BCSSW’s Gateway Initiative seeks to build capacity across Massachusetts’ 26 Gateway Cities—midsize urban centers that anchor regional economies around the state.
The Boston College School of Social Work is playing a central role in a five-year, $5 million initiative funded by the Atrius Health Equity Fund to improve youth mental health and family wellness in Lawrence, Massachusetts.
The project brings together nine local community-based organizations—among them Lawrence General Hospital, the Greater Lawrence Family Health Center, and a sports-based youth development program called SquashBusters—to create programs and systems that center the voices and needs of young people.
Under the leadership of Director of Community-Based Initiatives Yvonne Castañeda, BCSSW faculty and staff support the effort by guiding data collection and evaluating programs to ensure that community-driven strategies are both impactful and sustainable over time.
Rather than focusing solely on clinical care, the Atrius Health Equity Collaboration emphasizes non-clinical, culturally grounded strategies including healing circles, mindfulness, peer support, art therapy, and leadership development.
It aims to reach more than 1,600 youth and their families over the next five years, with a focus on fostering youth leadership, building career pathways in healthcare, and promoting healthy neighborhoods through youth-led outreach and education.
The effort is part of BCSSW’s Gateway Initiative, the School’s long-term commitment to building capacity across Massachusetts’ 26 Gateway Cities—midsize urban centers that anchor regional economies around the state.
Starting in Lawrence, the initiative seeks to strengthen the systems, organizations, and networks that deliver social, health, education, and human services. Through organizational development, data-driven decision-making, and community-led design, BCSSW invests in tools, training, and partnerships that empower Lawrence to address community needs with insight, equity, and lasting impact.
“Our goal is to build genuine partnerships—bringing together the best of the University’s knowledge and resources while ensuring communities lead the collaboration, set the priorities, and shape the solutions,” said BCSSW Dean Gautam N. Yadama. “When communities have the tools, data, and capacity they need, they can design solutions that work for them and create lasting change.”
Over the past two and a half years, BCSSW has connected with 100 nonprofit organizations in Lawrence, reaching more than 130,000 residents and devoting more than 6,700 hours to student and faculty projects. A sample of the community organizations involved through the Lawrence Gateway Initiative show the depth and breadth of the collaboration: Sueños Basketball, Lawrence Catholic Academy, and Ferreras Counseling and Wellness.
Members of BCSSW's Gateway Initiative, including Dean Gautam N. Yadama and Director of Community-Based Initiatives Yvonne Castañeda, collaborate on a project.
Building on this community-focused approach, BCSSW is also partnering with the city on the Lawrence Public Safety Analytics Project, a data-driven initiative aimed at better understanding crime trends through the analysis of publicly available crime log data.
BCSSW Research Associate Professor in Data Science for Social Impact Ritika Pandey built an interactive dashboard that visualizes crime patterns, temporal trends, and spatial distributions, transforming the data into actionable insights that support more effective and proactive public safety strategies in the Lawrence community.
“I believe public safety data has a lot of power,” said Pandey, “and by turning it into visuals, trends, and social-economic and demographic context, along with adding predictive analysis, we can spark more transparent conversations and help communities like Lawrence use data to drive real, practical solutions and work toward safer neighborhoods.”
The team is now actively working to incorporate secondary data sources to enrich analytics and reporting capabilities. Over time, it plans to integrate socioeconomic indicators, demographic information, and community factors to provide a more comprehensive understanding of the multifaceted elements influencing crime patterns and public safety dynamics.
In addition to public safety, the Gateway Initiative also focuses on environmental stewardship. In partnership with Groundwork Lawrence, an environmental conservation organization, BC faculty and students developed an interactive dashboard that maps the city’s growing urban forest and green infrastructure.
The Tree Mapping Tool catalogs trees by genus, species, and planting location, supporting long-term maintenance, biodiversity tracking, and community education.
“As an environmental studies student learning GIS for the first time, I saw the real-world connections between the environmental and socio-economic conditions of Gateway Cities,” said TJ Frohlichstein, a student researcher who worked on the project. “My passion for protecting the environment stems from the belief that all people have a right to live safe and healthy lives and our partnership emphasizes the benefits of true collaboration.”
Together, the Atrius Health Equity Collaboration, the Public Safety Analytics Project, and the Tree Mapping Program demonstrate how BCSSW’s Gateway Initiative is supporting the health and well-being of Lawrence residents. By pairing academic expertise with community leadership, the initiative provides a blueprint for dismantling barriers and building systems that help communities thrive in areas such as youth, public safety, and the environment.
Gabriela Betances, project director of Lawrence Community Works, part of the Atrius Health Equity Collaboration, highlighted BCSSW’s ongoing support.
“The Boston College School of Social Work has played a vital role in supporting the development of the Atrius Health Equity Foundation Lawrence Initiative,” Betances said. “We are incredibly grateful to have BCSSW as part of this initiative. Their invaluable support, insight, and partnership have strengthened the foundation of this work, and we look forward to continuing to grow together.”