The cornerstone of the Red Sox Foundation’s social services outreach is Dimock Community Health Center in Roxbury, a non-profit institution providing health care, social services, educational and recreational programs to over 40,000 families in Boston’s most disadvantaged neighborhoods.  Through the support offered by the Red Sox Foundation in partnership with generous sponsor, Microsoft, Inc., the Teen Center at Dimock offers tutoring, computer instruction, college prep, counseling, and vocational guidance in addition to initiatives to prevent teen pregnancy, drug use, and involvement with gangs. 

Dimock Community Health Center has a strong history as a pioneer in community outreach.  Founded in 1862 as the New England Hospital for Women and Children, Dimock graduated the nation’s first professional nurse in 1873 and first African-American nurse in 1879.  That proud legacy continues today, as Dimock provides a wealth of services to low-income families.  A lifeline to many, Dimock serves a client base that is 65 percent African-American and nearly 30 percent Latino. Over half the children in the neighborhoods Dimock serve live below the poverty line and the unemployment rate is nearly three times that found in Boston overall.  Against this backdrop, Dimock seeks to provide a safety net for families and children in need.

In May of 2006, Red Sox Foundation volunteers teamed with City Year, an acclaimed Boston-based youth service corps program, to completely rehabilitate the rooms in the Teen Center, now located in the more spacious basement of another Dimock building.  Thanks to a generous donation from Microsoft, the volunteers totally rehabbed the teen library, now named after Microsoft in gratitude for their support.  The floor-to-ceiling makeover replaced worn tiles, lighting fixtures, and furniture.  Volunteers covered walls with inspiring murals, installed bookshelves and computers in the library, and a new television in the Red Sox Foundation recreation room, designed with a Fenway Park theme.  Microsoft’s partnership with the Red Sox Foundation will also fund a City Year team to be based at the Dimock Teen Center.  These 18-24-year-old service corps members will provide tutoring, mentoring, recreational and social service programs.  In addition, the young adults in City Year will serve as role models for the Dimock teens in promoting the power of service and the importance of giving back to one’s community.   Photo gallery »

Red Sox Scholars
Another cornerstone of the Red Sox Foundation focuses on educational outreach and is known as Red Sox Scholars.  Each year, the program provides 25 academically-talented but economically-disadvantaged fifth graders in Boston public schools with a $5,000 scholarship.  The scholarships, all with accrued interest, are theirs once they enter college, provided they maintain good grades and citizenship.  In their sixth grade year, scholars also receive medical mentoring through Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, giving the youngsters an opportunity to learn about health professions from Boston’s renowned medical personnel.