Urban Edge

Urban Edge is a nonprofit community development organization located in Boston with a mission dedicated to strengthening communities and families. Together, we build affordable housing and vibrant, prosperous neighborhoods. We focus on family wealth building through financial counseling and homeownership education, anti-displacement through foreclosure prevention, and resident support services as we construct more affordable housing.

In 1974, redlining and displacement of BIPOC families were tearing at the fabric of Boston communities. The determined resident opposition had succeeded in halting the extension of I-95 through the City, but the landscape sustained the scars of cleared land. That’s when community leaders came together and founded our agency to rebuild our neighborhood on the “urban edge.” We have developed more than 1,500 units of affordable housing and maintain a portfolio of 1,431 units. Urban Edge’s budget for CY22 is $6.6M, and we currently employ a staff of 33.

More than 90% of the families we work with are BIPOC, with an intentional focus on Egleston and Jackson Squares. Jackson Square is where Boston’s Latin Quarter meets its historic Black neighborhood at the crossroads of Jamaica Plain and Roxbury. Demographics served: 38% Latinx; 30% Black; 27% Multiracial; and 6% white. Seventy-one percent are female and 29% male. Demographics by Area Median Income (AMI): 60% are 0-30% AMI; 13% are 31-50% AMI; 14% are 50-80% AMI; 9% are 80-110% AMI; and 4% are 110%+ AMI. By Age: 33% 0-18, 24% 19-34, 15% 35-49, 21% 50-69, 7% 70+.

Community Investment Plan 2022:
In 2022, our ongoing program efforts will result in more than 2,500 unduplicated low to moderate-income (LMI) families celebrating the following:

• 400 families receiving tax prep. services
• 100 households living in Urban Edge housing counseled on family financial counseling and budgeting
• 300+ households connected to $700k+ in emergency rental assistance
• 600 First-Time Homebuyer workshop graduates—100 becoming homeowners
• 50 homeowners counseled through our foreclosure prevention program—with 35 avoiding foreclosure and 20+ connected to mortgage assistance
• 150 Credit Counseling Boot Camp classroom graduates, with 100 receiving intensive one-on-one counseling
• 30 youth placed into summer jobs
• 1,500 families with emergency supports such as cash, back-to-school supplies, children’s holiday gifts, internet connection, utility assistance, and holiday meals
• 20 families bonding with each other and preparing their children for Pre-K in our Strong Start program
• 20 older adults provided with a Chromebook, internet connection, digital literacy, and a digital navigator
• 205 affordable rental homes in the renovation or new construction pipeline
• An average occupancy rate of 98%

Urban Edge strives to build and preserve as many affordable rental homes as possible to help address gentrification. At the same time, we work to help families, particularly Black and Brown families, build wealth through buying a home they own.

Urban Edge has the experienced staff and Board to meet families where they are at. Our Board and staff are reflective of the community we serve because we are part of the community.