On November 19th West End House and the Boston Celtics hosted 50 of Boston’s most influential real estate developers, industry executives, and public officials for a breakfast discussion on urban transformation and West End House’s impact on the community.
The event was held at the Auerbach Center —the new training and practicing facility of the Boston Celtics. Ted Dalton, Senior Vice President of Corporate Partnerships & Business Development at Boston Celtics opened the event welcoming everyone to the new facility and speaking to the partnership among the Boston Celtics, New Balance and West End House.
Ted then introduced a video that was produced over the summer showcasing the dramatic transformation of our gymnasium thanks to this incredible partnership. The video features Celtics coach Brad Stevens, as well as Board Member and New Balance Director of Merchandising—Global Flagship Stores, Kassia Davis.
West End House CEO Andrea Howard spoke to West End House’s impact and value within the community. West End House, an independent Boys & Girls Club, is a community anchor with a robust workforce development initiative, working to produce Boston’s future top leaders. West End House is the second largest year round employer of teens in the city through our Peer Leadership Program. Success for the West End House is success for the City of Boston, as our alumni go forth and strengthen our local economy and businesses.
West End House alumnus Todd Grubb, who joined the Club at age 7, spoke about the opportunities that West End House provided to him and the impact on his life.
“At the age of 13 I joined a program at West End House called Teen Leadership. In Teen Leadership we went on college tours, worked on resumes, as well as setup mock interviews by staff members in front of our peers to fully prep us for real life situations. Teen Leadership is a great program that put responsibility in our hands at a young age. There were times where we would volunteer to help the WEH staff run activities, soon giving us the confidence to run our own.”
Currently a Union Plumber for American Plumbing and Heating, Todd credits West End House for guiding him to his success. “West End House opened my eyes to opportunities that put me on a path to success and I’m proud to consider them part of my family.”
West End House Board President Andrew Musto then spoke to the crowd concerning the multitude of ways to develop connections with the work of West End House, from volunteering to providing internships to investing in our work as we are about to complete our $23.5 million Expect More Campaign. Most recently, we received major Campaign contributions from New England Development ($250,000) and Elkus Manfredi Architects ($100,000) and we are now less than $1 million away from meeting our Campaign goal.
The event concluded with remarks from Bob Sweeney, Executive Director of the Boston Bruins Foundation, and Rich Gotham, Team President of the Boston Celtics, who shared their excitement and commitment to becoming an integral part of the local community. They also shared a preview of their team’s prospects for the current season and beyond.
Thank you to everyone who joined us yesterday morning. And a special thank you to our host the Boston Celtics, and to our panelists Rich Gotham and Bob Sweeney for sharing their insights on their teams and on trends in the marketplace!
