Boston Foundation announces $500,000 grant to LISC Boston

Grant is part of $1.145 million in quarterly funding

Boston – The Boston Foundation announced its quarterly discretionary grants after a meeting of the Foundation Board of Directors on Thursday. The Board approved $1,145,000 in single and multi-year discretionary grants to be paid out beginning in June 2016. Of the 17 grantees for the quarter, two are receiving multi-year funding support. Six grants were issued in the Arts and Culture category, three each in Education-Structural Reform and Neighborhoods and Housing, two in Cross-Strategy and Special Opportunities, one apiece in Health and Wellness, Jobs and Economic Development, and Nonprofit Effectiveness.

The Boston Foundation has a tradition of supporting organizations that build neighborhoods and enable residents to improve their conditions. In keeping with that tradition, in the Neighborhoods and Housing category, the Foundation awarded a $500,000 three-year grant to the Local Initiatives Support Corporation’s Boston chapter. The grant to LISC Boston will be used for general operating support as the organization carries on its mission as a community intermediary that does capacity building and lending to community development corporations.
 
“As neighborhoods across Boston stabilize and grow – both in terms of housing and business development opportunities for working class Bostonians, LISC Boston helps lead the way by carving a path and nurturing positive change,” said Paul S. Grogan, President and CEO of the Boston Foundation. “We are proud to partner with and support LISC, along with many other innovative and impactful organizations and initiatives in Greater Boston.”

Accelerating Structural Reform and Promoting Innovation in public schools in Boston

In the realm of education and structural reform, the board also approved new funding to the Center for Collaborative Education, Inversant (Formerly FUEL Education), and Stand for Children Leadership Center.

Center for Collaborative Education was issued a one-year $50,000 grant for project support, for the launch of the Massachusetts Personalized Learning Network. The center, an initiative of Metro Boston, Inc., works to create student-centered learning environments, build district and school capacity to adopt innovative practices, and catalyze systemic change through research and advocacy.

Inversant was awarded a one-year $100,000 grant to support its college savings accounts (CSA) expansion to serve more families, as well as efforts to expand its College Compact scholarship program, and to scale up its Train the Trainer college access curriculum for other CSA providers. Inversant helps families and their children access higher education through CSAs, financial incentives, scholarship opportunities, and family engagement.

Stand for Children Leadership Center was approved for a one-year $50,000 grant to provide general operating support. SCLC works to ensure that all children, regardless of background, graduate from high school prepared for and with access to a college education or career training.
 

Promoting the career advancement and economic security of low-income individuals

In the area of jobs and economic development, the Foundation’s board approved a $75,000 one-year program support grant to Jewish Vocational Service, Inc., for support of its Pay for Success social impact bond for Adult Education. JVS works to empower individuals from diverse communities to find employment and build careers, and to partner with employers to hire, develop, and retain productive workforce. 

Increasing neighborhood stability and the production and
preservation of affordable housing for vulnerable populations

Harvard University Joint Center for Housing Studies was approved for a one-year $30,000 program support grant for the production of a policy brief and interactive online map that will demonstrate the demographic and economic changes in Boston neighborhoods over the last 25 years.

Northeastern University-Dukakis Center for Urban and Regional Policy received a one-year $75,000 grant for program support, for the production of the Greater Boston Housing Report Card and research support for the Commonwealth Housing Task Force.

Strengthening and celebrating the region’s diverse audiences,
artists and nonprofit cultural organizations

In the area of arts and culture, the Arts and Boston Council of Greater Boston, Inc., was awarded a $25,000 one-year grant for general operating support. The Council is one of Greater Boston’s largest arts service organizations, providing a full suite of services, including legal aid, fiscal sponsorship, professional development programs and a space finder program to the arts community.

Boston Dance Alliance, Inc. received a $15,000 one-year grant for general operating support. The Alliance is an independent service organization supporting the underserved dance community by helping dancers, choreographers, and dance organizations build partnerships in the sector, and opportunities that can help dance flourish in New England.
 
Celebrity Series of Boston received a one-year project support grant, specifically to support a diverse series of events that include implementation and execution of the Street Pianos project in 2016, planning for Let’s Dance Boston in 2017, and a free outdoor engagement with Alvin Ailey in 2018.

Discover Roxbury, which conducts tours of Roxbury’s historic sites, arts community, cultural institutions, and businesses, and which partners with local organizations to increase the economic empowerment of the neighborhood,  received a $10,000 one-year project support grant to engage a consultant in a strategic planning process to determine the future goals, programs, and structure of the organization.

Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway Conservancy, Inc., was awarded a one-year $50,000 project support grant for a diverse series of events, including contemporary art and sound installations, interactive art works, murals, and complementary public programming along the Greenway, connecting the diverse neighborhoods in this region through art.

StageSource, Inc. received a $15,000 one-year general operating support grant. StageSource is an arts service organization that supports and promotes artists and organizations in Boston and Greater Boston’s theater sector.

Encouraging healthy behaviors among Boston residents and
increasing access to healthy food and opportunities for physical activity

Sportsmen’s Tennis and Enrichment Center received a three-year $225,000 grant, $75,000 of which will be paid this year, and $150,000 from future funds. Sportsmen’s is an organization that works to build leaders by providing academic, wellness and social development programs and recreational and competitive tennis instruction for youth and adults. This grant will fund its work to expand physical activity for Boston youth, in schools as well as in the Blue Hill Corridor.

Nonprofit Effectiveness

Encore Boston Network received a one-year $50,000 project support grant to launch a pilot that will mobilize encore talent (people aged 50 and over) to support the human capital needs of youth-serving organizations. EBN is a multi-stakeholder, cross-sector coalition of organizations and professionals dedicated to strengthening communities by engaging encore talent who are working to close the opportunity gap.

Cross-strategy and Special Opportunity Grants

In the areas of cross-strategy and special opportunities, the Boston Foundation awarded continued its commitment to substantive youth development programs with a $50,000 one-year general operating support grant to the Camp Harbor View Foundation. Camp Harbor View is a high profile summer camp that provides enrichment and support to nearly 900 students each summer.

Community Foundation of Southeastern Massachusetts was awarded a $100,000 one-year project grant and will regrant the funds to adult education and family literacy programs in the Greater New Bedford area.

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The Boston Foundation, Greater Boston’s community foundation, is one of the largest community foundations in the nation, with net assets of some $1 billion. In 2015, the Foundation and its donors paid $135 million in grants to nonprofit organizations and received gifts of $123 million. In celebration of its Centennial in 2015, the Boston Foundation launched the Campaign for Boston to strengthen the Permanent Fund for Boston, the only endowment fund focused on the most pressing needs of Greater Boston. The Foundation is proud to be a partner in philanthropy, with more than 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, think tank and advocacy organization, commissioning research into the most critical issues of our time and helping to shape public policy designed to advance opportunity for everyone in Greater Boston. The Philanthropic Initiative (TPI), an operating unit of the Foundation, designs and implements customized philanthropic strategies for families, foundations and corporations around the globe. For more information about the Boston Foundation and TPI, visit tbf.org or call 617-338-1700.