Harvard University awarded Brighton Marine with funds through the Harvard University Allston-Brighton Emergency Response Grant Program to reinforce their efforts to support the community.
Since 1983, Brighton Marine has provided services to veterans, members of the military and their families, specifically in the neighborhoods of Allston-Brighton. The services are straightforward, and according to Bob Notch, a program officer with the organization, also essential.
“Our mission is to support military and veteran families, and we do that in a number of ways,” says Notch. “Primarily, it has always been with a health plan through our partner US Family Health, and [we’ve] more recently expanded into providing housing [in Brighton] as well as a partnership in western Massachusetts to provide housing for 25 formally homeless veterans.”
Brighton Marine’s campus on Warren Street in Brighton serves many purposes, the facility is home to various service providers, but also houses a 102-unit apartment building catering to members of the military, veterans, and their families.
Because of the frequency of visitors to the Brighton Marine campus, from tenants to service providers and security personnel who work in one of the buildings, cleaning and safety measures have taken on an extra level of importance. To ensure they had the resources to maintain an extra level of scrutiny when it comes to cleaning and health, Brighton Marine sought and was awarded a grant through Harvard’s Emergency Response Grant.
“We have a number of individuals who are watching out for the security of the campus, and they are the first point of contact to clients,” says Notch. “So, people who come to the campus not familiar with where to go, talk to that security staff who are a customer care team on top of security. We needed to adjust due to new requirements, and make sure we were doing additional cleaning. We also wanted to make sure [our staff] had the proper protection for themselves.”