About Us
We are a coalition of people and organizations interested in serving the needs of the homeless and marginal populations of the Greater Boston area. Many of our coalition partners are churches but others are academic and secular organizations and individuals and we are looking for corporate partners and other individuals to join us - as volunteers, donors and providers of other resource needs. Some of us have been involved in meals programs for many years, others are formerly homeless people who want to help others as they themselves have been helped. The common strand that runs through our thinking and the programs that we run - and hope to create - is that recognition of shared humanity is the critical step in being able to help.
Realism is also a vital element - understanding that there are many of the damaged and addicted amongst the marginal population and it may not be possible to help them into housing or employment. Yet offering them a meal or a hot cup of coffee on a winter morning may be the first step in supporting those in need. We see our role as trying to fill in the gaps - focusing on meeting the people we seek to serve through community - in a meal, in a book group or in a dedicated women’s group. We believe that through community we can empathize, through empathy people can be encouraged and through encouragement empowerment can happen.
Board of Trustees
David Fisher
Board Chair
davidf@oasiscoalition.org
David was associated with Ron Tibbetts at NAI for some time before its closure. He is a retired fund manager and lawyer resident on Beacon Hill.
Debra A. Harkins, Suffolk University
Vice-chair
debrah@oasiscoalition.org
Debra is an Associate Professor of Psychology at Suffolk University. Having taught for more than 20 years, she has been active and focused on student service learning, civic engagement and community action research for those living and working on the margins including the poor, un-housed and underserved.
Donald Macdougall
Clerk
donniem@oasiscoalition.org
Donnie's involvement with the homeless and otherwise underserved community of Boston stems from his personal homeless experience. In 2005, Donnie was hospitalized for nearly four months with a potentially life-threatening ailment. As a result Donnie was rendered homeless, unable to pay his bills. Donnie struggled for more than a year to combine the necessary resources to re-establish himself in an apartment in Dorchester. Three months after he was housed Donnie sustained an injury to his hand. Donnie endured three surgeries to his right thumb which left him without resources once again. Currently, Donnie MacDougall not only serves as clerk for the Oasis Coalition of Boston but also as our Volunteer Services Coordinator for the Oasis Monday Night Meal Program.
Michael Bancewicz, Church on the Hill Administrator
Board member
mikeb@oasiscoalition.org
Michael is the Administrator at the Church on the Hill as well as the lead on Community Initiatives. Having lived in Boston for 25 years he has been very active in social justice and advocating for the poor and un-housed population at both a city and state level. He is affiliated with a diverse array of ministries and social action organizations.
HISTORY
The Oasis Coalition of Boston (‘Oasis’) is a 501(c)3 Corporation, incorporated in 2009, born of a collaborative association of various church and secular organizations and groups of volunteers united a long term commitment to serving the needs of the homeless and marginal communities of Boston.
One of Oasis’ founders, Ron Tibbetts, was previously Executive Director of Neighborhood Action Inc. (‘NAI’), a not-for-profit long associated with the Church of St. John the Evangelist on Bowdoin Street in Boston, where the programs currently operated by Oasis were successfully operated. It was through NAI that Ron formed the relationship with Suffolk University which has led to Suffolk’s current partnership with Oasis.
In January 2009, The Church of St. John the Evangelist decided to close NAI down, immediately terminating its various programs and prompting the formation of Oasis with Church on the Hill becoming a partner organization alongside Suffolk University.
Since then, three regular programs have been established by Oasis:
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