Making Good Archives - Cambridge Community Foundation

Arts for All: Meet our Winter ASA Fund Recipients

Jenny White2025-03-28T11:03:05-04:00March 28th, 2025|Featured, Grantmaking, Making Good|

CCF is pleased to announce two new grants totaling $13,150 through our Arrow Street Arts Fund, supporting local artists who enrich Cambridge's cultural landscape and create meaningful connections across communities. Since its launch in fall 2023, the fund has invested over $100,000 in local performing arts organizations, addressing a critical need in our arts ecosystem: access to affordable performance space for historically underrepresented artists. Through our partnership with Arrow Street Arts, we're ensuring their voices have a stage in the heart of Harvard Square. Meet our Winter 2025 grantees: Asian American Ballet Project presents "Receding and Reemerging," a ballet exploring themes of cultural memory and future possibilities through Asian American perspectives. The program features a Japanese American reimagining of Spectre de la Rose and a Philippine Forest tale, showcasing the talents and stories of AAPI dancers and choreographers. Theater Offensive, Inc. hosts the "Queer Republic Festival," a four -day celebration showcasing original theater, dance, and workshops created by queer and trans artists of color from historically underrepresented communities. Culminating from a 22-month residency program, the festival amplifies these voices while fostering connection, cultural dialogue, and creative innovation in Cambridge. "These artists represent the incredible diversity and talent of Cambridge's

Food Access and Security Initiative Strengthens Collaboration and Capacity Among Local Partners

Jenny White2025-03-13T19:53:55-04:00March 12th, 2025|Civic Leadership, Featured, Making Good|

In October 2023, CCF announced a five-year strategic plan centered on economic mobility and social cohesion, aiming to create a more vibrant, just, and equitable Cambridge for all. Building upon COVID era infrastructure investments, the cornerstone of the plan's first year was our Food Access and Security Initiative, a combined $1.9 million multi-year investment designed to strengthen Cambridge's emergency food system through partnership and collective action. After one year, the initiative has already shown remarkable progress in strengthening Cambridge's food security system. "CCF is bringing food security partners together to create solutions that address both immediate needs and systemic challenges," said CCF President Geeta Pradhan. "This initiative exemplifies our approach to community change—framing systemic problems differently, investing in capacity building, and partnering with organizations to create new creative solutions." "This year we made fantastic strides toward creating solid ground for food security," says Christina Turner, CCF's vice president for programs and grantmaking. "We're supporting our partners as they move from being emergency response organizations to becoming vital hubs of economic security for families." Food insecurity affects Cantabrigians across all demographics but disproportionately impacts people of color, families with children, seniors, and adults with disabilities. According to a

Legacy of Love: How One Family’s Journey Continues to Support Cambridge Families Today

Jenny White2025-03-19T10:29:14-04:00March 12th, 2025|Featured, Grantmaking, Making Good, Philanthropy|

When Peter Sturges reflects on his brother Morris's life, his voice softens with emotion, even decades later. It's a story about family bonds, difficult choices, and, ultimately, a commitment to ensure that other Cambridge families have the support that wasn't available in the 1940s. "Morris' institutionalization has had a significant impact on our entire family in different ways. It was devastating, absolutely devastating," Peter shares. Born in 1941 with Down syndrome, Morris was the second child of Alice and Walter Knight Sturges. They later had four more children. "My parents had the financial resources to care for Morris at home, but not the support," Peter explains. "They had absolutely no encouragement from the medical profession, from their religious leaders, from their parents. And as a result, he was institutionalized." Following the advice of doctors, priests, and family, Morris, at the age of three, was placed at the Perkins School in Lancaster, Massachusetts. For his mother Alice, the separation was deeply traumatic. This decision had an enormous impact on the family for decades. Separated from his family, Morris lived in various institutions until his death in 2001 at age 59. Peter and his siblings often wondered