Natalie Ammarell papers

The Natalie Ammarell Papers document her professional consulting work with Boston-based human service organizations from the early 1980's to early 2000's. Topics include organizational planning, program development and evaluation, fundraising strategies, reorganization, human services delivery, employment and training, mental health care services, and deinstitutionalization.

The following list includes descriptions of each organization she worked for and the type of records found in the collection:

Aswalos House was a branch of the Roxbury Young Woman's Christian Association (YWCA) that provided support and resources to African-American women. Ammarell was contracted as a project evaluator for the Aswalos House/Boston City Hospital Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN) Training Project. Records include evaluation reports, correspondence, memoranda, and her interview notes with project staff.

Boston Panel of Agency Executives (BPAE) was a planning and advocacy group comprised of the leaders of local human service agencies funded by the United Way. Ammarell helped develop a position paper/agenda for the panel addressing human service delivery in the City of Boston, in the wake of the Massachusetts fiscal crisis in the late 1980's and early 1990's. Contains draft of the paper, correspondence, Ammarell's notes of interviews with BPAE members, and supporting research consisting of an environmental scan of the local political, social, and economic trends and their impact on the delivery of human services.

Citywide Educational Coalition (CWEC) was an educational reform organization in Boston from 1974-2000. Ammarell assisted the Board and staff with organizational planning and fundraising strategies. In 1987/88, she conducted an organizational review of CWEC and also helped with the transition of three executive directors. Records include Board of Directors meeting agendas and minutes, Ammarell's Board of Directors meeting notes, correspondence, organizational review proposal, work plan, and reports, planning committee agendas and minutes, budget reports, financial statements, fundraising reports, and grant proposals. Some of these records, 143 files (1992-2001), have been stored in electronic format and are located on a CD in Box 1. These files are original records and are not duplicates of items in the collection. Folders in the collection are arranged chronologically, reflecting original order. Additional records of Natalie Ammarell's consultant work are located in the Citywide Educational Coalition records (M130) in Box 10.

Committee for Boston Public Housing (CBPH) is a private, non-profit organization that helps public housing tenants to work together to improve housing, social, and community services. Ammarell helped plan and facilitate long range planning processes. In 1990/91, she worked on a dissemination project designed to alleviate the volume of requests for information and technical assistance, and to publicize the work of the CBPH to outsiders. The project included the evaluation of two notable programs, the Washington-Beech Community Daycare Center and the Family Committee Resource Center (FCRC). Records include audit reports, budget reports, correspondence, Director's reports, Dissemination Planning Committee summary notes, , evaluation reports, financial statements, fundraising reports, grant proposals, memoranda, program reports, Ammarell's interview notes, newsletters, and Executive Board, Long Range Planning Committee, Planning Committee and Tenant Coordinating Committee meeting minutes. Please note that some of the committee meeting minutes and Director's reports can be found in the fundraising folders.

Federated Dorchester Neighborhood Houses, now known as College Bound Dorchester, is a community-based, social services organization. Ammarell conducted an agency-wide program evaluation and consulted in areas of management and fundraising. Records include correspondence, memoranda, work plans, project evaluations, Ammarell's interview notes, brochures, newsletter, grant proposals, and staff retreat meeting notes.

Governor's Commission on the Future of Mature Industries was established under the auspices of the Dukakis administration in 1983 to address industrial plant closings in Massachusetts. Ammarell provided case-studies of private sector employment and training initiatives to the Commission. Records include correspondence, drafts of case studies, draft of employment and training programs appendix to the Report of the Governor's Commission on the Future of Mature Industries, Labor Market Policies Committee meeting minutes, and memoranda.

Ammarell worked with New England Medical Center (NEMC) to develop a long-term planning perspective for its Office of Community Health. Records include Advisory Committee, Community Health Planning Group, and Steering Committee meeting minutes; correspondence; Ammarell's interview notes; and Planning Committee recommendations.

Inner City, Inc., Roxbury, Massachusetts, a subsidiary of Polaroid, Inc., provided job training to Boston's unemployed, underemployed, and disadvantaged residents, with entry into meaningful employment. Ammarell assisted with program planning and development. Records include annual reports, correspondence, memoranda, issues of Inner City's newsletter, Banner, Ammarell's planning session notes and summaries, program assessments, proposals, reports, and staff meeting minutes. Of interest is a 1982 report on employment and training options provided by the Federal Targeted Jobs Tax Credit (Box 4) and a 1984 retention study of placed Inner City, Inc., trainees (Box 4).

Roxbury Court Clinic, established in 1960, was a mental health facility located in the Roxbury District Court that provided diagnostic and treatment services to court clients. The folder contains two reports from the 1970's, one authored, another co-authored, by Ammarell, detailing the delivery of social services within a court setting (Box 5).

At the Solomon Carter Fuller Mental Health Center, Ammarell was a member of the administrative staff and helped develop position papers on mental health reorganization in the wake of the withdrawal of federal support for community mental health centers in the 1970's. Records include annual reports, area plans, audit report, program reports, internal reports, newsletters, Ammarell's notes, position papers, and research on deinstitutionalization that includes unpublished documents. Of interest is a 1981 paper by Ammarell titled “Bureaucratic Control: Is It Choking Service to Death?” which examines the contract management of mental health services as they migrated from the state to non-profit human service providers (Box 5). Also of note is a 1979 study by A.D. Little, “The Effect of Organizational Structure on CMHC Operations” (Box 5).

United South End Settlements (USES) helps to improve the education, health, safety and economic security of low-income individuals and families in Boston's historic South End/Lower Roxbury. Ammarell assisted the executive director in overall program and organizational planning, fundraising, long range planning, preparation of annual budget, and facilities assessment. Records include Board of Director's meeting minutes, Ammarell's Board of Directors meeting notes, interviews with board members, correspondence, Ammarell's Planning Committee notes, organizational charts, program planning reports, budgetary planning reports, housing appraisals, newspaper clippings, and documents about USES history and background. Of interest is a mini-cassette of an interview with Al Boer, former Director of USES's Community Services Center, 1960-1964 (Box 5), and a 9 minute VHS tape entitled "USES: A Catalyst for Community" - a short film highlighting the services USES provides to the community, made in 1999 (Box 7). Additional records of Natalie Ammarell's consultant work (15 folders) are located in the United South End Settlements collection (M126) in Box 15.

W.I.S.H. House (With Integrity She Heals) was a community based housing program in Dorchester which provided housing and support services to women and their children living with HIV/AIDS. Ammarell assisted the Executive Director in overall organizational planning, development of fundraising strategies, and preparation of the annual budget. Records include grant proposals, budget worksheets, correspondence, contracts, contract assessment reports, annual progress report, Board of Directors meeting minutes, and program summary reports. Please note that in 2000, the Federated Dorchester Neighborhood Houses (FDNH) became the fiscal conduit for the WISH House program. The FDNH files are located in Box 4. WISH House closed in 2002 due to funding cuts by the Massachusetts Legislature.