Fenway Health marked more than five decades of community-rooted care on Wednesday, August 26, with the unveiling of an Everyone250 Historical Marker at its 1340 Boylston Street location. Presented by Embrace Boston and Everyone250, the marker honored Fenway’s evolution from a one-day-a-week volunteer clinic in 1971 to one of the nation’s largest providers of LGBTQIA+ and HIV care. This marker was made possible in partnership with Embrace, Boston250, and Massachusetts250.
The recognition placed Fenway alongside the historic institutions, organizations, and movements being commemorated through Everyone250 for advancing civil rights, equity, and social change. As Massachusetts marks 250 years, the program turned attention to the people and communities that built the Commonwealth.
“This marker honors the people who saw a need, chose to act, and built something better for their community,” said Jordina Shanks, Chief Executive Officer of Fenway Health. “For fifty-five years, Fenway has been shaped by that same belief: that everyone deserves to be welcomed, treated with dignity, and able to receive care without fear or judgment. As we celebrate this historic recognition, we are not only honoring the past. We are reminding ourselves that progress is never inevitable. It is built, protected, and carried forward by people. Now it is our turn.”
Fenway’s story began in 1971, when neighborhood volunteers opened a one-day-a-week community clinic to provide services the existing healthcare system would not. Over the decades that followed, Fenway became a leader in HIV/AIDS care and prevention, LGBTQIA+ health, research, education, and advocacy, while continuing to expand access for patients other systems overlooked.
Today, Fenway Health serves more than 40,000 patients each year and is a national model for community-rooted healthcare. Through The Fenway Institute and its broader advocacy and education work, Fenway has also helped advance how providers understand and deliver care, translating research and community experience into better treatment, stronger protections, and greater access in Massachusetts and across the country.
“The Everyone250 initiative has been the culmination of a yearslong effort to honor and preserve the contributions of communities that have long been overlooked in our country’s history. But for so many of us, it goes beyond that. At a time of unprecedented attempts to erase the history, successes, and contributions, of marginalized groups, the Historical Marker program is an act of resistance, asserting proudly that when we reject the erasure of our history, we affirm our stories and our identity, and proclaim clearly: we belong,” said Imari Paris Jeffries, President & CEO, Embrace Boston
The marker is part of the Everyone250 Historical Marker program, a community-driven initiative that establishes permanent public markers at sites connected to stories of cultural memory and collective resilience. Fenway’s marker recognizes a legacy built by community and shaped by generations of people who worked to expand access to life-affirming, dignified healthcare.
Fenway Health was nominated for the marker by Queer History Boston, the Boston-based community archives that has documented and preserved New England’s LGBTQ+ history since 1980.
“Fenway Health began as a group of neighbors deciding that people turned away by the healthcare system deserved care anyway. That decision changed the course of LGBTQ+ health in this country,” said Joan Ilacqua, Executive Director of Queer History Boston. “We nominated Fenway because this history belongs in public, not just in an archive. A permanent marker on Boylston Street means anyone walking by can learn that this is where it started.”
The August 26 unveiling, themed “Care Born of Community,” brought together Fenway patients, staff, Board members, community leaders, elected officials, partners, and supporters to reflect on that history and the work that continues today.
To learn more about Fenway Health’s healthcare services, become a patient, support its mission, volunteer, or get involved, visit www.fenwayhealth.org.
Rooted in the LGBTQIA+ community and racial justice, Fenway Health provides and advocates for compassionate, equitable healthcare, research, and education. Since 1971, we have been empowering people from all walks of life to live, love, and thrive freely. The Fenway Institute at Fenway Health is an interdisciplinary center for research, training, education and policy development focusing on national and international health issues.
Embrace is a nonprofit organization working to build a more equitable, inclusive, and connected city through art, culture, storytelling, and policy. Founded in 2017, Embrace activates public spaces, celebrates community, and drives systemic change toward a Boston where everyone feels seen, valued, and a true sense of belonging.
A founding partner of Everyone250, Boston’s campaign to commemorate America’s 250th anniversary through a lens of equity, justice, and belonging, Embrace creates platforms that amplify diverse voices, reimagine history, and inspire collective action. Through cultural programming, research, and creative collaboration, Embrace is fostering spaces of connection and care—shaping a future grounded in joy, justice, and shared humanity.
