Dear Enroot Community,
We write to share with you that Enroot’s Board of Directors has made the difficult decision to sell the building we own at 99 Bishop Allen Drive in Cambridge. After many months of consultation, discussion and deliberation, we determined this change was essential to enable Enroot to continue delivering on its mission, “To empower immigrant youth to achieve academic, career, and personal success through inspiring out-of-school time experiences.” We feel a moral imperative to address the growing need among immigrant youth and their families in our communities, particularly in our current political and economic climate.
Our building is now more than 100 years old, and the increasing costs of maintenance and operation have constrained our organization’s ability to focus on our primary mission. Our paramount responsibility is to ensure we can sustainably pursue our mission and to serve more students.
Enroot remains as committed as ever to advancing equity through its support of immigrant students in Cambridge and Somerville, and will continue to grow the number of students we serve in both communities. We’re proud that nearly all of our students complete high school and our alumni go on to complete college at nearly triple the rate of comparable students. Over the last 25 years, with broad community support, and in close partnership with the Cambridge Public Schools and City of Cambridge, we’ve expanded the number of students we serve from 20 to nearly 200 today. Our 10-year vision for the future is to serve 1200 students in the surrounding area. The sale of our building supports our ability to meet the expanding needs of the immigrant community.
As a small non-profit, we deeply value the work of our fellow nonprofits in the building, many of whom have shared this space for years. Their continued success is essential to our community. We recognize the challenge they will face to secure a space that meets their organizational needs, and carefully considered this during our decision-making.
As we initiate the process to explore this sale we will work diligently to ensure the transition minimizes disruption for our students and those who occupy space in the building, as well as the wider community. While many details lie ahead, we are actively engaged in ongoing communications with neighboring nonprofits and do not plan to initiate a sale before 2019.
We are confident that by re-focusing our energies, we will be better equipped to respond to the growing needs of the immigrant student population.
We welcome questions and concerns from the community. Please direct communication to Executive Director Ben Clark, bclark@enrooteducation.org.
With appreciation,
Enroot Board of Directors