On June 6th, 2024, DFI had the opportunity to talk to some remarkable community partners at a resource fair held in the Downtown Common. All the organizations we talked to were extremely passionate about their respective causes and all shared the common goal of helping community members at a personal level and developing the Framingham community. Take a moment to read through these interview snippets, learn more about each organization, and see the difference they are making in Framingham.

Amy Harden – program director for Anchored in Recovery

Q: What are you doing here today at the resource fair?

• “We came to collaborate with all our community partners, for all the community sources in the area. We’re a peer-run community center and we’re funded by SMOC.”

Q: What is one thing you wish that people knew about your organization?

• “That we’re the best (laughs), no. It’s a peer-run center, so our peers and our members and our volunteers, they basically run the center. We step back and let them make some decisions, and that’s the biggest thing… that it’s peer run.”

To learn more about Anchored in Recovery, go to https://smoc.org/service/peer-recovery-supports/.

Jay Ball – Sergeant at the Framingham Police Department

Q: What are you guys doing at the resource fair today? What are you guys hoping to get out of this?

• “Having this resource fair is great… It’s where all services that can help people come together to include the police to come to a common goal of helping people, whether they may be unhoused, or whether they be struggling monetarily or mental health, whatnot. We have an enforcement arm, being the police, but the big piece is to show we are human too. Yes we do have to enforce the law, but on the other end, we do want to get people these services and not be afraid to come to us. We can point them to our community partners that are here today.”

Mary Kate Feeney – board member for Framingham FORCE

Cathy Miles – co-founder and chair for Framingham FORCE

Q: What is Framingham FORCE?

• Cathy: “It stands for Fostering Opioid Recovery Compassion and Education, and basically we try to support people in their journey towards recovery, either in recovery or thinking about recovery. We help them with the things that insurance doesn’t cover, or treatment centers don’t cover.”
• Mary Kate: The other part is just as important. It’s fighting the stigma against mental health and substance abuse disorder… really just knowing that addiction and mental health issues affect all people. It’s not just a certain group, and we raise that awareness and try to help be more open about having that conversation. 

Q: If there was one thing you wish people knew about FORCE, what would it be?

• We are a resource if you are struggling in any way, either mentally or financially. We’re a resource to help you.

To learn more about Framingham FORCE, go to https://framinghamforce.org/. 

Kingsley Ojeikere – Program RISE

Q: What does your organization do?

• “We provide HIV and AIDS counseling and testing; also STIs [counseling and testing], [for] chlamydia, gonorrhea, [and] syphilis. We have medical case management where we support individuals who are living with HIV and AIDS; we support their needs and also have peer support so they can interact with their peers. We also provide harm reduction supplies, and harm reduction information as well to make sure that individuals who use do so in a safe manner and do not spread diseases like HIV and AIDS or Hepatitis. We also provide Hepatitis C treatment, testing and treatment and we also provide Hepatitis A vaccination currently. Our number is (508) 935-2960 for anyone who wants to reach us.”

Q: What is one thing you want people to know about Program RISE?

• “Our services are free… you don’t have to pay for anything. If you don’t have insurance, we’ll figure it out and we’ll be able to provide you with whatever you need. We are also extremely confidential and we speak three languages: Portuguese, Spanish, and English.”

Program RISE is located at 1 Grant Street, Framingham, MA, 01702. To learn more, go to https://jri.org/services/health-and-housing/health/rise.

Li Morrison – Director of the Housing Mediation program and Court Mediation Director at Metrowest Mediation Services

Q: What does MetroWest Mediation Services do?

• “We have two kinds of services: one is to basically mediate any conflict, whether it’s directly associated with the community, such as housing, landlords and tenants, divorce, or, we also provide services to high schools as a peer mediation. We try to help young people mediate their own conflicts and we also do the prison re-entry mediation.”
• “The other half of our services in our office have to do with our consumer protection program. So, if a consumer is scammed by a business, they file a complaint with the Attorney General’s office in the state. We will get assigned to the case, and our consumer specialist will contact the business for them, and try to figure out what remedies can be had.”

Q: If people could know one thing about what you guys do, what do you wish they knew?

• “I really like the phrase mediation before escalation. We want things to be de-escalated. There are so many conflicts in this world already, multiple levels, so if we can contribute to the deescalation, that would be a good thing. We feel good about that.”

MetroWest Mediation Services is located at 220 N Main St Suite 106, Natick, MA 01760. To learn more, go to https://www.metrowestmediationservices.org/. 

Cacau – Elegance Salon & Elegance Barber Shop Owner

Q: What is the most exciting part of being part of the resource fair?

• “It is a pleasure to be here supporting Framingham’s community and those who benefit from this kind of service [free haircuts]. I believe that it is important to help and lift people’s self esteem, and it really is a pleasure to be participating in the resource fair and being able to do that here.”

Q: What is the one thing you wish people would know about Elegance Salon?

• “I want people to know that Elegance is a captivating place and that everyone is welcomed there.”

Elegance Salon and Elegance Barber Shop are located at 111 Concord St, Framingham, MA 01702. To learn more, go to https://www.instagram.com/elegancesalonspa/. 

Here are some other awesome moments from the event!