Elizabeth Peabody House

About

Non-profit Community Organization Based in Somerville's Winter Hill

Mission

Our Mission
The Elizabeth Peabody House has been impacting the lives of children and their
families in Greater Boston’s immigrant community for more than 115 years. Our
mission is to support those families reaching their full potential by providing early
childhood education, youth enrichment opportunities and family support services.

Our Vision
The vision of The Elizabeth Peabody House is to become a neighborhood
center that fosters lifelong learning, helps break the cycle of poverty and
transforms the community in its quality of life.

Products

Preschool Program
Accredited by the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC), The Elizabeth Peabody House’s Preschool Program focuses on the
whole child. With a seasoned faculty, our program’s holistic approach in and outside the classroom is designed to stimulate the child intellectually,
physically, emotionally and socially. The curriculum offers a host of learning opportunities, including field trips, guest speakers and a low student-teacher
ratio. Another asset is its diverse student body whose families hail from around the globe. With the world getting ever-smaller in size and scope, our program
offers children a world view that increasingly is vital to lifelong success.

After School Enrichment Program
Enrichment is at the heart of The Elizabeth Peabody House’s After School Program, whose curriculum complements classroom learning while also allowing kids to have fun. The After School day begins with homework assistance, followed by enrichment activities designed to reinforce skills and knowledge learned in class. It also allows kids to be kids, giving them a chance to discover and explore their own talents through sports, arts & crafts and cultural activities. The aim is to develop strong interpersonal skills between students while bolstering self-confidence and an awareness of the world around them.

Summer Enrichment Camp
Every summer The Elizabeth Peabody House transports more than 100 children from Greater Boston to its 21-acre lakefront campus 30 miles south of Boston.
Camp Gannett, as it is known, is situated on the south shore of Lake Massapoag
in Sharon. The spring-fed lake, adjoining swamp, open fields and shaded pine
forests all offer campers a host of activities, from swimming, fishing and boating, to
field trips, nature walks and more. The theme-based curriculum provides campers
a chance to explore, engage and enjoy the great outdoors in a way that also safeguards against summer learning loss. Resource Referral For services that we do not provide, the Peabody House maintains an intuitive, user-friendly resource guide that volunteers and staff frequently utilize to refer individuals to outside services.

Emergency Food Pantry
Children can’t learn on an empty stomach. For that reason, The Elizabeth Peabody
House opened its Emergency Food Pantry in September 2009. Strong signs of food insecurity among our children served as the impetus. With limited food access becoming a community-wide concern, we opened our doors to Somerville residents in December 2009. Since then, with our partners and volunteers, we have managed to feed nearly 500 local families a year. The result has meant becoming the largest supplier of emergency food relief in Somerville, helping to fight hunger and end the cycle of poverty.

Community Outreach
The Elizabeth Peabody House also serves other functions as well, such as
an unofficial clearing house for families in search of support services we don’t
provide. Clients are referred to more than 30 area social service agencies to
help improve their lives. We also serve as a meeting place for area seniors, host
community meetings and have been the venue for locally-produced stage
productions and plays.

Volunteer Opportunities
The Elizabeth Peabody House offers interested volunteers a host of opportunities to engage and support our mission. It’s why corporations, non-profits and individuals give of their time to participate in service days at our Preschool, After School, Camp and Food Pantry.