President Richard Ring Announces Plan to Retire

Richard E. Ring, President of FamilyAid Boston and a lifelong advocate for people experiencing or at risk of homelessness, will retire in June after a career spanning nearly five decades. 

Ring has led FamilyAid Boston through a period of remarkable growth during a challenging time. As the City’s population of homeless families grew due to a skyrocketing cost of living, FamilyAid Boston nearly tripled the size of its supportive affordable housing program expanded its homelessness prevention resources while serving as a safety net for families in need of shelter.

Ring is the first to acknowledge that there is much more work to do for low-income and homeless families, but he is confident that he leaves the agency in good hands: “FamilyAid Boston has an incredibly dedicated, compassionate, and capable group of social workers and case managers and a strong senior management team to carry the agency into the future. And the community around us is stronger than ever, with an excellent network of service providers, advocates, and public servants working to help families achieve housing stability and success.”  

Ring began his career as a counselor for homeless individuals at the Pine Street Inn in 1970, when the agency had only four full-time employees. He saw Pine Street through a period of great change and became its Executive Director in 1983. He served in that role until 1995, overseeing the agency’s transformation into one of the largest and most widely-recognized social service agencies in Boston.

The FamilyAid Boston Board of Directors has begun a thoughtful, thorough and professional executive search process which should result in a smooth transition of leadership for the agency.