In 1999, the Welcome Project expanded its mission (1) to offer opportunities to advance residents’ education and personal development and (2) to take a citywide leadership role in organizing immigrants and advocating on their behalf. Today, the organization continues to serve Somerville residents and has implemented activities that focus on youth, adult basic education, and civic engagement programs. These programs are essential to improving the lives of Mystic Development residents as 84% of them have incomes under $20,000 and 33% have incomes under $8,000. Single women head of households make up 81% of the Mystic Development population. Seventy four percent of Mystic residents are immigrants (55% from Haiti, 22% from Latin America, and 7% from Asia); 16% are native-born and white.

The Welcome Project’s Community Links is a program that provides academic enrichment to youth as well as support for students during college admissions and the job search process. The Homework Help Club is a safe space for students to receive tutoring throughout the year by volunteers drawn from Temple Emunah in Lexington and Tufts University students. The GIRLZ Project provides young women with programs and activities that improve self esteem and increases awareness about health decisions. The Barriers and Bridges for Immigrants in Somerville Schools is a new initiative created in partnership with a sociologist from Tufts to examine how to improve the circumstances within the school system to create better educational results for students.

The organization has several Adult education programs. The Adult Literacy Program offers native language adult literacy tutoring, basic ESOL classes, and an ESOL citizenship class. The Welcome Projects collaborates with Somerville human service providers to provide Mystic tenants with civic education through the citizenship process as well as assisting with voter registration. The Career Source in Woburn is also supporting the Welcome Project’s ESL Program and will assist the organization by providing Mystic residents with assistance for the job search.

The Welcome Project has other programs that create a sense of community within Somerville, such as the construction of a community garden and the creation of an oral history and photography project known as "Immigrant City: Then and Now," which is a collaboration with Susan Ostrander’s class on poverty at Tufts university.

Please consider donating funds and/or your time to the Welcome Project. If you are looking for a volunteer opportunity that is both challenging and rewarding, please consider assisting the Welcome Project with its services and programs. The organization relies heavily upon volunteers to carry out its work as well as generous donations from people. The Welcome Project is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization. Donations will be tax-deductible.