The Boston Foundation announces nearly $1.6 million in second-quarter FY22 grants

Boston – The Boston Foundation today announced its discretionary grants for the second quarter of its 2022 Fiscal Year, totaling $1.57 million in grants to 18 organizations. Of the 18 grants, 14 are single-year grants, and four are two-year grants. The grants are in addition to over $1 million in Open Door Grants announced earlier this month.

“At a time when the ongoing pandemic and economic disruption continue to cause significant hardship for millions of people in Massachusetts and beyond, we are pleased to be able to partner with these grantees, helping them expand and strengthen their focus on providing more equitable opportunities and access for individuals, communities and organizations in Greater Boston,” said M. Lee Pelton, President and CEO of the Boston Foundation.

Support for Early Childhood Education and Health

The Boston Foundation and its partners are striving to support and advocate for the state’s fragile early education sector, while also backing vital health care initiatives targeting children’s health and wellness. Two grants this quarter, to Health Care for All and ZERO to THREE, are continuing investments in programs supporting young children and families. In addition, the Foundation is providing support to the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, to provide start-up support for the hub of a network of community-based providers that address racial inequities in maternal health.

Learn more about the challenges facing the sector in the recently released report, When the Bough Breaks.

Addressing the ‘Procurement Gap’ for Builders of Color

The Foundation is adding to its support for groups that address the lack of access for minority business owners to capital, networks and contracts, which were highlighted in 2021’s Color of the Capital Gap report. In addition to renewed investments with longtime grantees Center for Women & Enterprise, Entrepreneurship for All (EForAll), and Commonwealth Kitchen, a two-year investment in the Builders of Color Coalition will help the Coalition establish a new Builders of Color Institute to provide guidance and support for BIPOC builders and contractors in accessing and securing new contracts. The complete list of discretionary grantees and descriptions is below.

DISCRETIONARY GRANTS:

Education: Structural Reform

Massachusetts Business Alliance for Education, Inc.: A $50,000, one-year general operating support grant to MBAE, which engages business leaders in education policy and reforms such that students can enter the workforce well prepared. This grant will support MBAE's advocacy, policy, and convening efforts to continue momentum and accelerate progress toward building more robust high school pathways to college and career, including Early College, CTE education, and other opportunities to earn industry-recognized credentials.

Rennie Center for Education Research and Policy, Inc. – A $100,000, one-year project support grant to the Rennie Center for Education Research & Policy, an education think tank and the backbone of Open Opportunity Massachusetts (OOM), to support Campuses Without Walls (CWW), an OOM initiative that leverages the power of cross-school collaboration and technology to open up classrooms and high-quality, culturally-responsive learning experiences to more students in Boston, regardless of neighborhood or assigned school. 

Education: Early Childhood  

Health Care for All, Inc. – A $209,000, two-year project support grant to Health Care for All, an organization that advocates for health justice in Massachusetts by working to promote health equity and ensure coverage and access for all, to support its Sustainable Pathways to Pediatric Behavioral Health Integration project that will ensure greater access to team-based mental and behavioral health for children, beginning at birth. 

ZERO to THREE:  National Center for Infants, Toddlers, and Families - A one-year, $145,000 project support grant to Zero to Three: National Center for Infants, Toddlers and Families, the national host organization for Healthy Steps, an evidence-based primary care program that promotes the health, well-being and school readiness of young children, to expand and sustain Healthy Steps in Greater Boston and Massachusetts.  

Health and Wellness  

Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health - A one-year, $100,000 project support grant, payable to President and Fellows of Harvard College for Harvard's T.H. Chan School of Public Health to support the creation of a collective impact network to address racial inequities in maternal health. This grant will support the identification and start-up of a backbone organization that supports a network of community-based organizations to collaborate closely to ensure that people of color receive the community support they need in pregnancy. 

Jobs and Economic Development  

Center for Women & Enterprise, Inc. - A one-year, $30,000 general operating support grant to Center for Women and Enterprise, an organization that empowers women business owners and aspiring women entrepreneurs to launch and grow their businesses. This grant will help CWE provide training and technical assistance to 500 women (and men) throughout the Greater Boston area, providing them with the financial and business skills necessary to build resilient small businesses, create jobs, and generate income.    

Commonwealth Kitchen - A one-year, $100,000 general operating support grant to  CommonWealth Kitchen, an organization with the mission of helping low-income women,  immigrants, and people of color build successful food companies as a means of generating assets and wealth, creating jobs with few barriers to employment, and helping close  Greater Boston’s growing racial wealth divide.  CommonWealth Kitchen will use the grant to create more opportunities for its entrepreneurs to become established and grow, and to support an equitable recovery process.    

Entrepreneurship for All, Inc. - A one-year, $60,000 project support grant to support EforAll’s Roxbury program, an organization that works to empower communities, create new sources of income, and uplift families out of poverty through entrepreneurship. This grant will help EforAll Roxbury expand staff capacity to serve better its entrepreneurs, the majority of whom are from communities of color.    

Neighborhoods and Housing  

Action for Equity, Inc. - A one-year, $45,000 general operating support grant to Action for Equity, an agency that is working for all people to have quality housing, good jobs, and job access, environmental quality, and transportation access, among other things as steps to reach the society we want.    

