Boston Foundation commits nearly $500,000 to support summer activities

My Summer in the City, other investments help support activities for thousands of youth

Boston – The Boston Foundation has invested $485,000 in summer programs throughout the city of Boston in 2014, part of the Foundation’s annual effort to support safe family- and youth-oriented programs for thousands of Greater Boston residents, and helping to support much-needed summer jobs for youth, including those who are court-involved and/or have CORIs (Criminal Offender Record Information) in their backgrounds.

About $235,000 of the funding will support nearly 30 organizations that provide summer programs in parks and open spaces across the city of Boston through the My Summer in the City initiative. In 2014, MSITC is focused on extending evening and weekend hours at a number of summer program sites, to ensure events and activities are more readily available to large numbers of children, youth and families.

This is the fifth year for My Summer in the City, an initiative developed and coordinated by the Boston Foundation and funded in conjunction with the Barr Foundation, an anonymous corporate donor and several individual donors. The list of My Summer in the City summer grantees is attached to the end of this release.

Summer programming through My Summer in the City began the week of July 7.

Also in 2014, the Foundation is providing a $50,000 grant to Roxbury Latin School, the founding school for i2 Camp, a summer program designed to broaden interest in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math through an innovative summer program targeting 240 5th-8th grade students at six Boston public schools -- Orchard Gardens K-8 School, Brooke Charter Schools (Roslindale and Mattapan), the Curley K-8 School, MATCH Charter School, and UP Academy Dorchester.

“Boston is fortunate to have dozens of high-quality organizations providing valuable learning and youth recreation programs in neighborhoods across the city every year,” said Paul S. Grogan, President and CEO of the Boston Foundation. “We are pleased once again to be able to provide support for so many groups that are working to make summer a safer, more enjoyable season for families and children – while creating valuable job opportunities and work experience for young people who would otherwise be shut out of the summer workforce.”

In addition, the Foundation is investing $100,000 in support of the Boston Opportunity Agenda’s Summer Learning Project, which is serving 1600 students, partnering with 50 Boston public schools and 30 community-based programs to stem summer learning loss, improve skills and deepen school-community partnerships by providing an engaging, active summer learning and skills program.

The Foundation is also committing $50,000 to the Summer Fund, a donor collaborative managed by Associated Grant Makers to ensure that at-risk and economically disadvantaged children in Boston, Cambridge, Chelsea and Somerville have access to quality summer camps and programs, and $50,000 to Camp Harborview, which brings 900 inner-city youth ages 11-17 to Long Island in Boston Harbor for an immersive summer camp program emphasizing sports, arts, aquatics, education and leadership development.

My Summer in the City grantees

The Boston Foundation is pleased to recognize the following MSITC grantees for 2014:

ABEKAM
Archdale Community Center Council, Inc.
The BASE 
Black Ministerial Alliance
Boston Centers for Youth & Families
Boston Chinatown Neighborhood Center
Boston Housing Authority
Caribbean Youth Club, Inc.
Catholic Charities
Charlestown Against Drugs
Codman Square Neighborhood Development Corporation
Hawthorne Youth and Community Center, Inc.
Holland Community Center Council 
Hyde Square Task Force, Inc.
Inquilinos Boricuas en Acción, Inc.
Madison Park Development Corporation
Medicine Wheel Productions, Inc.
MyTown
North End Against Drugs, Inc
Pleasant Hill Baptist Church
ROC Teen Saturday
Sociedad Latina, Inc.
Sportsmen's Tennis & Enrichment Center
Sustainability Guild International
The Institute for Pan African Cultural Education Inc.
United Somali Youth, Inc.
West End House Boys & Girls Club
YMCA of Greater Boston
Youth in Crisis Ministry, Inc.
 

The Boston Foundation, Greater Boston’s community foundation, is one of the largest community foundations in the nation, with net assets of close to $900 million.  Founded in 1915, the Foundation is approaching its 100th Anniversary.  In 2013, the Foundation and its donors made nearly $98 million in grants to nonprofit organizations and received gifts of $130 million. The Foundation is a partner in philanthropy, with some 1,000 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 that address the region’s most pressing challenges.  The Philanthropic Initiative (TPI), an operating unit of the Foundation, designs and implements customized philanthropic strategies for families, foundations and corporations around the globe. Through its consulting and field-advancing efforts, TPI has influenced billions of dollars in giving worldwide.  For more information about the Boston Foundation and TPI, visit www.tbf.org or call 617-338-1700.