Space to Grow: What This New Boston Home Means for Families
Our work is underway on the new Roxbury Family Center in Boston — the floorplans, the construction, the neighborhood relationships. But underneath all of it is a simpler question: what does this new space actually mean for the families who will spend time in it?
We asked Shelby Distenfeld Chapman, LICSW, our Senior Manager of Family Support in Boston, to help us answer that. Shelby has been with Room to Grow since 2018, and in that time has come to know what the family experience here really feels like.
Some of what she's most excited about are the seemingly simple changes. The new boutique will be brighter and more open, with real windows bringing in natural light instead of only relying on overhead fluorescents. That kind of warmth lets families walk in, exhale, and settle. It's the difference between a space that asks something of a family and one that simply holds them.
“It is going to be more open, with windows and natural light that allow for more play and interaction.”
"It is going to be more open, with windows and natural light that allow for more play and interaction," Shelby said. That sense of ease starts before families even reach the door — first-floor, no stairs, no shared elevator to navigate, just a straightforward path in for anyone carrying a car seat, a stroller, or a little one who doesn't want to be put down.
Some of the excitement is more subtle, but just as real. "Having parking at the new space will ease worries for families who do drive about making it to their visits on time," Shelby said. One less stressor, one less thing standing between a family and the support waiting for them.
All of it, big and small, adds up to the same feeling. Ask Shelby to sum up how she hopes a family will feel walking through the new front door, and she doesn't hesitate: "Warm, welcomed, playful."
That's the whole point of this move, really. Not a bigger building for its own sake — a home that feels like one, for the families building theirs.
And we need your help to bring that to life for more families in Boston. Consider making a donation to be part of this next chapter with us.
This is the second feature in our series on the new Roxbury Family Center. Read the first, Behind the Build, for a look at the operations decisions shaping the space.