About

History

Beulah Fagan Providence Founder, Executive Director wearing the traditional dress of island Dominica, West Indies

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The Caribbean Foundation of Boston is a nonprofit agency that was established in 1973. The organization was founded by a group of Caribbean women who wanted to expand home care for their culturally diverse and economically disadvantaged community.

Beulah Fagan Providence, known then and now, as the face of the Caribbean Foundation, and who has served as the Executive Director since its inception, emigrated to the U.S. from Dominica in 1960, and worked as a housekeeper until 1968 when she received a scholarship to attend Northeastern University in Boston. She studied community organization and social institution. Her studies were pivotal in her role as founder of the Caribbean Foundation.

Ms. Providence wanted to train and hire local residents to provide a wide range of homemaking, home health aide, and companionship services to enable frail elders and disabled people in the inner city to live safely in their homes. This model of peer “neighbor helping neighbor” service creates job opportunities in the neighborhoods and fosters a community of trainees, workers, and clients who share a common culture. It helps each individual to thrive, and ensures that homemakers, aides, and companions have first-hand knowledge of the community, which enables them to fulfill their clients’ needs in ways that traditional agencies have been unable to do.

Ms. Providence  has been widely recognized for her significant contribution to the betterment of people’s lives in our community. She has received the “Hometown Hero Award” from WHDH-TV, the “Through the Ages Award” from the Eldercare Charitable Foundation and Ethos, a home care agency that provides services to elderly residents primarily in southwest Boston, and recognition from the Bay State Dominica Association, Inc.