Piers Park Sailing Center and East Boston Social Centers are two of 100 local nonprofits to receive grants of $100,000 each through Cummings Foundation’s “100K for 100” program.
The two East Boston organizations were chosen from a total of 597 applicants during a competitive review process.
Representatives from Piers Park Sailing Center and East Boston Social Centers will join approximately 300 other guests at a reception at TradeCenter 128 in Woburn to celebrate the $10 million infusion into Greater Boston’s nonprofit sector. With the conclusion of this grant cycle, Cummings Foundation has now awarded more than $220 million to Greater Boston nonprofits alone.
“This grant is going to allow Piers Park Sailing to continue to grow out year round programs for youth, including sailing after school and ocean science after school. It will keep the program accessible to families of all backgrounds and abilities. We are so grateful to Bill and Joyce Cummings for their incredible philanthropy in Massachusetts” said PPSC Executive Director Alex DeFronzo.
“We are deeply grateful for this transformational funding for the East Boston Social Centers–and for the Cummings Foundation vote of confidence in our organization and the high-quality programs and services we provide each day” said EBSOC Executive Director Justin Pasquariello.
With these funds, the East Boston Social Centers will add the equivalent of one staff person dedicated to: 1) growing our role of convening to identify community opportunities and address community challenges; 2) enhancing program evaluation to enable continued growth in support of those we serve; and 3) expanding our marketing and communications so we can engage with and serve more people. Building off the great collaboration of the East Boston Family Engagement Network, this grant will enable us to work with more community organizations to ensure those needing services and supports in East Boston are receiving them. We will learn more about what is enabling our programs to have significant impact–and how we can continue to address needs. We will strengthen relationships with those we serve and those we could serve.
Piers Park Sailing Center will expand after school programs to reach more than 125 youth attending public and charter schools in East Boston. Two pilot programs from 2017 (sailing after school and ocean science after school) will be sustained and will continue to grow for the next three years because of the support of Cummings Foundation.
The $100K for 100 program supports non profits that are based in and primarily serve Middlesex, Essex, and Suffolk counties. Through this place-based initiative, Cummings Foundation aims to give back in the area where it owns commercial buildings, all of which are managed, at no cost to the Foundation, by its affiliate Cummings Properties. Founded in 1970 by Bill Cummings of Winchester, the Woburn-based commercial real estate firm leases and manages 11 million square feet of space, the majority of which exclusively benefits the Foundation.
“We are indebted to the nonprofit organizations like East Boston Social Centers and Piers Park Sailing that have a meaningful positive impact on the local communities where our colleagues and clients live and work,” said Joel Swets, Cummings Foundation executive director. “We are delighted to invest in their important programs and services.”
This year’s diverse group of grant recipients represents a wide variety of causes, including homelessness prevention and affordable housing, education, violence prevention, and food insecurity. Most of the grants will be paid over two to five years.
The complete list of 100 grant winners is available will be available beginning June 7 at www.CummingsFoundation.org.
Cummings Foundation announced an additional $10 million in early May through its new Sustaining Grants, which extend “$100K for 100” funding for previous winners for 10 more years. Beginning in 2019, the Foundation will increase its total giving through these two programs from $20 million to $25 million.
Additional information is available at www.CummingsFoundation.org