Mission Related Investments
Since 1990, the Melville Charitable Trust has focused it funding on supporting efforts to find and fight the causes of homelessness through the development of affordable and supportive housing and the creation of vibrant healthy communities. Over the past four years the Trust has funded several Mission Related Investments (MRIs) in the Frog Hollow neighborhood of Hartford, a community that has suffered from poverty, lack of opportunity and disinvestment. The Trust has embarked on a broad effort to improve neighborhood infrastructure and create opportunities for residents. Through real estate investments, new construction and program development, the work is beginning to have a strong impact on the surrounding community.
Billings Forge Community Works (BFCW) is a nonprofit responsible for the development and management of the Trust’s Mission Related Investments in Frog Hollow. Currently, the projects are centered at the Billings Forge complex. Starting in 1873, the Billings and Spencer Company produced drop-forged tools here for three-quarters of a century. The Forge was converted to apartments in the 1970s, and is now home to 98 households, the Center for Community at Billings Forge, Firebox restaurant, the Studio at Billings Forge and coming in 2009, the Kitchen at Billings Forge.
The work of Billings Forge Community Works is designed to replace disinvestment with investment in Frog Hollow, create a shared sense of mission, offer education and training, and underscore the idea that a good place to live is more than just four walls and a roof. Specific goals of BFCW include:
· Fight homelessness by improving housing opportunities for families and individuals in the Frog Hollow community
· Encourage economic growth through business and enterprise development in the neighborhood around Billings Forge
· Create job training, educational advancement and work opportunities for Frog Hollow residents
· Strengthen family health and vitality through education, counsel and access to services
· Encourage self help, civic engagement and participation in every level of the community
· Support a climate that values diversity, rewards independence, nourishes creativity and brings people together.
Billings Forge Community Works Programs and Projects
The Center for Community at Billings Forge provides programs for all ages that encourage and support healthy growth, sustained skills development and professional advancement, creating pathways toward enhanced quality of living and economic and social independence. Programs at the Center include computer literacy classes, economic literacy workshops, job readiness training, and enrichment programming centered on the engaging and connecting use of technology in both the farm to table movement and the arts.
Firebox, serving lunch and dinner, this 125 seat restaurant opened in June of 2007 and has received press accolades from Gourmet Magazine and the New York Times, most recently being named “Best Hartford Restaurant of 2009” by Connecticut Magazine. The restaurant has exceeded expectations in drawing visitors from the greater Hartford area to Frog Hollow and has become the area leader in the farm-to-table movement. Firebox employs 18 full-time staff and 14 part-time workers. Currently, five are residents of the Billings Forge complex and seven are from the Frog Hollow neighborhood. Firebox is positioned to remain financially self-sufficient with sound management practices and marketing to a growing customer base.
The Farmers Market at Billings Forge is a seasonal weekly farmers market (April through October) bringing local and healthy produce to community residents and creating common space for the community and the surrounding workers from the State Capitol, insurance companies, and offices. The market experienced great success, with sales doubling from 2007 to 2008, great press coverage, and many new visitors. Plans for 2009 include expanding the number of vendors and length of the market, adding prepared food items, developing the space for outside dining, and connecting the Garden to the Market with programming such as noon gardening classes, cooking demonstrations using products picked directly on the grounds, and the opportunity for volunteering in the Garden.
The Garden at Billings Forge: Spring of 2009 saw the creation of a sustainable vegetable garden in the North court of Billings Forge. This garden was created with the help of students from the University of Connecticut Master Gardener and Agricultural programs, local food activists, and engaged members of the community. The Garden is be an “edible schoolyard;” stimulating social interaction and encouraging self-reliance, producing nutritious and organic local food, creating learning opportunities in earth sciences and math, and providing a space for recreation, exercise, community, and hard work. Uses for the produce grown include farm to table classes in the Kitchen, direct sales at the Farmers Market, and featured dishes on the menu at Firebox.
The Studio at Billings Forge is a space for enrichment programming, including classes in movement, music, and dance for adults and children. Addressing the pressing need for informal and accessible community space, The Studio is utilized for neighborhood meetings and workshops and also functions as a performance venue. Jazz, folk and world music series, films, and literary readings began in January 2009, geared to reach the local as well as the wider community. In addition, the space is available for rent or barter to local nonprofit and arts groups, providing a much needed low cost venue for local and regional artists, and adding to the vitality of the neighborhood.
The Residences @ Billings Forge includes a complex of 98 units of affordable housing that continues to undergo incremental renovation and improvement. Also included in this housing portfolio are six neighborhood residences with a total of 25 units that are also being upgraded. The managerial responsibility for these residences has been assumed by Mutual Housing of Greater Hartford, a local non profit partner, with an office on premises. Mutual Housing is also a partner in the provision of financial literacy training to the community.
The Kitchen at Billings Forge: Offering farm-to-table catering services, artisanal wholesale baking, and culinary arts training, the Kitchen functions as a learning environment for adults and children. The Kitchen helps families learn about local, healthy and nutritional foods and their connection to the environment through an emphasis on hands-on experience, community interaction, and the pleasures of the table. The Kitchen earns revenue through tuition-supported classes, providing learning opportunities that feature artisanal and chef-driven cooking to residents of the Greater Hartford area. It also sells specialty items such as breads, soups and desserts through Firebox, functions as an auxiliary kitchen for Firebox fine dining catering and special events, and offer prepared foods for sale at our Farmers Market and at Studio events.
It seems clear that, with the support of the Trust and other community partners, BFCW will not only succeed in enhancing the lives and prospects of Billings Forge residents, but also in learning lessons about helping a community develop in the fullest sense – lessons that can be translated for use in other locales and circumstances. Learn more!