Historic and Helpful: Dracut Centre School Apartments to build community among veterans.
“Creating a veteran community is important to breaking down barriers of isolation among veterans who have returned from service," says Russell Pandres, Project Manager at Coalition for a Better Acre (CBA), a NeighborWorks network organization in Massachusetts.
This Old House captured the historic renovation of the school house with episodes available on the Roku Channel.
Since "This Old House" focused on the renovations over multiple episodes, CBA has received several calls from community members, prompting staff to host a second open house. A quilting guild also saw the program and made quilts for some of the residents.
"We're getting some community support – it's very organic," Pandres says. His advice for other organizations that may take on historic adaptive reuse? "Plan early."
Dracut Centre School, 2020
Russell Pandres, CBA Real Estate Project Manager
Read NeighborWorks America's story about CBA's work on the Dracut Centre School.
Read the story and view interviews from Greater Lowell Technical High School students and their community project constructing a table for the common room in the Dracut Centre School apartments.
CBA’s current project in construction at 555 Merrimack Street in Lowell.