Hebrew SeniorLife, along with partner Dorchester Bay Economic Development Corporation, celebrated the opening of its newest community, Leyland Community, with a ribbon-cutting celebration at the Dorchester location.
The Upham’s Corner community offers 43 senior apartments with service-enriched affordable housing. It utilizes Hebrew SeniorLife’s Right Care, Right Place, Right Time Initiative (R3), which integrates wellness teams into senior housing communities.
Many state, local, and private partners, including Massachusetts Housing Investment Corporation, Massachusetts Housing Partnership, Eastern Bank, Rockland Trust, and LISC Massachusetts, as well as the design and construction teams, were integral to the project’s success.
Among the many friends, neighbors, community organizations, and government officials who joined the celebration were representatives from State Senator Liz Miranda, the Massachusetts Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities, the Massachusetts Executive Office of Elder Affairs, the Boston Age Strong Commission, the Boston Housing Authority, and the Mayor’s Office of Housing.
Resident Lana Andrews, who joined other residents in helping to cut the ceremonial ribbon, shared her perspective: “This is a wonderful building. I am so blessed to have a chance to live here at Leyland Community.” She noted that the big picture window in her fifth-floor apartment, which overlooks the Boston skyline, is perfect for all her plants. She also thanked each staff member by name for creating such a wonderful community.
“Hebrew SeniorLife was founded 121 years ago in 1903, and we were founded right here in Dorchester, and we have been excited from day one at the prospect of returning to where it all started and to be able to be part of this community with our wonderful partners at Dorchester Bay Economic Development Corporation,” said Hebrew SeniorLife President and CEO Louis J. Woolf.
“Dorchester Bay EDC is proud of our work with Hebrew SeniorLife to create the first affordable housing in Upham’s Corner, which will ensure that seniors who have given so much to our community will have the ability to age in place,” said Dorchester Bay Economic Development Corporation CEO Kimberly R. Lyle.
Leyland Community residents have access to a full range of support from Hebrew SeniorLife, including service coordination, wellness, and health programs, and staff who help them continue to thrive in their community.
Hebrew SeniorLife is committed to helping people age in the neighborhoods where they raised families, built businesses, and created vibrant communities. It recently completed the expansion of the Simon C. Fireman Community in Randolph, construction is nearly finished on a new building at Center Communities of Brookline, and a new affordable senior housing community in Stoughton is in the planning stages.
DBEDC is a community development corporation founded by local civic associations in 1979 to address the problems of economic disinvestment, unemployment, crime, community tensions, and the shortage of quality affordable housing undermining Boston’s Dorchester neighborhoods. Over the last 45-years, DBEDC has worked in partnership with local leaders and stakeholders to build and preserve some 1,200 units of affordable housing and over 40,000 square feet of commercial space, to engage residents in community life, and to support a robust economy through small business support and economic development. The structures DBEDC have built are physical manifestations of our work, but at its core, our work is about strengthening our community, which is made up of the people who live and work in our neighborhood.
Hebrew SeniorLife, an affiliate of Harvard Medical School, is a national senior services leader uniquely dedicated to rethinking, researching, and redefining the possibilities of aging. Hebrew SeniorLife cares for more than 4,500 seniors a day across campuses throughout Greater Boston. Locations include: Hebrew Rehabilitation Center-Boston and Hebrew Rehabilitation Center-NewBridge in Dedham; NewBridge on the Charles, Dedham; Orchard Cove, Canton; Simon C. Fireman Community, Randolph; Center Communities of Brookline, Brookline; Jack Satter House, Revere; and Leyland Community, Dorchester. Founded in 1903, Hebrew SeniorLife also conducts influential research into aging at the Hinda and Arthur Marcus Institute for Aging Research, which has a portfolio of more than $98 million, making it one of the largest gerontological research facilities in the U.S. in a clinical setting. It also trains more than 500 geriatric care providers each year.
