As Casa Myrna’s CEO, I am delighted to share with you some exciting news about a goal we’ve been working towards for the last year. Casa Myrna has embarked on the newest step toward our vision of ending domestic and dating violence: moving into our newly purchased headquarters in Dorchester!
This change isn’t just a big move physically. It is also an affirmation of Casa Myrna’s mission as a social-justice driven, community-centered organization. We partner with our community to take domestic violence out of the shadows and into the light – so our community rejects violence and abuse and nurtures survivors and healthy relationships.
Casa Myrna has purchased two adjacent buildings in Grove Hall to serve as our permanent headquarters: 451 Blue Hill Avenue and 636 Warren Street. Click here or scroll down to the section below for more information about the two buildings, how we are using them now, and our plans for the space.
A neighborhood rich in diversity, Grove Hall is the perfect location for us. It is where many of our program participants and staff live, and it is a powerful epicenter of the struggle for justice and equality in Boston – both historically and right now.
Fittingly, our new building is named in honor of Rubina Ann Guscott, a beloved Boston community leader and civil rights activist who died at the age of 102 in 2002 after a lifetime of fighting for justice and equality. Rubina’s legacy serves as daily inspiration to us in our new home.
In keeping with our expansive vision, once complete, our new buildings will offer us ample room to engage our community beyond the issue of domestic violence. Our headquarters will be a home base for all of Casa Myrna’s supports and administration and a safe, inviting space for community activities, workshops, and employment and training. It will include a food pantry, survivor resource center, a teen-run “boutique” or café, and public meeting and office spaces. We’ll open our doors for activists and organizers to meet and work, youth to gather and learn about healthy relationships, and our neighbors to stop in for information, supports, and resources.
Over the last 42 years, friends like you have made it possible for Casa Myrna to grow from a single volunteer-run shelter to an organization of over 100 staff providing comprehensive support to thousands of survivors and their children each year and reaching thousands of our neighbors through our awareness and outreach activities. Thank you for making this latest big move possible.
I can’t wait to share more updates with you over the next few years.
In the meantime, I hope you’ll join us in celebrating our new home and the new opportunities it provides. And as always, thank you for your unwavering support of the movement to end domestic and dating violence.
If you would like to reach us, our new address is: 451 Blue Hill Avenue, Boston, MA 02121! Hope to see you in the neighborhood!
– Stephanie Brown, CEO
In July 2019, Casa Myrna purchased two buildings in the Dorchester neighborhood of Grove Hall. These buildings will serve as our permanent headquarters in the years to come. Many, many thanks to Cambridge Trust and MassDevelopment for making it a reality!
435-451 Blue Hill Avenue, the Rubina Ann Guscott Building, is a 16,588 square foot four-story brick building built in 1910. Thanks to developers and forces for equality and racial justice Kenneth and Cecil Guscott, our beautiful building was completely renovated in 2009, including the development of a new elevator/stair tower.
In July, most of Casa Myrna’s direct services staff moved into the 4th floor of the building. The state Department of Children and Families (DCF) has a lease for the 2nd and 3rd floors through May 2020. Casa Myrna will occupy the 2nd, 3rd and 4th floors of Blue Hill Avenue fully after DCF departs. Until then, Casa Myrna’s administrative staff will occupy space offsite. It is our intention to continue leasing the two commercial spaces on the ground floor of the building long-term.
632-636 Warren Street, adjacent to 451 Blue Hill Avenue, is a one-story 8,380 square foot brick/block building built in 1920. The building is currently home to three retail tenants. Casa Myrna will continue operating the Warren Street building as-is, leasing to tenants in the near future.
Ultimately, we plan to develop the property, allowing Casa Myrna to expand community based supports to survivors, expand our employment and economic stability program to adults and teens, expand our food pantry and survivor resource center, open a teen “boutique” or café, create space for community meetings and gatherings, and offer office space for mission-based activists and organizations.
Our Vision: We believe every relationship should be safe and healthy. We envision our headquarters to be a place to engage our community beyond the issue of domestic violence. We want to create safe and inviting space for: community activities (e.g., dance classes, celebrations, theater, gardening); workshops (e.g., health classes, community lawyering, parenting, cooking); employment and training; community activists and organizers to meet and work; youth to gather to learn about healthy relationships; and our neighbors to stop in for information, supports, and resources.
We partner with our community to take domestic violence out of the shadows and into the light—so our community rejects violence and abuse and nurtures survivors and healthy relationships.
