Partners in Care
Serving those who have served others has been Goddard House’s mission since Day One.
Ten years ago, Goddard House—the first elder-care organization in Massachusetts—partnered with UMass Boston to launch a scholarship program for working Boston nurses. The result: 129 scholarships awarded to nurses eager to supercharge their service to the people of our city. Now, with a new and larger gift sponsoring the Goddard House–Doane Scholarship for another five years, Goddard House is taking its impact to the next level.
Established in 1849 in Boston’s Beacon Hill neighborhood as the Home for Aged Indigent Females, Goddard House was founded by a group of businessmen who felt there was a lack of quality care for older women, particularly those who had worked as governesses, nurses, or housekeepers and found themselves later in life without the means to support themselves. Today, 175 years later, Goddard House continues its service as a nonprofit assisted living and memory support community. It houses 119 older adults on its Brookline, MA campus and offers enrichment programs that engage more than 1,500 under-resourced older adults in greater Boston each year.
Upon its launch, a number of generous benefactors supported Goddard House. One of these early gifts—an 1851 charitable bequest from Caroline Doane and her nephew, Seth Wells, was the genesis of Goddard House’s partnership with UMass Boston today.
In the bequest, Doane and Wells stipulated that Goddard House use the gift to benefit nurses who had “served their profession for at least 10 years in Boston as vouched for by at least two respectable physicians.” Goddard House worked with the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to expand the terms to include furthering the education of nurses meeting the 10-year work requirement and, in 2014, sought out a local educational partner to establish a scholarship program. UMass Boston was immediately interested.
UMass Boston’s Manning College of Nursing & Health Sciences is the ninth largest nursing school in the nation and is the only public nursing program in greater Boston that graduates a significant number of nurses from diverse backgrounds at bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral levels. Like three-quarters of UMass Boston alumni, many of these nurses remain in Massachusetts after graduation, contributing greatly to our region’s nursing workforce.
But more than 80 percent of UMass Boston nursing students need financial support to pay for their education. So when Goddard House called the college to inquire about the possibility of establishing a scholarship program, the college’s administration leaped at the chance. The resulting Goddard House–Doane Scholarship program is open to students in any Manning College degree or certificate program who have accumulated experience of 10 years or more as a registered nurse, licensed practical nurse, or certified nursing assistant in the City of Boston, with preference given to nurses with an interest in elder care.
“This partnership is a wonderful example of how two aligned organizations can amplify each other’s missions,” said Bo Fernhall, dean of the Manning College of Nursing & Health Sciences. “The Goddard House–Doane Scholarship celebrates the work of nurses and empowers nurses who want to take their service to the people of Boston to a higher level. It is truly transformative support, and we are tremendously grateful to be able to offer it to our students.”
The scholarship launched in 2015, awarding a total of $85,000 to 11 nursing students. “At Goddard House, we are deeply committed to nurturing the next generation of health care professionals. By renewing and expanding our partnership with the Manning College of Nursing & Health Sciences, we are investing in both the future of elder care and the broader health care system. This scholarship empowers dedicated nurses to thrive while bringing much-needed health care expertise to the community,” said Candace Cramer, Goddard House President and CEO.
“We knew that we had made a good choice when we had our first reception at Goddard House for the nurses who had received scholarships. They told their stories, and it was as moving a thing as you can imagine,” said Cary Armistead, a longtime Goddard House Board member who has played a key role in the creation and renewal of the scholarship program. “These are nurses who have made a decision to increase their capacity by getting a further degree. But they have families; they’re balancing budgets. One told us that she had been trying to decide whether to fund her own education or her child’s, and this scholarship allowed her to do both. That was an aha moment that really solidified for us the value of this program.”
To date, 80 nursing students have received the Goddard House–Doane Scholarship, 50 percent of them for two or more years. More than 60 have graduated and are now serving the health of the Boston community in many ways, Beacons including bedside care, classroom instruction, and laboratory research. In 2023, UMass Boston sent a survey to past Goddard House–Doane Scholars to find out how their nursing careers had progressed since they received their awards. As a group, they overwhelmingly reported that their Goddard House–Doane award had a profound impact on their professional and personal lives.
“The Goddard House–Doane Scholarship was critical to my ability to obtain my doctorate in nursing. I had run out of funds and loans, and the scholarship allowed me to finish my degree and realize my dream,” said Linda Bresette PhD’16, who is now the program director of the Cerebrovascular Center at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. “I also had the opportunity to interact with Goddard House residents during my nursing education, and they were delightful, and intelligent, and helped me to understand how to be a better nurse.”
Goddard House renewed its support of the scholarship in 2020, with an additional $500,000 for five years. In May 2024, the organization agreed to renew its support again, this time increasing it to $750,000 over five years, allowing the program to offer larger awards to more students.
The decision to renew was very easy, said Armistead, because the board feels that scholarship is “one of the best things we do” to serve the people of Greater Boston.
“This partnership not only supports nursing students but also strengthens the quality of health care, especially for the older adult population,” said Goddard House Board Chair Alexandra Schweitzer. “The Goddard House–Doane Scholarship exemplifies our commitment to the Boston community, and we’re proud to continue our collaboration with UMass Boston College of Nursing & Health Sciences.”