2021 in Review: Salem and the North Shore
As Triangle closes out its 50th year of service to the disability community of Massachusetts, we are taking a tour around the different cities, towns, and regions that we serve to highlight the impact that our champions, friends, partners, and donors are making in their local communities. If you haven’t already had a chance to support us, we welcome you to make an end-of-year donation here.
In the early 2000s, Triangle made a push northward from its longtime home in Malden by expanding its program offerings to North Shore communities. First out of Beverly and later Salem, Triangle opened its first North Shore service site in 2004 to better serve the disability community from surrounding towns and cities. Fast forward to early 2020, Triangle opened a new waterfront facility in Shetland Park that includes day program facilities that can accommodate up to 100 people (double our previous capacity), a testing center, and offices for our Workforce Development team who assist individual job seekers with finding, securing, and maintaining competitive employment. Salem’s community leadership, including longtime Mayor Kim Driscoll, could not be more supportive of our programs and employ Triangle participants at City Hall. We are eager to meet the demands of the local community – our North Shore location has been receiving a tremendous number of referrals and interest from area residents!
In 2021, Triangle provided the following services to North Shore communities out of its Salem location.
- More than 400 people with disabilities from North Shore communities were served by Triangle in 2021!
- 50 individuals from the North Shore participated in community-based day services – a hybrid approach continued to be used to ensure that all program participants could stay engaged even when pandemic-related barriers presented challenges.
- These groups ran several community service projects, including canned food and sock drives, in order to help those in need.
- 30 participants participated in employment projects or were placed into competitive employment in the community – a welcome rebound as COVID-19 continues to impact the workforce.
- 5 members of these programs maintained their employment in 2021, while receiving ongoing support from Triangle team members.
- Triangle’s downtown Salem Testing Center location proctored 304 HiSET, TOEFL, ParaPro, and NCCT exams to local community members. This test center filled a large gap on the North Shore as test takers previously had to travel to southern New Hampshire or Boston to access exams that help provide credentials to local job seekers in a variety of industries.
- Triangle’s Workforce Development team supported 17 individual job seekers with disabilities from North Shore communities, while also providing pre-employment services to local high school students from Beverly, Lynnfield, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem, and Woburn.
