Organization Profiles

Somali Development Center
205 Green Street, Jamaica Plain MA 02130
Telephone: 617-522-6904;
Fax: 617-522-6300,
E-mail: sdcboston@yahoo.com
Contact: Mr. Abdi Yusuf, Executive Director

Background
Since 1995, the Somali Development Center (SDC) has been the lifeline to vital educational and social services for Boston's growing Somali refugee and immigrant community. Nearly 5000 Somali refugees have arrived in the Boston area since 1992. SDC was specifically established to provide multiple services to the Somali newcomers, as there were no effective mainstream social service agencies working with Somalis at that time. Somali newcomers are primarily young adults and children. They are generally Sunni Muslim.

Mission/Goals
The mission of SDC is to provide consistently excellent and accessible community services to all Somalis (and other Africans) in Boston, regardless of immigration status. These services help Somalis (and other Africans) in Boston, to obtain the basic resources, services, information and skills needed to build productive and self-sufficient lives in a new land. While strengthening the Somali community by promoting mutual assistance, cultural identity, and leadership, SDC fosters the ability to Somali individuals and families to advocate on their own behalf and participate constructively in the larger community.

Services
SDC pursues its goals through the following core programs:
- Housing: Search assistance, advocacy, and interpretation.
- Education: ESL and citizenship classes, GED classes, computer training, and other adult programs, including courses for college credit offered in partnership with Roxbury Community College. [Currently, this component is not offered due to lack of funding.]
- Employment and Training: Post Employment Vocational Skills Training.
- Youth programs: After-school Home Safety project, Mentorship program, including crime prevention and substance abuse prevention, and Leadership Development.
- Legal Assistance: Immigration, welfare, housing, employment, domestic violence, and advocacy in the courts.
- Health: Emotional problems, women's health issues, health education, health care access, domestic violence prevention.
- Resources and Information: Cable television program, community lectures, research, information and referral.