News & Publications
Media Inquiries
For media inquiries about MAB Community Services’ programs or events or subjects related to disabilities and the field of human services, including developmental disabilities, brain injury, vocational services, visual impairment, and blindness, please contact:
Amanda Trombley, Director of Communications and Events
atrombley@mabcommunity.org
617-732-0264
Check out MAB Community Services’ 2024 Annual Report HERE
Recent News
Jennifer Harnish named Executive Director of the Mass. Association for the Blind and Visually Impaired
Read the full article about Jennifer’s new role here!
2025 Boston Marathon Media Coverage
MABVI’s Team With A Vision is proud and honored to have been a part of the Boston Athletic Association’s Official Charity Program for the 129th Boston Marathon® on April 21, 2025
Check out our full media coverage for the 129th Boston Marathon® here!
MAB CEO Barbara Salisbury’s November 28, 2024 letter to the editor of the Boston Globe
Outrageous to pit special-ed costs against striking teachers’ pay
Worcester Guardian, September 15th, 2024
MABVI secures $300K to support age-friendly communities (theworcesterguardian.org)
The Massachusetts Association for the Blind and Visually Impaired (MABVI) has been awarded a $300,000 grant from Point32Health Foundation, a significant investment that will bolster the organization’s work in fostering age-friendly communities across Massachusetts.
2024 Maxo Joseph Press Coverage
- Watertown Staff at MAB Community Services Receive $5,000 Maxo Joseph Excellence in Direct Care Awards | Watertown News (watertownmanews.com)
- Worcester Resident Patrick Parker Receives Award for Excellence | Worcester, MA Patch
- Two MAB Central Mass. staff members receive award – Community Advocate
- MAB Community Services honors Dedham staff member Lisa Funches with a Maxo Joseph Excellence in Direct Care Award | Dedham Times (PDF Download)
- Westborough Staff Patrick Parker Receives Award for Excellence | Westborough, MA Patch
- Olugbenga (Anthony) Osho wins award | thesunchronicle.com
- Stefani Douglas – New Uxbridge Times – September 2024 (PDF Download)
- Boston Business Journal: People on the Move
The Caring Force Blog, June 24th, 2024
June 2024 Workforce Hero: Lillian Macnamee
The Caring Force is delighted to announce Lillian Macnamee as our June TCF Workforce Hero Spotlight honoree. Lillian, who currently serves as an Individual Support Worker at MAB Community Services, began her career as a day program specialist. In her current role, she has been instrumental in helping a participant transition to independent living after nearly 15 years in twenty-four-hour support settings since turning 22. Her unwavering commitment and support have been crucial to his successful transition, leading to significant improvements in his quality of life.
Mass Non-Profit News, May 30th, 2024
There are day services designed for people with intellectual disabilities but few to none for people with brain injuries. MAB Community Services (MAB), a statewide nonprofit organization and rehabilitation services provider, supports both distinct populations in living full and satisfying lives.
Mass Non-Profit News, May 28th, 2024
Here are Cummings Foundation’s 150 grant recipients for its 2024 program
Earlier this month the Cummings Foundation notified the recipients of its 2024 Local Grant Program — 150 organizations will share in $30 million this round. The Foundation noted that 125 of the 150 nonprofits were awarded three-year grants of up to $300,000 each and that the remaining 25 grant winners (as noted with asterisks) were awarded $300,000 to $1 million each, to be paid over 10 years.
Community Advocate, April 6th, 2024
Grant will help adult disabilities program run rehab center
WESTBOROUGH – There are day services designed for people with intellectual disabilities, but few for people with brain injuries.
MAB Community Services (MAB), a statewide nonprofit organization and rehabilitation services provider, supports both populations in living full and satisfying lives.
Boston Globe, February 7th, 2024
MAB Community Services CEO to retire from organization serving people with disabilities
Barbara Salisbury, CEO of MAB Community Services, is retiring after 17 years of leadership over the nonprofit that serves people with blindness and other disabilities, the organization announced Wednesday. During her tenure, Salisbury raised MAB Community Services’ annual revenue to $50 million from $10 million, said the nonprofit, formerly known as the Massachusetts Association for the Blind. Salisbury will stay at the organization until the board chooses a successor in the coming months. “Departing MAB is bittersweet, but I am encouraged by the work we have done and are doing to afford our participants the ability to live their lives in the manner they see fit,” Salisbury said in the release.
Mass Non-Profit News, February 7th, 2024
MAB Community Services’ CEO Barbara Salisbury to retire | News | massnonprofit.org
MAB Community Services, a leading social service agency supporting over 1,500 individuals with visual impairment, intellectual and developmental disabilities, and acquired brain injuries across Massachusetts, has announced that CEO Barbara Salisbury will be stepping down from her position to retire after more than 17 years of leadership. She will continue at MAB until her successor has been identified by the Board.
Mass Non-Profit News, January 15th, 2024
George E. Curtis Charitable Trust awards $30,000 to expand vision rehabilitation services
The George E. Curtis Charitable Trust recently awarded the Massachusetts Association for the Blind and Visually Impaired (MABVI) a $30,000 grant to support training and services that promote independence for 200 older adult residents living with blindness or low vision in Plymouth County. With nearly $340,000 granted to MABVI for 24 consecutive years, the trust is one of MABVI’s top institutional partners.
