Grantee Partner Spotlight:
Mount Olives Community Center

Photo of a large group of Black people standing together, looking at the camera and smiling. About four people are kneeling, there is one child, but the rest of the approximately 40 people are standing.
March 2024 participants in the Financial Literacy for Newcomers class with Joel Piton (center, bottom row, in suit)

Dr. Joel Piton thought the teller at Eastern Bank looked familiar as he stood in line to deposit some much-needed funds for Mount Olives Community Center (MOCC) last month. But Piton admits he can’t remember every face, given the hundreds of new people he meets each year as executive director of MOCC. Fortunately, the teller recognized him immediately. “I took your financial literacy course last year,” he proudly announced to Piton. “I put the training on my résumé, and it helped me get this job.”

The Financial Literacy for Newcomers course, and the English language course the teller also took, are just two of the many programs MOCC offers as part of their mission to meet the basic integration needs of Haitian immigrants and refugees in Boston and surrounding communities. They also offer computer literacy training, home-buying assistance, mental health counseling, and after-school programs, in addition to providing food and clothing.

Piton founded MOCC in mid-2019 as an arm of the Mount of Olives Evangelical Baptist Church, where he served as pastor (while also serving the public as a health care professional). He had begun forming response teams with congregation and community members to assist refugee arrivals, assembling food and basic necessities, obtaining vans, and even going to Maine in the summers to help Haitians doing seasonal work there.

Photo of a truck and two men unloading food from large pallets in front of a storefront building that says 'Mount Olives Community Center'
MOCC combats food insecurity for newly resettled Haitians with weekly distributions of shelf-stable groceries, along with bimonthly distributions of ethnic Haitian foods.

Photo of a group of Haitian folks lined up outside of the Mount Olives building - all appear to be wearing masks

“You provide some fresh food, and the next thing you know you have 100 people at the door,” Piton says, discussing how the organization has grown to meet the constant need. “But word of mouth works both ways,” he adds. “Just as it brings refugees to us, it also brings volunteers who want to help and be a voice for MOCC.”

It brings new partnerships too, such as the mental health sessions MOCC runs with Boston Missionary Baptist Community Center and the Migrant Assistance Community Project with Health Care for All. The collaborations help MOCC extend their reach, as the mounting needs for Haitian newcomers are greater than ever right now, with an increase in the federal immigration limit from Haiti last year. Thousands of Haitians are currently living at 48 hotels and shelters throughout the state, and others have had no choice but to sleep at Logan Airport. MOCC is partnering with some of the hotels as well as local churches and councils to provide essentials, along with a dose of hope and cheer, as at last year’s Christmas party when MOCC was able to surprise each child with a hand-selected gift.

Now entering their fourth year as an LZF grantee partner, MOCC’s goal for 2024 is to create a more consistent approach to caring for new arrivals, including cash assistance, as well as more summer programming for kids.

Piton recalls that it took two failed tries and a meeting with LZF staff to learn how to write the grant proposal that finally secured funding for them in 2021. He credits volunteer Gina Benjamin, who learned nonprofit development skills like grant writing and strategic planning in part through LZF’s capacity-building seminars. Ms. Benjamin helped MOCC attract more funding partners after that initial grant.

But the daily inspiration, Piton says, is each new member of the Haitian community he meets, and their unfailing resilience: “We may be down for a season, but we rise up and continue forward.”

Current needs at MOCC include clothing and shoes for the upcoming season, and as always, monetary donations and volunteers. If you want to get involved, please contact Dr. Joel Piton at mocc@moliveschurch.org or use the contact form on the MOCC website.