Fenway dedicates new headquarters

More than 200 people gathered at Fenway Health's new 1340 Boylston Street headquarters May 7 to mark the formal dedication of the 10-story building, which Fenway Health President and CEO Stephen Boswell said is probably the largest building ever built for an LGBT-focused organization.

The 100,000 square foot health center is now poised to greatly expand its operations, said Boswell. Prior to the move Fenway operated out of a much smaller facility at 7 Haviland Street and several off-site offices. Boswell said Fenway cares for 15,000 patients and receives 70,000 patient visits each year.

"Within a few years we will double both of those numbers. This building makes that possible," said Boswell.

Boston Mayor Thomas Menino, on hand to do the official ribbon cutting, told the crowd that Fenway helped a close friend of his who was suffering from depression come out of the closet several years ago. Menino did not name the man but described him as "a good friend of mine for the last 30-some, several years, a good kid, he was in government at one time, he was elected." Menino said at some point the man withdrew from his friends and seemed depressed. The mayor said he invited the man to his home for New Year's Eve and other occasions and tried to get him to go back out into the community. He later learned that the reason his friend had withdrawn is because he was struggling with living in the closet, and he was unsure how to tell his family that he was gay.

"And then one day we get him to come to Fenway Community Health Center, and he turned his life around because he came out," said Menino. "And they gave him all the support in the world, right here, and that's what they do every day. They save people's lives. And now this friend of mine, his life is turned around, he's having such a good time in life, but he needed someone who would reach out to him. And that's what Fenway did for him."

Allison Salke, chair of the Fenway board, announced to the crowd that as of the beginning of the month Fenway had qualified for a $1.75 million grant from the Kresge Foundation. The foundation had issued a challenge to Fenway that it would receive the money only if it succeeded in raising $3.6 million between July 2008 and the end of June 2009. The crowd burst into applause as Salke handed Boswell a giant-size replica of the check for $1.75 million, which Salke said is the largest grant to an LGBT organization ever issued by the foundation.

Other luminaries in the crowd included City Council President Michael Ross and state Rep. Byron Rushing (D-Boston), who both gave brief statements congratulating Fenway on its new building, as well as Cambridge Mayor Denise Simmons and state Reps. Gloria Fox (D-Boston) and Liz Malia (D-Boston).

Boswell told the crowd that Fenway Health's research division, the Fenway Institute, would play a critical role in the years ahead in the fight against HIV.

"The work the Fenway does will, without a doubt, play a role in the development of a vaccine to prevent the transmission of HIV, we hope within the next ten years," said Boswell, to applause from the crowd.

He also told the crowd that in about nine months Fenway would release the results of a study that "will have significant, profound impact on the spread of HIV around the world." Fenway, said Boswell, is one of three sites testing a new approach to use medication to prevent HIV transmission among people at high risk for infection.

"The preliminary data for this work looks extremely promising, and many of us believe that within the next year to two years this will play a critical role in stemming the spread of this disease around the globe, and Fenway will have played a very significant role in that research," said Boswell.