Plymouth residents may access MABVI’s in-home vision rehabilitation occupational therapy, orientation and mobility training, peer empowerment groups, 1:1 volunteer support, access to low vision centers, adjustment counseling, and assistive technology training. MABVI annually serves more than 1,200 people statewide. READ MORE
Mass Nonprofit News, January 5, 2023
Liberty Mutual Foundation awards the Mass. Association for the Blind and Visually Impaired (MABVI) $50,000 grant
Liberty Mutual Foundation recently awarded the Massachusetts Association for the Blind and Visually Impaired (MABVI) a $50,000 grant to support services for older adults with visual disabilities throughout Greater Boston. With more than $236,000 granted to MABVI for nine consecutive years, Liberty Mutual Foundation is one of the organization’s top institutional partners. Read the full story HERE.
People with disabilities thrive in community-based settings
Letter to the editor by Barbara Salisbury, CEO, MAB Community Services
October 30, 2023
I was incredibly encouraged to see the Globe advocate for transitioning care for people with disabilities away from institutions and into the community (“Help people with disabilities live in the community,” Editorial, Oct. 27), which offers improved quality of life and the recognition that they deserve to be full participants in society. Read the full letter here.
Social Impact Heroes: Why & How Barbara Salisbury of MAB Community Services Is Helping To Change Our World
By Yitzi Weiner Published in Authority Magazine, Sept 12, 2023
120 years is just the beginning for disability justice
This summer marks the 50th anniversary of The Rehabilitation Act of 1973, the predecessor to 1990’s Americans with Disabilities Act, which asserts the right of all people with disabilities to be full participants in society. Since then, there’s been notable progress in eliminating some barriers to physical and online spaces, but there is much more to be done to meet the full expectations of this law. Read the full article here.
Click here for media coverage of the 2023 Maxo Joseph Excellence in Direct Care Awards.
2023 Media Coverage of MABVI’s Team With A Vision
This Brookline Resident Thrives In Occupational Therapy Program
April has been designated as Occupational Therapy Month. See how this local Brookline OT program helps its residents thrive.
“Skills for Life is a program within the Ivy Street School, which offers multiple programs aimed at providing the skills for neurodivergent youth to thrive.
Since its establishment more than six years ago, Skills for Life has helped over 60 participants, including 26-year-old Ben Peveril-Conti.” READ MORE
MAB Community Services Matches $100,000 Challenge Grant For Maxo Joseph Awards
Hingham Anchor, March 6, 2023
MAB Community Services, a leading social service agency supporting over 1,500 individuals with visual impairment, intellectual and developmental disabilities, and acquired brain injuries across Massachusetts, celebrated Wednesday, matching a $100,000 challenge grant to fund the continuation of the Maxo Joseph Excellence in Direct Care Awards. Established by Jay Lupica in his position as the trustee of the Patricia W. and Alfred E. Farah Charitable Trust and in concert with MAB, the Maxo Joseph Excellence in Direct Care Awards recognize dedicated and skilled direct care workers at MAB’s Adult Disability Services group homes. The awards themselves honor Maxo Joseph, a committed caregiver who served at MAB for more than 19 years before passing away from complications after contracting COVID-19. READ MORE
Direct care workers made my sister feel part of a family
Their incredible work needs to be recognized and appreciated
NURSING HOMES AND OTHER FACILITIES that employ direct care staff are experiencing unprecedented job vacancies and difficulty recruiting and retaining skilled workers. My job in healthcare real estate gives me a window into this world, where an organization’s ability to safely provide care relies on these often-undervalued workers who nonetheless are passionate about this rewarding but difficult work. READ MORE
Viewpoint: In tight talent market, recognition helps nonprofit worker morale
Op-Ed from Jay Lupica, Boston Business Journal, January 26, 2023
Every sector of our economy has struggled to attract and retain staff during the pandemic. While large corporations and other well-funded organizations can offer signing bonuses, flexible and remote work schedules, or other perks, nonprofits that rely on donor support, especially those that provide direct care to the most vulnerable in our communities, have fewer options. Their in-person work is vital, and often very difficult. These are people to whom we’ve entrusted the 24/7 care of our loved ones, yet wages for many in these fields are on par with someone working at a grocery store…
…Maxo worked for MAB Community Services, an organization that provides care for over 1,500 adults with disabilities in Massachusetts, operating in a historically undervalued industry, and one overwhelmed with staffing shortages. MAB is uniquely challenged to materialize creative solutions, in large part because the rates in their state contracts are set at $17 per hour for direct-care workers. That understanding helped form the idea of the Maxo Joseph Excellence in Direct Care Awards. I challenged MAB to raise $100,000 in new donations, and in return, the charitable gift fund would match that amount. As a testimony to Maxo and his co-workers, we quickly secured $200,000 to fund four annual award cycles. MORE
MAB Community Services CEO Barbara Salisbury’s op-ed in the Worcester Telegram and Gazette:
Barbara Salisbury: Model of care for ABI adults
Published Nov 22, 2022
