Civic Leadership

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.

Grants will expand and enhance science education for Massachusetts schools CAMBRIDGE, MA—Programming robots to record weather data. Fabricating mechanical parts with a 3D mill. Speaking with astronauts on the International Space Station. These are among the projects that will come to life in Massachusetts public and charter schools in 2015, thanks to Cambridge Community Foundation and Biogen Idec Foundation’s second annual Ignite the Power of STEM competitive grant program. Cambridge Community Foundation, which administers the program, selected 18 grants out of 54 applicants from across the state. Biogen Idec Foundation funded the program, totaling $84,520. The program represents a special partnership between business and the local community. The Ignite the Power of STEM grants support innovative programs that increase science literacy, encourage youth to pursue scientific careers, create classroom excitement and provide hands-on learning experiences in science, technology, engineering and math. Applicant schools had to be represented at the 2014 Massachusetts STEM Summit to be eligible. “I am impressed with the diversity of school programs and creative spirit in their grant applications. Most important are the collaborative efforts they represented. Congratulations to students, teachers, and schools, and thanks to Biogen Idec Foundation for breathing financial life into such STEM