Boston Foundation announces $500K funding for summer programs serving Boston youth

Boston – More than 50 organizations in Boston that provide safe, constructive programs for local youth during the summer months have received financial support to enable them to stay open longer and serve more young people. The announcement will be made today at a StreetSafe Boston Summer Funding Celebration held at the Boston Foundation. This is the fourth year that funders, led by the Boston Foundation, have made this investment beyond their usual funding of summer programs, to address recent increases in violence in Boston’s neighborhoods.

A total of almost $500,000 was distributed through 57 grants. Organizations receiving support offer a wide range of opportunities, including programs that connect youth with year-round after-school programs, sports and athletic programming, dance and other arts activities, academic enrichment and the chance to explore career opportunities. In some cases, the funding creates summer employment opportunities to allow young people the chance to earn stipends and gain job skills as they serve their neighborhoods.

“The program is designed to build on work done by proven organizations that serve their communities and the young people in them,” said Paul S. Grogan, President and CEO of the Boston Foundation. “At this time of economic crisis, it is especially important to be able to provide young people with these opportunities that can give them a positive and constructive experience during the summer when school is out.”

Summer Funding is provided as part of the StreetSafe Boston Initiative, which represents the Boston Foundation's comprehensive strategy for addressing violence and community safety in Boston’s neighborhoods. StreetSafe Boston is a broad partnership that includes City Hall, the Boston Police Department, the Boston Public Health Commission, Boston Centers for Youth and Families, faith-based and community-based organizations and leading funders. It uses research to identify neighborhoods beset by high rates of violence and seeks to promote positive youth development.

“This is an opportunity to salute organizations that make a critical difference in the lives of our young people and in the neighborhoods where they live,” said Robert Lewis Jr., Vice President for Program at the Boston Foundation. “Boston is fortunate to have so many organizations that serve the community, and it is an honor to enable them to do more of what they do so well—engage young people in purposeful, positive activities.”

In addition to the Boston Foundation, funding for the program was provided by the Alchemy Foundation; the Carol and Howard Anderson Family Fund; the Ansara Family Fund; the Barr Foundation; the Baupost Group Charitable Fund; the Cabot Family Charitable Trust; the Clipper Ship Foundation; the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Department of Housing and Community Development; the Josephine and Louise Crane Foundation; the Dammann Boston Fund; the DeWolfe Family Fund; the Lewis Family Foundation; the Edward Bernard Roland Lewis Fund; the Linde Family Foundation; the Meyer Fund; the Boston Foundation’s Permanent Fund for Boston; the John and Susan Simon Boston Foundation Fund; State Street Foundation; the James and Cathleen D. Stone Foundation, United Way of Massachusetts & Merrimack Valley; and Yawkey Foundation II.

The following organizations received funding through the StreetSafe Summer Funding program.

Appalachian Mountain Club - $3,750
Artists For Humanity, Inc. - $6,000
Big Sister Association of Greater Boston - $2,500
Bikes Not Bombs - $5,000
Boston Asian Youth Essential Services - $8,000
Boston Learning Center - $5,000
Boston Neighborhood Network (BNN) - $5,000
Boston Ten Point Coalition - $8,000
Boston Urban Youth Foundation - $5,000
Boys & Girls Clubs of Dorchester - $30,000
Bromley Heath Tenant Management Corporation - $6,000
Catholic Charities - $6,300
Center for Teen Empowerment - $8,000
City Stage Co., Inc. - $8,000
Boston Centers for Youth and Families - $85,000
Codman Square Neighborhood Development Corporation - $4,000
Colonel Daniel Marr Boys Club - $8.000
Dotwell - $10,000
Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative - $8,000
East Boston Athletic Board - $8,000
East Boston Social Center - $4,000
Family Service of Greater Boston - $2,500
Federated Dorchester Neighborhood Houses, Inc. - $6,000
Franklin Park Coalition - $2,000
Freedom House - $3,000
Friends of the Rafael Hernandez School Inc. - $3,450
Girl Scouts of Eastern Massachusetts - $2,500
Girls Get Connected - $5,000
Haitian American Public Health Initiatives - $5,000
Hawthorne Youth and Community Center - $5,000
Huntington Theatre Company, Inc. - $8,000
Inquilinos Boricuas en Accion - $6,000
John P. Holland Council, Inc. - $5,000
Mass. Alliance of Portuguese Speakers - $8,000
Metro Boston Alive - $8,000
MissionSAFE - $5,000
North American Family Institute - $4,000
Phillips Brooks House Association - $5,000
Pleasant Hill Baptist Church - $8,000
Project HIP-HOP - $8,000
Project R.I.G.H.T. - $8,000
Refugee & Immigrant Assistance Center - $6,000
Round Table, Inc. - $6,000
Roxbury Multi-Service Center - $4,000
Spontaneous Celebrations, Inc.  - $5,000
Sportsmen’s Tennis Club - $8,000
St. Stephen’s Youth Programs - $12,000
Teen Voices - $6,000
The City School - $3,000
The Fishing Academy - $6,000
Tri-Ad Veterans League, Inc. - $4,000
Upham’s Corner Community Center - $8,000
Villages Without Walls - $6,000
West End House Boys & Girls Club - $8,000
YMCA of Greater Boston - $50,000
Youth Enrichment Services - $5,000
YWCA Boston - $2,000

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About the Boston Foundation
The Boston Foundation, Greater Boston’s community foundation, is one of the oldest and largest community foundations in the nation, with assets of $763 million.  In Fiscal Year 2008, the Foundation and its donors made close to $79 million in grants to nonprofit organizations and received gifts of $113 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.

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About StreetSafe Boston
StreetSafe Boston is a multi-year youth development and safety initiative designed to dramatically reduce violence among 16 to 24 year-olds in a subset of Boston neighborhoods disproportionately and persistently affected by high rates of violent crime. It builds on Mayor Thomas M. Menino and the City of Boston’s successful Violence Intervention & prevention initiative to understand and evaluate the best strategies for moving youth violence intervention to prevention and youth development. For more information, visit www.StreetSafeBoston.org or call 617-338-1700.