Millions of Americans are living with the effects of an acquired brain injury (ABI) caused by infectious disease, stroke, injury, overdose, or other factors that have rendered them incapable of caring for themselves in basic ways. READ MORE…
Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce & City Awake Announce 2022 Ten Outstanding Young Leaders
Ivy Street School’s Executive Director is Named A Cityawake Outstanding Young Leader
Boston, MA – The Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce and City Awake are pleased to announce the 2022 Ten Outstanding Young Leaders (TOYL) honorees. The TOYL Awards are presented annually by City Awake, Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce’s premier young professional network, that connects, engages, and celebrates next-generation leaders. The awards recognize the contributions of current and emerging young, local leaders who have demonstrated professional, personal, cultural, and civic commitments to advancing a diverse, inclusive, and equitable community, organization, and region. READ MORE…
Pilot program works with home care teams to give residents agency
Boston Globe October 21, 2022
The article “Mass. residents with disabilities file suit over living conditions: Say they are unnecessarily in nursing homes” (Metro, Oct. 13) highlights an area of social justice that demands attention. People with disabilities shouldn’t be isolated in nursing facilities, nor should they be transferred to a community setting where they continue to live as if still institutionalized. They should be given the supports they need to live in the community and have real lives. READ MORE…
Beyond special ed compliance:
Let’s honor — and stop marginalizing — disabled populations
By Brandon Cardet-Hernandez, Executive Director, Ivy Street School
For too long, special education has centered around compliance mandates set by Individualized Education Programs (IEPs). It makes sense. Measuring compliance helps ensure young people with disabilities receive the education they deserve. But compliance is the floor. Our students deserve more than just compliance. They deserve educators, administrators, and policymakers who are aiming to break the glass ceiling in special education. As many students with disabilities will tell you, the special education experience is rarely a celebration aimed at cultivating pride and belonging. Learning as a student with a disability is often isolating and shame-filled. It is otherizing and marginalizing. We must do better. READ MORE…
Brookline’s MAB Community Services Receives $81K Grant
The grant will support a volunteer program for local caregivers, older adults, and people in the blind and low-vision community.
Brookline Patch | October 13, 2022
BROOKLINE, MA — MAB Community Services in Brookline, a Brookline nonprofit that creates opportunities for individuals with a range of disabilities, has received an $81,240 grant from The Community Care Corps, which provides much-needed non-medical assistance to older adults, people with disabilities, and family caregivers.
Through MAB’s Massachusetts Association for the Blind and Visually Impaired (MABVI) division, this grant will support a volunteer program for local caregivers, older adults, and people in the blind and low-vision community by improving MABVI’s volunteer retention, increasing recruitment for bilingual volunteers, and designing new consumer training for adults who are aging into vision loss. READ MORE…
NEW BEDFORD — Stella Lopes became legally blind 17 years ago after being diagnosed with glaucoma. “I never go anywhere without my cane,” she said, adding she avoids crossing busy streets during her morning walks. Even so, Lopes said she has continued to maintain her independence with the support she receives from the Massachusetts Association for the Blind and Visually Impaired’s New Bedford Peer Support Group. “When I first became legally blind, I wanted to be in a support group,” she said. READ MORE…
Rockland Trust provides 13m in Financing for MAB Community Services Group Homes
Rockland Trust Provides $13M to MAB Community Services to Purchase Group Homes – Connect CRE
Rockland Trust Provides Financing for Group Homes – Banker & Tradesman
Rockland Trust Provides $13 Million to MAB Community Services – Boston Real Estate Times
Rockland Trust Finances $13M to MAB for Sixteen Group Homes – The Real Reporter
The Rockland Trust story also appeared in the Westwood Minute, BisNow Morning Newsletters, MarketScreener, and Newest News Today.
MAB Community Services Honors Direct Care Staff With $50,000 in Awards
MAB Community Services honors three Dedham-based Direct Care Staff with the Maxo Joseph Excellence in Direct Care Award – Dedham Times
Arlington woman honored for direct care work
MAB Community Services honors Canton-based residential counselor – Canton Citizen
MAB Community Services Honors Norwood Resident Osayomwanbor Kennedy Omoruyi – Norwood Record
MAB Community Services honors Chelsea Resident Oscar Hernandez – Chelsea Record
More news coverage from 2021 and older can be found here
Publications
Explore our Annual Reports and other publications.
MAB Adult Disabilities Brochure
“Our Stories” book (PDF)” is a collection of photos and stories of individuals with disabilities, sharing the impact of the deinstitutionalization of adults with disabilities in Massachusetts. Audio version is available here.
MABVI Email Newsletters
The Dangerous Vision Podcast
Dan
gerous Vision explores what it would be like to be blind in a sighted world. Host Randy Cohen, a blind Harvard Business School professor and board member of the Massachusetts Association for the Blind & Visually Impaired, learns how other blind people “do blind,” navigating their way over and around obstacles with white canes, guide dogs, and technology that will blow your mind.
New episodes are released every Monday and can be found online and where you find all podcasts.