Shelter Music Boston
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  • Home
  • What we do
    • Who We Serve
    • Children's Program
    • SMB During COVID
    • Artistic Innovation >
      • 2022 Julie Leven Artist Project: Voices of Hope
      • Voices From The Land
      • Florence Comes Home
      • Water for My Soul
      • Women Composers Project
    • Concert Experience
    • Impact
    • Concert Calendar & Programs
  • Who we are
    • Our Story
    • Mission, Vision, Values, and Cultural Equity Statement
    • Artists
    • Administrative Staff
    • Board of Directors
    • Internship Program
  • Donate
    • Donate to the Mission of SMB
    • Donate when you shop online
    • In-Kind Donations & Community Partnerships
    • Foundation, Corporate, and Individual Donors
  • Get Involved
    • Events >
      • 2023 Eudaimonia Social Action Partnership
      • Past Events
    • Host a House Concert
    • Stay In Touch
    • Volunteer Opportunities
    • Employment/Musician Opportunities
  • Press & Awards
    • Press
    • Awards
    • Social Innovation Forum
  • Video
    • Videos about SMB
    • Performances by SMB
  • Links
    • Citizen Artists Working for Social Change
    • Transformational Power of Music
    • Anti-Racism Resources
  • SMB Blog

Children and Family Shelter Program


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Since 2018 Shelter Music Boston (SMB) has served Greater Boston children and/or families who are homeless or at risk of homelessness. Developed in collaboration with the Boston Philharmonic (BPO), SMB pairs its expertise in concert delivery to those who are homeless with the BPO’s established programs for school children. The collaboration has created in an innovative program tailored to children and families utilizing homeless shelters and other services. Classical music is implemented to provide a safe and nurturing environment for children and families whose lives are filled with the uncertainty symptomatic of homelessness. This program fosters intellectual stimulation and emotional connection using educational tools to encourage creativity and inspire hope for children and families in desperate circumstances.
Interested in performing with SMB as part of the Children's Program? Click here!

​Family Homelessness

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The crisis of family homelessness in the United States continues to fall heaviest on the nation’s most vulnerable: its children. The number of children without a permanent home continues to grow, with close to 1.3 million students in public schools counted as homeless during the 2014–15 school year. A quality education can be the most important tool to helping children and families lift themselves out of a recurring pattern of housing instability.1
Homeless mothers are more likely than housed mothers to experience domestic violence, mental illness, and substance abuse. A lack of access to medical care results in poorer health outcomes and higher rates of HIV/AIDS among homeless parents.
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For these and many other reasons, homeless children are more likely than their housed peers to suffer from:
  • developmental delays;
  • chronic and acute health problems;
  • and behavioral, emotional, and mental health issues.
Additional stressors can include abuse or exposure to family and community violence. The myriad negative effects that homelessness can have on families cannot be understated.2

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  • Some facts about family homelessness: 

1 in 30 children in the United States experience homelessness annually.

51% of homeless children are under age 5 and, therefore, too young for school and are not counted.

1 in 6  U.S. children under age 18, or 13 million, live in poverty.For every ten extremely low income households, there are only three affordable rentals available on the market.3

Since fiscal year 2008, Massachusetts has experienced one of the largest increases in family homelessness in the nation, and is one of only two states (with New York) where families comprise more than half of the shelter population.4

While new entrants to and returns to shelter have declined in the last couple of years, the length of stay in shelters has increased.
About half of the families in shelter also receive other types of homeless assistance.

“Children are among the most vulnerable members of our society,” said Boston Foundation President and CEO Paul Grogan. “How we serve them and their parents is a reflection not only of our systems and institutions, but our character as a community.”
According to Westat Vice President Debra Rog, “Families and children make up the largest cohort of people who are homeless or on the brink of homelessness in Massachusetts.”


​2022 Partner Sites
The following sites receive monthly, live concerts from SMB musicians

Housing Families

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Housing Families serves more than 890 homeless families, including more than 1,000 children each year. The organization believes in a holistic approach to ending family homelessness by addressing the concrete housing needs as well as complex circumstances that lead to housing loss and the continuing negative effects that result from homelessness.  Housing Families’ case managers and program staff provide one-on-one care and advocacy for all family members. This care begins with each family’s arrival at the Housing Families Emergency Shelter and continues throughout the journey toward stable, permanent housing.

Our Children's Program is delivered to Housing Families' GREAT Youth Program.

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As of June 2020 Shelter Music Boston has created virtual partnerships with the organizations listed directly below.  All of the organizations listed on this page are now receiving our monthly concert recordings.
Click here to view our more recent concert: Dance and Song with Jenny!
  • Project Hope Family Shelter​
  • ​​YMCA Families in Transition and Dennis McLaughlin House
  • ​​St. Mary's Center: Bridge Home​
  • St. Mary's Center: Crossroads Family Center
  • Horizons for Homeless Children
  • Nurtury
  • Higher Ground
    • Ellis School
    • Higginson/Lewis School
  • ​Children's Services of Roxbury
  • ​​Boston ABCD Head Start​​
  • ​Heading Home: Cambridge Shelter​
  • Victory Programs
    • Chamblet Family Home
    • Portis Family Home

1. Out of the Shadows: A State-by-State Ranking of Accountability for Homeless Students, Institute for Children, Poverty & Homelessness, www.ICPHusa.org. Accessed 12 Jan 2018.
2. Effects of Homelessness on Families and Children, Issue 3, Institute for Children, Poverty & Homelessness,  www.ICPHusa.org.Accessed 12 Jan 2018.
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3. Homelessness/Poverty Fact Sheet. Family Promise,  https://familypromise.org/homelessness-fact-sheet/. Accessed 11 Jan 2018.
4. The Boston Foundation report on challenges of family homelessness, Report prepared by Westat with data from the Massachusetts Department of Housing and Community Development, (February 2017) https://www.tbf.org/news-and-insights/press-releases/2017/february/homelessness-report-release-february-2017. Accessed 11 Jan 2018.
CONTACT US
info@sheltermusicboston.org
1337 Massachusetts Ave #116
Arlington, MA 02476
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