Boston Foundation announces $1.69 million in quarterly grants to Greater Boston organizations

Boston – The Boston Foundation announced its quarterly discretionary grants after a meeting of the Foundation Board of Directors on Thursday. The Board approved $1.69 million in single and multi-year discretionary grants to be paid out beginning in October 2016. Of the 21 grantees for the quarter, 18 will receive one-year grants, and three will be issued multi-year grant funding support. Nine grants were issued in the category of Arts and Culture. Eight were issued in the Jobs and Economic Development category. Three were issued in the area of Health and Wellness, two in Education-Structural Reform, and one in Nonprofit Effectiveness.

As part of its ongoing efforts to support college preparedness, the foundation awarded Boston After School & Beyond (BASB) a $125,000 one-year general operating support grant. BASB connects school, after-school and summer learning so that every child in Boston has the opportunity to develop his or her full potential to link the youth development sector to the citywide college readiness agenda.

Accelerating Structural Reform and Promoting Innovation in public schools in Boston

In other education funding, the board also approved a grant new funding to the Boston Schools Fund and the National Council on Teacher Quality.

National Council on Teacher Quality was issued a one-year project support grant for $60,000. The Council, an organization guided by the vision that every child deserves effective teachers, received the funding for its work to support the production of ongoing ratings of the teacher prep programs in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and to assess Boston’s quest to earn “Great Districts” status.

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

Centerboard, Inc. will receive a $5,000 one-year project support grant to be used for the installation of lights on High Rock Tower in downtown Lynn. Centerboard is a community-based organization in the city of Lynn, primarily focused on family housing and employment, but also responsible for providing cultural events and maintaining an art gallery.

City of Boston was awarded a two-year $200,000 project support grant, to be paid in $100,000 annual installments, to enable the city to hire a new Communications Director in the Mayor’s Office of Arts and Culture, to enable the City to implement the cultural plan, Boston Creates, through publicizing of its programming and events.

The Dance Complex, Inc. received a two-year $150,000 general operating support grant to be paid in equal installments of $75,000. This organization is one of two key centers of dance in Boston that serve the surrounding community and support dancers through multiple stages of their careers.

Design Museum Boston, Inc. was issued a $10,000 one-year general operating support grant. Design Museum Boston, Inc., is a “museum” without boundaries, whose exhibitions are in public and private spaces –indoors and outdoors – around Boston’s neighborhoods.

Green Street Studios received a $10,000 one-year general operating support grant to support board development and facilities improvements. Green Street is one of two major dance centers in Boston to address the needs of the contemporary dance community, offering dedicated class and rehearsal space, extensive programming, and educational opportunities.

Grub Street, Inc. was awarded a one-year $15,000 general operating support grant to support its role as one of the region’s largest literary arts service organizations (ASO )and to support its participation as a member of the Boston Foundation’s Arts and Culture Program’s ASO Cohort.

Lyric Stage Company of Boston, Inc. received a one-year $25,000 project support grant for its website, communications and staff costs, as the agency directs resources to the build-out of a new rehearsal space at 140 Clarendon Street. The Lyric seeks to bring to Boston world-class theater with productions that challenge, entertain, and inspire audiences.

Now and There received a two-year $20,000 grant to paid in equal annual installments, for general operating support. This organization seeks to create impactful public art projects in Greater Boston that advance new definitions of public art, acculturate Boston to the cultural, social and economic benefits of art, and help define Boston’s essential public art identity.

The Record Company was awarded a $12,500 one-year general operating support grant. The Record Company is a nonprofit music incubator located at the intersection of Dorchester and Roxbury, whose mission is to build a sustainable, nationally recognized music scene in Boston by providing space, programs, and services that increase Boston’s popular musical infrastructure.

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 grant to Epicenter Community, a collaborating organization that is working to bring Boston into the 21st century by helping create an innovative culture movement and build creative economies throughout the city.

New England Center for Arts & Technology, Inc. was awarded a one-year $100,000 grant for general operating support, to help the center, a job training and education provider, with general programming and capacity building for its adult job-training programs in the food services industry.

Newmarket Community Partners, Inc. received a one-year general operating support grant. This organization seeks to promote economic and neighborhood development that will result in the growth of industrial sector jobs and workforce development in the Newmarket Industrial District of Boston.

The Record Company, which received a $12,500 grant from the foundation’s Arts and Culture strategy area was also awarded $12,500 in the area of Jobs and Economic Development for one year of general operating support.

Resilient Coders, a cutting-edge organization that teaches at-risk youth from underserved communities how to write computer software code and demonstrates the economic significance of code literacy, received a one-year $50,000 grant for general operating support.

Skillworks was awarded a $350,000 one-year, two-part conditional grant via the Boston Foundation, fiscal sponsor of Skillworks, a public/private partnership between the foundation, the City of Boston, local and national philanthropic and corporate entities designed to meet worker and business needs while developing pathways out of poverty in the face of evidence that invest in employer-driven training and placement strategies to help low-skill, low- and moderate-income residents move to family-sustaining jobs and help employers find and retain skilled employees.

The Urban Food Initiative, Inc./Daily Table received a one-year $15,000 project support grant to further develop its teaching kitchen program, an initiative to foster a healthier community and increase food literacy across the Dorchester neighborhood as well as support its overall goals in chronic disease prevention and economic development.

Venture Café Foundation, Inc. received a one-year $50,000 grant for general operating support for the Foundation’s efforts connecting the innovation community and building a more inclusive innovation economy through spaces, programs, and conversations.

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

Massachusetts Department of Public Health received a one-year $100,000 project support grant to Health Resources in Action for the Mass in Motion Municipal Wellness and Leadership Grant Program, an initiative designed to build capacity at the municipal level to create a sustained approach for healthy eating and active living, specifically in Dorchester, Roxbury, and Malden.

Playworks was awarded a one-year general operating support grant to sustain its programming in the Boston Public Schools and expand staff capacity to meet organizational goals. Playworks’ mission is to improve the health and well-being of children by increasing opportunities for safe, meaningful play.

The Urban Food Initiative, Inc./Daily Table, which received a one-year $15,000 project support grant from the Boston Foundation’s Jobs and Economic Development area was also awarded $15,000 in funding from the foundation’s Health and Wellness team.

Nonprofit Effectiveness

The Institute for Nonprofit Management and Leadership received a $100,000, one-year grant payable to the United Way of Massachusetts Bay as fiscal sponsor, to provide general operating support for the Institute, which equips the most promising nonprofit leaders with the skills, confidence and resources they need to make their organizations effective, innovative, and sustainable.

Special Opportunity Grants

The foundation’s Latino Legacy Fund issued six grants totaling $87,500.

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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.