By Robert O'Malley

TheDeveloper: Dennis Rice

When Alternatives Unlimited, Inc., developed a plan to renovate a historic mill complex in Whitinsville, Massachusetts, its goal was to create a new headquarters and a multifaceted community center to draw clients and the local community closer together.

A provider of services for adults with developmental and psychiatric disabilities, Alternatives also envisioned giving back to the community by transforming the six-building complex into a demonstration project for green building and environmental responsibility, says Dennis Rice, Alternatives’ executive director.

The site of a functioning hydro-powered mill 15 years after Samuel Slater developed the first hydro-powered cotton mill in nearby Pawtucket, Rhode Island, the Whitinsville mill complex had for years been the site of a successful milling and manufacturing business run by the Whitin family.

Top: Dennis Rice, executive director of Alternatives Unlimited, Inc., at the Whitin Mill Project. Above: Riverview of the Whitin Mill Project.

In the winter of 2008, Alternatives plans to complete the renovation of the six-building complex, transforming it into a multiuse facility that includes administrative offices, training facilities, a career center for clients, as well as theater, exhibition, restaurant, and community space. The Whitin Mill Project also includes three affordable apartments for six clients, which were funded in part with a $200,000 grant from the Federal Home Loan Bank of Boston’s Affordable Housing Program.

Alternatives, which acquired the mill property in 1977, had earlier used the complex as the site of a sheltered workshop for clients. While the workshop provided employment and hourly wages for people who had previously been institutionalized, few workshop employees managed to move on to jobs in the local community. “In a lot of ways we had recreated the institution in the community,” says Mr. Rice.

Convinced that the workshop model was creating a new kind of isolation for its clients, the organization phased out the facility in the late 1990s, replacing it with several small storefront career centers where clients could find jobs and make connections to the local community. In addition to helping clients with their employment needs, the centers also provided services to the local community. One center, for example, doubled as a community art gallery; another focused on community gardens; a third provided computer time for neighborhood groups.

A Whitin Mill Project residence.

“Through these centers, the communitiesgot to know us and the people we serve and started to appreciate what we were doing,” says Mr. Rice. “Eventually, they started to come to us with job opportunities for our clients. So it was a very positive experience. We became a part of the community and the community became a part of us.”

After closing the sheltered workshop, Alternatives tried unsuccessfully to sell the mill complex at a price that would have allowed it to break even. “Our board of directors said, ‘Wait a minute, look at all the success we are having with our career centers,’” Mr. Rice says. “Maybe on a much larger scale we could create a crossroads, an inclusive community magnet that would allow us to give back to the community and allow the community to get to know who we are and, hopefully, help us find our clients the homes, jobs, and relationships they deserve.”

A key component of the organization’s vision for the site included extensive use of green building features, including the revival of hydropower, the installation of solar panels, and the recycling of construction waste. “We all have to be better stewards of the environment,” says Mr. Rice. “We very much wanted to take a leadership role in developing a regional demonstration project to show the benefits of green development and what is possible.

“As a nonprofit organization, we want to be seen as a giver, not just a taker” he adds. “We have seen the decline of community spirit and wanted to develop a complex that would help build a stronger community for everyone. A strong community cares about all of its citizens, including people with disabilities.”

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