Builders of Color Coalition, Inc. - A two-year, $200,000 general operating support grant to Builders of Color Coalition, an agency that seeks to increase access and diversity in Boston’s commercial real estate sector to create generational impact in expanding economic opportunity, for support of the Builders of Color Institute.  

Compass Working Capital - A one-year, $50,000 general operating support grant to Compass Working Capital, an agency that provides savings and financial coaching programs that support families with low incomes to build assets, achieve their financial goals, and become financially secure.    

Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative, Inc. - A two-year, $100,000 project support grant to Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative, an agency that empowers Dudley residents to organize, plan for, create and control a vibrant, diverse and high-quality neighborhood in collaboration with community partners for the continued development of the Greater Boston Community Land Trust Network. 

Social Justice Ecology    

The Black Response - A one-year, $30,000 general operating support grant for The Black Response to support the Holistic Emergency Alternative Response Team (HEART) initiative for the city of Cambridge. This work will collectively build—from the ground up—a proposal for a community-centered solution to public safety.  The program received a unanimous vote of support from the Cambridge City Council and will move on to its next phase.   

Immigrant Family Services Institute (IFSI-USA) - A one-year, $40,000 general operating support grant to the Immigrant Family Services Institute (IFSI-USA) to provide needed financial and organizational support to expand community services, legal aid, and housing rights advocacy to the surrounding Haitian communities of Mattapan, Roxbury, and Dorchester. 

Massachusetts Voter Table - A one-year, $40,000 general operating support grant payable to TSNE MissionWorks as fiscal sponsor for Mass Voter Table, to sustain and support the infrastructure building and redistricting efforts for voters ahead of the 2022 elections across the State, which will effectively aim to engage over 100,000 of the expected 250,000 BIPOC voters who will cast votes next year.    

Transgender Emergency Fund of Massachusetts - A one-year, $30,000 general operating support grant to Transgender Emergency Fund of Massachusetts, an organization that assists with homelessness prevention, shelter assistance, nutrition assistance, prescription co-pay assistance, transportation and escorts to medical appointments.    

Welcome Project, Inc. - A one-year, $40,000 general operating support grant to the Welcome Project, Inc. to provide organizational support and grassroots coalition-focused resources to build and sustain the community organizing power of Brazilian, Portuguese, Central American, and Haitian immigrants in Somerville and surrounding communities. Recent partnerships have been established with immigration law advocacy groups in light of this year's migrant crises that have affected the most vulnerable populations they serve.    

Trinity Boston Connects, Inc. - A two-year, $200,000 project support grant to Trinity Boston Connects, Inc., an organization whose mission is to heal the traumatic impact of systemic racism in Boston, and to create a more equitable Boston in which youth of color can thrive; and dismantle organizational barriers rooted in systemic racism through Organizational Equity Practice (OEP). 

Earlier this month, The Boston Foundation Board of Directors also approved more than $1 million in grants to 22 nonprofit partners through the Foundation’s Open Door Grants program. Each Open Door grantee receives $50,000 in general operating support over two years unless otherwise noted. Grantees for this quarter included: 

African Cultural Services, Inc.
Asian Women for Health, Inc.
Beat the Odds
DEAFinitely, Inc.
Dee Dee’s Cry
Ecumenical Social Action Committee, Inc.
Ethos
Everett LGBTQ+ Youth Space and Resource
Innovators for Purpose*
Justice for Housing
La Vida, Inc.
Mandela Yoga Project, Inc.*
Massachusetts Alliance Against Predatory Lending
Massachusetts Center for Native American Awareness, Inc.
New Beginnings Reentry Services, Inc.
New Democracy Coalition
Our Space Our Place, Inc.
Respond, Inc.
The Right to Immigration Institute, Inc.
Transformational Prison Project
Victory Human Services
Women Survivors of Homicide Movement, Inc.

* - received a $25,000/1-year grant

 The Board also acknowledged payments or requests for payment made between cycles on by special funds at the Foundation in accordance with the specific terms of each fund. These special funds have advisors/advisory committees that make recommendations for the re-granting of these funds. Examples of these grants included: 

GenUnity
$20,000: For the Eviction and Housing Insecurity Pilot

Roxbury Presbyterian Church Social Impact Center, Inc.
$25,000: For “Can We Talk?” Community Conversations on Trauma

Massachusetts Voter Education
$25,000: For the C3 Black Voter Engagement Project

Healthy Waltham
$15,000: To provide support for emergency food relief

Latinos Unidos en Massachusetts, Inc.
$15,000: To provide support for emergency food relief

Center for Teen Empowerment, Inc. 
$10,000: For Promoting Peace through the Power of Youth Voice

Circle of Nations, Inc. 
$20,000: For the Real Talk for Change program

The Jar 
$10,000: For The Jar's Annual Campaign

The acknowledgments also included several other grants, many announced previously in other Boston Foundation communications, including:

Boston Opportunity Agenda Fund: $131,500
Skillworks Fund: $432,500
Live Arts Boston Fund: $899,500
Forward Fund (King Boston): $20,000
King Boston: $1,064,000
COVID-19 Response Fund: $70,000