On August 8, 2023, Governor Maura Healey declared that a state of emergency exists in Massachusetts due to rapidly rising numbers of migrant families arriving in Massachusetts in need of shelter and services and a severe lack of shelter availability in the state. According to the Governor’s office on October 16, there are nearly 7,000 families with children and pregnant women in emergency shelters, including newly arrived migrant families and longtime Massachusetts residents. About half of the individuals in emergency shelters are children.
Acton will have an opportunity to welcome several migrant families to the community in the coming weeks and months as the Minuteman Inn on Hosmer St. has been designated as an emergency shelter by the State. Acton Boxborough Regional School Superintendent Peter Light wrote a detailed memo to the School Committee on October 18 about plans to incorporate new students into the schools. He said that Acton is positioned for success due to early and comprehensive planning and communication.
Light’s memo specified that Making Opportunities Count, Inc (MOC) is a non-profit organization in partnership with the State to run several shelters including ones in Concord, Ayer, and the one that will be in Acton. According to a public letter from Town Manager John Mangiaratti, Acton’s State legislative delegation has met with MOC staff as well as officials and staff from the Town and School District to coordinate efforts. Mangiaratti’s letter notes an anticipated arrival date of mid-November.
MOC plans to provide meals and 24/7 staffing, including case managers and security. According to Superintendent Light, “MOC estimates that about 60% of families who arrive will be entering Massachusetts for the first time, and 40% of families will be arriving from other shelters.” If students choose to remain at their currently enrolled districts, AB will transport all students who qualify as homeless, as required by the federal McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act.State funding is available for McKinney-Vento transportation costs as well as direct reimbursement to the District. “The reimbursement is $104 per student, per day up to a maximum of $18,000 per year for each student (roughly the Acton-Boxborough average per-pupil expenditure)…We believe that this reimbursement program should cover most, if not all of the additional staffing costs we anticipate based on the proposed additions,” Light wrote.
The Acton Boxborough Resource Center (ABRC) has already begun working to coordinate volunteers, donations, and other community resources. The receiving schools will be Merriam Elementary School, RJ Grey Junior High School, and Acton Boxborough Regional High School. State funding is sufficient to meet the district costs of additional staffing necessary to provide student services; job postings for an additional Multilingual Teacher, a family liaison, and multilingual classroom assistant positions have already been created. The funding is provided as quarterly reimbursements to the district, and it is expected that most, if not all, of the costs for additional staffing will be covered. The district is also pursuing additional grant funding.
Light noted that School District leadership places a high priority on supporting educators as well as students. Two teams have been formed, one focusing on Operational Topics such as registration, staffing, communication, legal services, and medical, and another focused on Teaching and Learning Topics such as educator support, multilingual support, mental health support, and interpretation/translation.
Generous support and a warm welcome for the newcomers are expected from the Acton and School District communities, according to Light’s memo. It is expected that the majority of arriving families will be Haitian. According to a report from the Migration Policy Institute (MPI) this summer, more than 200,000 migrants from Haiti have, or are eligible to apply for, Temporary Protected Status, “granting them U.S. work authorization and protection from deportation through August 2024.” The 2010 earthquake, the political crisis in 2018, and the 2021 assassination of President Jovenel Moïse are all contributing factors to the increase in migration out of Haiti. Current migrants include Haitians with dual citizenship, and those from the middle and upper classes, some of whom have lost hope of leading a normal life in their native land. MPI also reports that the “United States is the most popular destination for Haitian migrants, although many are also going to Brazil, Canada, Chile, and the Dominican Republic, as well as other countries in the Caribbean, Europe, and Latin America.”
The Acton Boxborough United Way, which operates the ABRC, is planning a community conversation to increase awareness and understanding of the immigrant experience for both recent and settled immigrants who have made Acton their new home.
