The fundraising effort for a new campus at Martha’s Vineyard Community Services got a major boost this week when the nonprofit received a $1 million grant from MVYouth. 

Representatives from both organizations announced the award at an event held at the Martha’s Vineyard Museum Tuesday. With the grant, Community Services is now just $500,000 shy of its $17.5 million goal for the Oak Bluffs campus revamp.

The lone umbrella social services organization on the Vineyard, Community Services offers childcare, runs the Head Start program, and operates a family resource center for at-risk families, in addition to other services for adults.

MVCS CEO Dean Teague thanks everyone who helped with the grant.

Tim Johnson

MVCS CEO Dean Teague thanks everyone who helped with the grant.

Tim Johnson

Community Services CEO Dean Teague promised that this money would be put to good use.  

“Thank you for all that you do, and thank you for the wonderful gift,” he said. “We promise you it will go to very good work, and we’ll be taking care of the people in this community even better.”

Dating back to the 1980s, the Community Services campus has dealt with a leaky foundation, unreliable internet and walls so thin that sound machines are used to obscure clients’ private conversations. In 2019, Community Services received permission to build a 12,700 square-foot consolidated center, and the nonprofit broke ground in May in the hopes to open next fall.

Lindsey Scott, executive director of MVYouth, thanked everyone who made the grant possible. 

“It is the product of a huge amount of work that so many in this room and so many not in this room have made possible,” she said. “Years of effort has led to this moment, and we’re thrilled to be a part of it.”

Started in 2014, MVYouth is an Island organization that has given more than $21 million in grants to organizations serving youth on the Island, as well as scholarships to high school seniors and young adults. 

The group offers last-dollar funding to help organizations cross the finish line for their respective projects, with donors pledging to donate $25,000 a year for four years, in addition to other donations from individuals and organizations around the Island. This is the fourth time that MVYouth has given a grant to Community Services.

Of particular interest to MVYouth is the growing number of children, teens and young adults presenting with anxiety, depression, trauma and developmental challenges since the pandemic, according to the organization. The new Community Services center will have a child-friendly waiting room and playroom, a dedicated youth-focused therapy space and clinicians specializing in youth mental health. 

With these goals in mind, Ms. Scott said it was an easy decision for MVYouth to support this project. 

Lindsey Scott with MVYouth said the goals of MVCS made it an easy choice for the grant.

Tim Johnson

Lindsey Scott with MVYouth said the goals of MVCS made it an easy choice for the grant.

Tim Johnson

“This community has expressed its support for this project so generously that we could not overlook that it is time to replace that dilapidated, leaky, moldy, disjointed campus with a purpose-built space to address our community’s needs,” she said.  

Gary Foster, chair of the Community Services capital campaign, expressed gratitude in MVYouth and the community’s support. 

“It’s not for us, it’s for the community. It’s for the people that we serve, so that they have the best opportunities to heal,’ he said. “It’s also for our staff, people who are working and living in that old building for all those years. They do their work. They do it really well, but they deserve better.” 

He emphasized the necessity for a new building to ensure that the organization can continue working. 

“I remember a few years ago, our internet went out and we had to scramble because we couldn’t do our work,” he said. “We got people to show up and write some checks and Comcast agreed to do all the rewiring and everything for free because the building was just deteriorating.” 

Community Services capital campaign and major gifts officer Sandy Sedacca called the grant a “miracle.” 

“To really witness the generosity every day, that’s the joy of this job. People writing and saying, I’d love to give. I get a text, and then I thank them, and then they thank me for thanking them,” she said with a laugh. “It doesn’t stop. The hearts are so big and so full for this work, so we’re just lucky to be participating and witnessing all this with you tonight, because it’s really kind of a beautiful miracle.”