Boston Foundation Board announces June grants to address foundation’s strategies

Boston – The Boston Foundation has announced the distribution of almost $30 million in grants approved by the Board of Directors at its quarterly meeting this morning. That included a grant of $1 million to be paid over five years to provide general support for the Fairmount/Indigo Line CDC Collaborative, which focuses on issues of transit equity, real estate planning and economic development along the Fairmount corridor. The area contains some of the lowest income communities in Boston which are currently underserved by transportation. The Indigo Line refers to a proposed MBTA transit line that would run from Back Bay to Mattapan, serving communities across the city.

That investment reflects the Foundation’s strategy of increasing neighborhood stability and the production and preservation of affordable housing for vulnerable populations, one of nine strategies articulated last fall when the Foundation renewed its overall grantmaking work with a new emphasis on creating clear and measurable results from investments made in the region.

The grant to the Fairmount/Indigo Line CDC also is aligned with several other significant grants announced today. Those include a grant of $700,000 to be paid to the Local Initiatives Support Corporation, better known as Boston LISC, to provide general operating support and to support LISC’s Resilient Communities, Resilient Families program, which seeks to build community capacity along the Fairmount/Indigo transportation corridor. Other grants targeting the same geography include $500,000 to be paid over five years to the Metropolitan Boston Housing Partnership, which will provide asset development support for 300 families within the corridor. A one-year grant of $40,000 to the Greater Four Corners Action Coalition will be used to support transit equity advocacy.

 

Promoting healthy people

A second strategy, of accelerating structural reform and promoting innovation in Boston Public Schools, is represented by a $300,000 grant to be paid over three years to Massachusetts 2020, in support of that organization’s efforts to promote the expanded learning time model in Boston. An additional school-related strategy is to increase the college graduation rate for low-income, minority and first-generation college students from public schools in Boston. A one-year grant of $75,000 for College Bound Dorchester (formerly Federated Dorchester Neighborhood Houses) will help expand its Adolescent Development and Alternative Education programs, providing post-secondary academic support, enrichment programming and mentoring.

Another strategy is to encourage healthy behaviors among Boston residents and increase access to healthy food and opportunities for physical activity. Grants in support of this strategy have a geographic focus: a one-year grant of $30,000 to Share our Strength for a nutrition education program in Dorchester; a grant of $270,000 to be paid over three years to Playworks to expand its structured recess program, particularly in the Dorchester neighborhood; a one-year grant of $75,000 two-year grant to Victory Programs’ ReVision Farm to increase the supply of healthy, locally-grown food in Dorchester and Mattapan; and a grant of $300,000 to be paid over three years to Sportsmen’s Tennis Club to provide academic support and physical activities for young people who live near the club. A grant of $150,000 to the Greater Boston Food Bank will support the Food Bank Kids Café program, which provides nutritious balanced meals and educational activities you young people, in coordination with other investments under the health and wellness strategy.

 

Building diverse audiences

For the arts and culture sector, the strategy is to strengthen and celebrate the region’s diverse audiences, artists and nonprofit cultural organizations. Grants this quarter include $625,000 to be paid over five years to ArtsBoston to support that organization’s efforts to promote arts and cultural events, programs and organizations throughout Greater Boston. A one-year grant of $40,000 to Commonwealth Shakespeare Company will support that organization’s 2010 summer activities, including the Shakespeare on the Common production of Othello. A $200,000 grant to be paid over two years to EdVestors will support a continuing effort to promote arts instruction in Boston Public Schools. A $250,000 grant over two years will be paid to the Boston Museum of Fine Arts Audience Development Initiative, including its fall open house. A grant of $50,000 to the YMCA of Greater Boston will support increased access to the arts and cultural programming for residents of Roxbury and Chinatown, involving youth of those neighborhoods in planning arts and cultural programming for their community.

 

Building economic security

To address a strategy that promotes the career advancement and economic security of low-income individuals, a one-year grant of $150,000 to Boston Employment Service/STRIVE will provide general operating support for its efforts to help chronically unemployed people gain access to and retain jobs. A second one-year grant of $100,000 for general operating support to the Crittenton Women’s Union will help low-income women attain economic independence. Several multi-year grants have been made as well. A $300,000 grant to be paid over three years will help support Jewish Vocational Services Transitions to College and Careers program, which helps adult education students gain access to post-secondary education. A grant of $110,000 over two years to the Massachusetts Coalition for Adult Education will support its statewide advocacy initiative to increase the visibility, funding and system capacity for adult education.

 

Nonprofit sector support

A one-year grant of $40,000 to Third Sector New England will support its Nonprofit Management 101 program, an online resource that will provide nonprofit staff, managers and board members with information on all aspects of nonprofit management and capacity building.

 

Grants for June

Listed below are all of the grants that were approved today by the Boston Foundation Board of Directors, grouped by strategy.

Strategy: Accelerate structural reform and promote innovation in public schools in Boston.

Massachusetts 2020, $100,000 for the first year of a three-year grant.

Boston Foundation, $31,500 to support the Race To The Top campaign.

Thomas B. Fordham Institute, $15,000 for research.

 

Strategy: Increase the college graduation rate for low-income, minority and first-generation college students from public schools in Boston.

Boston Educational Development Foundation, Inc., $30,000 to administer the Accuplacer Diagnostic test to 2,000 juniors from the BPS Class of 2011.

