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ELEVEN YEARS OF INNOVATION AND GROWTH
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| Peggy Perry (left),
a Comunity Advocate for over 10 years, and Katya Fels
(right) On The Rise's Founder. |
n The Rise grew out of the hopes and stories of homeless women
attempting to access programs in the Cambridge, Massachusetts
area. Many did not fit the client profiles of these programs;
others had been through program after program, never quite
finding what they needed. The system gave up on them and they
gave up on the system.
In June 1995, On The Rise's Founder Katya Fels, received
a fellowship to create a non-profit organization to work
with these women. On The Rise's Outreach/Safe Haven program
began in 1996, with two full-time mobile street outreach
workers operating out of a small church basement office in
Harvard Square. In January 1997, On The Rise moved to a rented
space, which accommodated the daytime Safe Haven, a sited
extension of our mobile street outreach. It became clear
that our Safe Haven was something special, and in the fall
of 1997, we expanded our Safe Haven hours from 16 weekly
to 40 weekly. In January 1999, we added Saturday hours.
As word about On The Rise spread, use of the program increased
dramatically. In 1999, 22-27 women visit the Safe Haven each
day, almost 50% increase from the previous year.
In April 2000, On The Rise took
a huge step and moved to a beautiful Victorian residential
house at 341 Broadway in central Cambridge. From this home,
On The Rise began to offer a full roster of services for
homeless women. In just over three years, On
The Rise
completed a $1.6 million capital campaign to purchase the
home and set-up a maintenance fund to secure it’s future
as a launching pad for homeless women.
Today, On The Rise continues to grow to provide innovative
and effective services to 25-35 women each day (250-300 a
year) who could not get their needs met elsewhere.
In December 2006, On The Rise’s
Founder and visionary leader for 11 years ended her tenure
as Executive Director. Over the last year, all current Board Members, and several past members,
served on the Search and Transition committees, to lay the foundation for a successful transition and to
conduct an intensive search for a new Executive Director.
During this interim period, our program remained strong. We have moved many important priorities forward - including changing the hours of the Safe Haven to
better serve women living in shelters and on the streets and augmenting our supportive housing services
for women who have moved into their own place. In 2007, our program has served over 280 women and has helped
45 women move into housing.
Peggy Perry, On The Rise's Community Advocate for 11 years, received the Massachusetts Council
of Human Service Providers' Gerry Wright Direct Service Award of Excellence on November 19, 2007, at the Annual Convention. In eleven years at On The Rise, Peggy has helped
hundreds of women move beyond crisis and this state-wide award honored her exceptional work.
In December 2007, the Board of Directors announced the appointment of
Ruth Woods Dunham as the new Executive Director. Read more about Ruth Woods Dunham.
This fall, On The Rise will pilot a new program, called Keep The Keys, to serve the women that we have helped move into housing.
This program is an important piece of On The Rise’s organizational development and is a logical expansion of our services. Read more>>
A key step to implementing the Keep The Keys Program has been the successful implementation of the new safe haven internship program which started in summer 2008. 
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