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A grant from the Cambridge Community Foundation is sending 220 CRLS students to take part a conversation with noted playwright/performer Anna Deavere Smith that draws from her new work Notes from the Field: Doing Time on Education at the American Repertory Theater (ART). The work drills down on what has been called the school-to-prison pipeline, a system in which students of color are punished, removed from classrooms and sent into the juvenile justice system in far larger numbers than their white peers. The students will have a chance to take part in a “talkback” with the author, who has earned a national reputation for her works, which create dramatic explorations of topical issues drawing on people’s testimony. A matinee on September 14 will include the performance and post-show.

A public forum about building pathways into the regional Innovation Economy for local youth and older workers drew a capacity crowd to the Kendall Square Marriott in April. In response, the Cambridge Community Foundation plans a series of conversations to act on ideas surfaced at the forum. The original event was hosted by the Foundation, with partners including Just-A-Start Corporation, Kendall Square Association, Metro North Regional Employment Board, SkillWorks and the City of Cambridge, including The Agenda for Children and the Cambridge Expanded Learning STEAM Network. Sponsors lined up to support the gathering, including Akami, Biogen, Cambridge Center for Adult Education, Cambridge College, Cambridge Nonprofit Coalition, Cambridge Public Schools, the Cambridge Science Festival, Cambridge Innovation Center, Google, Harvard University, JPMorgan Chase & Co., Lesley University, Boston Marriott Cambridge, MassCan, Microsoft, MIT, New England Venture Capital Association, Novartis and The Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation. The conversations, described as ‘salons,’ will bring together interested people from the different sectors among the partners and sponsors to follow up on ideas about ways to create greater opportunity by better connecting the community to the extraordinary and dynamic economy that is centered in Kendall Square.

The Cambridge Community Foundation has announced grants to 51 local organizations totaling $334,336 in its spring grantmaking docket. Funding decisions continued to reflect the following goals: Building bodies of work that create opportunities for collective action and measurement; Supporting the Foundation’s goal of increasing impact in the community; Giving priority to agencies that offer high-quality programs and a scale aimed at supporting progress on key issues or populations. The Foundation envisions a vibrant, diverse and inclusive city with a culture of giving and with opportunity for all. As a civic leader, the Foundation works in close partnership with donors and stakeholders to achieve that vision by connecting people, knowledge and resources to catalyze change in the city of Cambridge. Grantmaking is an important part of that work and reflects the strength and breadth of nonprofit organizations serving local residents. The spring grants were made in nine areas, including three grants that align with Foundation initiatives.  They include: Support for the Family Independence Initiative, to expand a program with a robust record of success in helping low-income families achieve independence and make economic progress by tapping their own insights, hard work and social networks. Three grants to strengthen the idea