One Mattapan church that was running a day shelter for immigrant families in Boston is shutting its program down after migrants stopped showing up to use their services. That change came when the state banned families from sleeping overnight at Logan Airport nearly two weeks ago.
Organizers say they are seeking guidance from the state on how to move forward after many families were moved to a new shelter in a former Norfolk prison.
The Church of the Holy Spirit in Mattapan was running a day program since January that was funded partially by the state in partnership with Immigrant Family Services Institute. The Rev. Zenetta Armstrong says she hasn’t been informed by the state or other entities about what is happening. They are prepared to reopen if their services are needed, but they don’t know whether to expect new arrivals.
“Not much information is being shared,” Armstrong said.
The Rev. Laura Everett, executive director of Mass Council of Churches, worries about doors closing to new arrivals and that, in the emergency shelters, migrant families are not getting the support services they need.
“The emergency shelters don’t have sufficient space for English classes, for places to fill out paperwork, for privacy,” she said. “For a place for parents to get a little bit of a break. We want people to have opportunities.”
The state operates two family welcome centers — one at the Brazilian Worker Center in Allston, and the second at Eastern Nazarene College in Quincy — that provide daytime services. Those welcome centers were originally intended to be triage hubs to direct migrant families to emergency assistance help and other forms of shelter. There are no plans to change operations at those sites.
Migrants sleeping at Logan Airport and those staying in local overflow shelters were stopping at the Church of the Holy Spirit throughout the day. They were able to access Haitian Creole food cooked by church volunteers, computers, English language lessons, child care and play space for teens and children, and a general sense of a strong Haitian community in the area.
Many have been transferred over to a shelter in a former prison in Norfolk.
“They’re still displaced, and they’re living in an area where they’re not connected to a community. The former prisons are usually not connected to communities — just by design,” Armstrong said.
She added that migrants enjoyed being able to eat culturally appropriate food at the church. On the other hand, she said, the migrants who were staying at the airport were making a 14-mile journey to her church every day. At least now, she said, they could have showers available and don’t have to make the trek.
“It was a challenge to go back and forth with their worldly possessions,” Armstrong said. “They felt displaced in a way that was quite a challenge for them.”
“They have not shared the news with us yet,” said Dr. Geralde Gabeau, who is executive director of IFSI, the organization that helped run the day program in Mattapan. “We were planning to reopen once we know where families are going to sleep.”
