Event Planning Services
- This RFP has a location requirement.
Overview
Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative (DSNI) is a community-based planning/organizing entity in the Roxbury/North Dorchester neighborhoods of Boston. DSNI's approach to revitalization is centered on empowering residents to lead a multi-stakeholder collaborative in achieving a shared vision. Our mission is to empower Dudley residents to organize, plan for, create and control a vibrant, diverse and high quality neighborhood in collaboration with community partners.
DSNI was formed when residents of the Dudley Street area came together out of fear and anger to revive their neighborhood that was nearly devastated by arson, disinvestment, neglect and redlining practices, and to protect it from outside speculators. DSNI is the only nonprofit in the country that has eminent domain authority over abandoned land, which we have used to develop over 400 units of affordable housing on a land trust still owned/operated by the Dudley residents.
Our vision of the urban village has evolved; today it's captured in the concept of the community-as-campus: the Dudley Village Campus (DVC). We are focused on improving educational options and outcomes for Dudley's children, and the plan for the DVC includes building a vital mix of institutional infrastructure, educational and cultural opportunities, economic vitality, and supportive relationships as part and parcel. Our work in building the DVC is supported by a federal Promise Neighborhood grant from the US Department of Education, one of only seven awarded nationwide in 2012.
2014 marks DSNI's 30th anniversary year. In celebration of our thirty years of work in community building and transformation and as a platform for the next thirty years, we plan to celebrate the anniversary throughout the year, using our regular annual events (Open House, Annual Meeting, Multicultural Festival) as well as special events (a premier of a new documentary featuring our work and people behind that work in the community, a "homecoming" event to celebrate community leaders who have moved on, and the development of community celebrations in other ways.
