We are proud of our clients and pleased to share their stories with you through our website. “Causes We Care About” is a rotating gallery of long-term Krokidas & Bluestein clients whose missions we admire.
Advocates, Inc.
Advocates, Inc. is a non-profit which provides a wide variety of social services to individuals with mental illness, intellectual or developmental disabilities, autism, brain injury, and other challenges. Krokidas & Bluestein’s relationship with Advocates dates back about thirty years, to a time when we were both fledgling organizations.
Advocates was founded in 1975 by a group of volunteers providing patient rehabilitation services on the grounds of Westborough State Hospital. Today it is one of the largest human service organizations in Massachusetts, employing over 1,000 staff members serving approximately 20,000 individuals at over 100 sites throughout Eastern and Central Massachusetts.
We have been privileged to have witnessed first-hand, and contributed to, Advocates’ remarkable growth. This growth has not come about by accident. Advocates has consistently demonstrated innovation, agility in responding to new societal challenges, financial prudence, a strong desire to work constructively with the communities in which it maintains sites, and, most importantly, deep and abiding compassion and respect for the clients it serves.
These qualities were all clearly evident in a project that we assisted Advocates in pursuing in Framingham, Massachusetts: Advocates’ acquisition and redevelopment of the historic building at 20 Vernon Street. Our involvement with the Vernon Street property began in 2003 with negotiation of the purchase and sale agreement, but Advocates had been hard at work on the project long before then. For Advocates, it began in 1996 when Greater Framingham families involved in the National Alliance on Mental Illness approached Advocates with the idea of developing a supportive housing site in Framingham so that their family members who had grown up locally could continue to live, not only in their own community, but in their own apartments with the appropriate support. The key was of course to secure financing and locate the appropriate site, and after several false starts, the former rest home at 20 Vernon Street was made available to Advocates.
The 20 Vernon Street property was extremely “high profile” in Framingham because of its prominent location in Framingham Center (an important factor for the residents due to its proximity to public transportation and access to services), and the historic nature of the building. Advocates’ challenge was to develop the property in a manner that was reflective and respectful of its historic qualities but nonetheless met the needs of the prospective residents. After a careful and sensitive design process, the project received the unanimous support of the Framingham Selectmen as well as the Framingham Historic Commission.
A final regulatory hurdle arose when the Town passed a zoning amendment which subjected the project to the jurisdiction of the Planning Board under its site plan review process. We represented Advocates in the four separate sessions of the Planning Board hearing in September, October, November and December 2006. These meetings occurred at a time when a segment of the Framingham population and some of its public officials were strongly objecting to the addition of any more social service facilities in the Town. Despite these obstacles, the Planning Board granted site plan approval by unanimous vote in early 2007.
We then proceeded to represent Advocates in the construction financing provided by HUD and the Massachusetts Department of Communities and Development in the fall of 2008 and in the post-construction final HUD closing which occurred in the summer of 2011.
It was a long, arduous journey, but Advocates never wavered in its determination to see the project through. The result is a beautiful residence which is an asset to the community and a place that eight deserving individuals can call home. We are proud to have played a part in the success of this project.