College Bound Dorchester, $75,000, to expand its Adolescent Development and Alternative Education program.

National Black College Alliance, Inc., $25,000 for organizational development and a three-year strategic plan.

 

Strategy: Promote the career advancement and economic security of low-income individuals.

Boston Employment Service, Inc./STRIVE, $150,000 for general operating support.

Crittenton Women’s Union, Inc., $100,000 for general operating support.

Jewish Vocational Service, Inc, $100,000 first of three annual grants for the Transitions to College and Careers program.

Massachusetts Coalition for Adult Education, $55,000 for the first of two grants for support of Adult Basic Education Public Policy Project.

 

Strategy: Increase Greater Boston’s economic competitiveness, prosperity and efficiency and create vibrant urban neighborhoods with opportunity for all residents.

Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights, $50,000 for support of the Belin Economic Justice Project.

 

Strategy: Encourage healthy behaviors among Boston residents and increase access to healthy food and opportunities for physical activity.

Bowdoin Street Health Center, $100,000 for the first installment of a grant to support the Healthy Food Access Project.

Greater Boston Food Bank, Inc., $50,000 for the first of three installments on a grant to support Access to healthy Food for Children in Need program.

Playworks, $78,000 for the first of three installments for general operating support.

Share Our Strength, $30,000 to support Operation Frontline Massachusetts.

Sportsmen’s Tennis Club, Inc., $75,000 for the first installment of a three-year grant for general operating support.

Victory Programs Inc., $25,000 with a donor match of $25,000 for support of ReVision Urban Farm.

 

Strategy: Increase neighborhood stability and the production and preservation of affordable housing for vulnerable populations.

Boston Bar Foundation, $60,000 for support of the Providing a Right to Counsel in Certain Eviction Cases project.

Boston Foundation, $25,000 for support of the Foundation’s Program Related Investments.

City Life/Vida Urbana, $50,000 for the first of two installments to support the Halt Post Foreclosure Evictions campaign.

Fairmount/Indigo Line CDC Collaborative, $200,000 for the first of five installments for general operating support.

Greater Four Corners Action Coalition, Inc., $40,000 for support of transit equity and Greenway planning.

LISC, $200,000 for the first of a multi-part grant for general operating support and to support the Resilient Communities, Resilient Families program.

Metropolitan Boston Housing Partnership, $100,000 for the first of five payments for a grant to expand the Family Self Sufficiency program to the Fairmount Corridor.

Northeastern University Dukakis Center, $100,000 for the first part of a three-part grant to support work on the Greater Boston Housing Report Card and activities relating to the Commonwealth Housing Task Force.

 

Strategy: Strengthen and celebrate the region’s diverse audiences, artists and nonprofit cultural organizations.

ArtsBoston, Inc., $125,000 for the first of five installments of a grant for general operating support.

Boston Book Festival, Inc., $25,000 for general operating support.

Boston Foundation, $10,000 for costs related to the Neighborhood Arts Summer program.

Boston Foundation, $7,500 for convening the Statewide Arts Advocacy Strategy team.

Commonwealth Shakespeare Company, Inc., $40,000 for genera operating support.

EdVestors, Inc., $100,000 for the first of two installments to support arts instruction in Boston Public Schools.

First Night, Inc., $75,000 for the first of two installments for general operating support.

Huntington Theatre Company, Inc., $100,000 for the first of three installments for a grant for general operating support.

Institute of Contemporary Art, $100,000 for the first of three installments on a grant for general operating support.

Museum of Fine Arts, $125,000 for the first of two installments of a grant to support the Audience Development Initiative.

YMCA of Greater Boston, $50,000 for the Neighborhood Arts Summer Program.

 

Strategy: Enhance the long-term vitality of the Massachusetts nonprofit sector.

Third Sector New England, $40,000 to support Nonprofit Management 101.

 

Special opportunity grants

Boston Foundation, $ $125,000 for My Summer in the City small grants program.

Boston Foundation, $120,000 to implement Donor’s Edge for the Foundation.

Boston Public Library Foundation, Inc., $25,000 to provide emergency support for its youth programs.

Center for Effective Philanthropy, $20,000 to support a Donor Perception Survey of the Foundation’s donors.

Ethos/Southwestern Boston Senior Services, $55,000 for Age-Well West Roxbury.

Family Nurturing Center of Massachusetts, Inc., $125,000 to support Smart From The Start.

MassINC., $75,000 to support the new CommonWealth Magazine.

Northeastern University, $20,000 for Shades of Greatness: Negro Leagues exhibit.

Reach Out And Read, Inc., $75,000 for general operating support.

South Africa Partners, Inc., $35,000 for support of World Cup Boston 2010 event.

Strategies for Children, $25,000 for a third grade proficiency study of literacy skills.

 

Out of the Blue Grant

Victory Programs, Inc., $100,000 for general operating support.

 

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The Boston Foundation, Greater Boston’s community foundation, is one of the oldest and largest community foundations in the nation, with assets of $682 million.  In Fiscal Year 2009, the Foundation and its donors made over $95 million in grants to nonprofit organizations and received gifts of over $81 million. The Foundation is made up of some 900 separate charitable funds established by donors either for the general benefit of the community or for special purposes.  The Boston Foundation also serves as a major civic leader, provider of information, convener, and sponsor of special initiatives designed to address the community’s and region’s most pressing challenges.  For more information about the Boston Foundation, visit www.tbf.org or call 617-338-1700.