (she/her) came to Boston to attend Boston College. She learned about Pine Street Inn through BC’s Pulse program, which teaches students about social justice, by having them fulfill a volunteer service requirement.

This year marks the third anniversary of the Juneteenth holiday in the US. Juneteenth commemorates the June 19, 1865, proclamation of freedom for the enslaved people in Texas which was the last state of the Confederacy with slavery. While Juneteenth is considered the “longest-running African-American holiday” and has been called “America’s second Independence Day,” it…

Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month is observed in the United States during the month of May and recognizes the contributions and influence of Asian Americans and Pacific Islander Americans to the history, culture, and achievements of the community in the United States.

Zoraida is one of Pine Street Inn’s housing placement specialists, helping shelter guests secure housing to move back into a community.

As Pine Street’s senior director of emergency shelters, Josh O’Brien works to meet the needs of our guests across four shelters. After almost 30 years of providing services to those experiencing homelessness, Josh aims to make an impact one day at a time.

For Women’s History Month, we highlight Johnnisha “JoJo” Willis. JoJo is a supervisor at Yawkey House, Pine Street Inn’s shelter for women. She is dedicated to helping homeless individuals, drawing on a deep well of empathy from having personally experienced homelessness.

For International Women’s Day, we highlight Tara Snider. Tara has been with Pine Street Inn for seven years. While she has held various positions, Tara is currently the director of the Men’s Inn shelter and works to improve our guests’ experience.

Women’s History Month is a celebration of women’s contributions to history, culture and society in the United States. In 1981, Congress passed a resolution establishing a national Women’s History Week. Six years later, the National Women’s History Alliance successfully petitioned Congress to expand that event to the entire month of March.

Black History Month was unofficially started in 1915, 50 years after the Thirteenth Amendment abolished slavery in the United States. That year, the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History was founded to research and promote the achievement of Black Americans and other people of African descent.

On Jean Yawkey’s 115th birthday, we celebrated the Yawkey Foundation’s $15 million gift to Pine Street Inn with the dedication of our women’s shelter to “Yawkey House.”

We are thrilled to partner again this year with 99 Restaurants for their annual Have a Heart fundraiser. From February 5 through February 11, 2024, 48 locations in eastern Massachusetts and Salem, NH, are raising funds for Pine Street Inn.We are thrilled to partner again this year with 99 Restaurants for their annual Have a…

Martin Luther King Jr. Day is observed on the third Monday of January each year to honor one of the most important leaders in U.S. history.

The PSI People of Color Coalition (POCC) Committee is committed to promoting diversity and acceptance of People of Color within the organization through education and by sharing our experiences with our peers. As a result, we would like to take this opportunity to share the history of Kwanzaa.

Tina Cheek is the Resource Center Supervisor at Pine Street’s Rapid Engagement Center. Tina supervises a staff of six, who are dedicated to ensuring that shelter guests have access to resources such as phones, computers and staff who can assist them in finding a job and housing.

Pine Street Inn is expanding the number of holidays that we observe during November and December as we acknowledge and celebrate the diversity of our guests and staff.

Annmarie began her Pine Street Inn career sixteen years ago working on the facilities team. Her commitment to helping others led her to become a residential counselor in shelter and then a case manager at a permanent supportive housing site for formerly homeless women.

Helping us celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month is a member of our Pine Street Inn team. Will, a Boston native, has family ties to both Puerto Rico and Spain. Growing up, Will lived in tight-knit communities in Dorchester and the South End that were a melting pot of people from Puerto Rico, Cape Verde and more.

Mominul Islam is a data analyst with Pine Street’s Department of Program Evaluation. In his role here, Mominul works to tell the story of Pine Street through data, while improving processes to ensure that the organization has solid data for the most accurate reporting.

Katelyn Anderson, Pine Street Inn’s director of men’s stabilization and the MATCH program, has always had a passion for working with the most vulnerable populations.

Metabolic syndrome is when three or more risk factors co-occur. The combination of hypertension, high blood glucose, abnormal cholesterol/triglyceride levels and obesity can result in the increased risk of heart disease, Type II diabetes, stroke, and death.

As COVID-era automatic renewals for MassHealth end, thousands of people across Massachusetts are at risk of losing their health care coverage. As a response, Pine Street launched the MassHealth Redetermination Campaign to assist people in retaining coverage.

Tai Irwin, one of Pine Street Inn’s employment and stabilization specialists, is a member of the team placing our workforce development trainees in jobs following their graduation.

Joanne James has been with Pine Street Inn since 2016, working in various roles, including with the Triage team that works to prevent people from becoming homeless. Joanne is currently the director of Yawkey House, where she works to build a team that focuses on making the lives of our guests better.

Claire Peterson, LCSW, is an outreach clinician with Pine Street Inn’s . Now in her second year with Pine Street, Claire has found her calling.

Allie is the definition of a “team player.” As a Workforce Development job placement specialist, Allie works with our food service and housekeeping trainees to help them find employment following completion of the training program.

Wayne Tomas has worked as the morning Men’s Inn supervisor for the past three years — anyone walking through the front doors can tell that his positive energy is contagious. “I enjoy interacting with the guests and being hands-on. The more I see someone who is feeling down, the more I want to build them…

Every person here — our guests, tenants, staff, donors and volunteers — has a story of how Pine Street Inn has touched their lives. We hope you enjoy learning about just a few of these stories.

Leo Adorno, director of housing placement for Pine Street’s “Place Me Home” program, has been a part of the Pine Street Inn team for 29 years, working in roles numerous roles throughout the organization.

Eric has been a monthly donor – an Innkeeper – for about three years now. Last year, Eric was part of our Boston Marathon team, and ran a marathon distance during the BAA’s ‘marathon week’ which was virtual due to the global pandemic. This year, he is lacing up his sneakers again for Pine Street…

Whenever I’ve volunteered, I’ve been impressed how dedicated and professional everyone is. There is tremendous pride in their work, and I’m proud to run 26.2 miles this year in honor of Pine Street.”