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Press Release

October 2019

A groundswell of giving during year one of the United Legal Defense Fund for Immigrants

2019-12-13T21:13:40-05:00October 30th, 2019|Press Release|

Photos from Dance for Dignity, held at the Somerville Armory on October 25. Immigrants' need for legal defense is at an all-time high in our communities. With immigration policies changing almost daily, many of our neighbors live in fear of losing their immigrant status. High-quality, low-bono and pro-bono legal service, however, can change the course of a person’s or a family’s life. Because of community support – of all shapes and sizes – the United Legal Defense Fund for Immigrants continues to help local legal defense organizations make a difference for many of our neighbors who otherwise face detention or deportation. Last October, the Fund awarded $255,000 to four local, legal immigration organizations, including a two-year commitment to supporting three organizations, for which second-year funding will be distributed this November. Since expanding the Fund to Somerville as well as Cambridge seven months ago, we have raised more than $50,000 for the Fund, with contributions coming from 200-plus donors. We look forward to giving out more grants from the Fund this fall. We couldn’t do this important work without donor support, and it's taken donors of all kinds and gifts of all sizes. Fundraising has

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Falcon Pride Scholarships: Helping college-bound CRLS students succeed in higher ed

2021-04-22T16:47:58-04:00October 21st, 2019|Press Release|

In 2015, a group of residents came to the Cambridge Community Foundation with a plan for a scholarship fund to help Cambridge Rindge and Latin School (CRLS) graduates with multi-year support for a post-secondary education. The Cambridge Community Foundation became a partner. Now in its third year, the Falcon Pride Scholarship Fund has already helped 12 CRLS grads on their college journey. Each year, CRLS selects four scholars to receive $1,000 in their first year of college, and $1,500 in their second. Thanks to the strong support of 58 committed donors, the Fund announced it was expanding the scholarship, providing an additional $1,500 scholarship in the third year. “As a community that values education, we should be thinking about all our children, the children of Cambridge, and helping them go to college because if they get their degree, it can have a huge impact on their life trajectory,” said Andus Baker, Cambridge Community Foundation board member who co-founded the Falcon Pride Scholarship, along with his wife Rowan Murphy and fellow board member, Liz Keating. “There are lots of groups helping kids succeed in high school and beyond. We wanted to help with money that can pay for books,

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Cambridge nonprofits make learning more engaging and equitable

2019-11-05T18:46:41-05:00October 21st, 2019|Press Release|

We often look to schooling as the key to transformation and progress. When all children are educated equitably, our community fosters shared prosperity. In Cambridge, that aspiration of equity in education is becoming a reality, in part, through the important work of nonprofits and community leaders who support and implement innovative programs that help all children learn. As a grantmaker, the Cambridge Community Foundation has a long history of investing in making education equitable for all residents, thereby paving a path for shared prosperity. In 2019, we funded more than 30 nonprofit partners and collaborative initiatives that are dedicated to expanding and deepening educational opportunities for our city’s youth, from connecting them to higher education institutions and local bio-tech industry leaders to making sure in-school curriculum helps them build the skills they’ll need to succeed in the knowledge economy later on. The Foundation also manages several large funds that help grow educational equity, including the Parmenter Scholarship Fund, which supports scholarships for low-income students going to Harvard; the Falcon Pride Scholarship, which provides multi-year college scholarships for CRLS graduates who need financial support; and the Community Fund, which provides grants to nonprofits offering a range of academic and enrichment

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Connecting Cambridge middle schoolers to positive, out-of-school experiences

2019-12-02T20:55:11-05:00October 21st, 2019|Nonprofit Spotlight, Press Release|

Photo courtesy of Cambridge Agenda for Children Out-of-School Time Cambridge is full of bright opportunities for its young residents. With a vibrant nonprofit community and active arts and cultural organizations, the city offers a lot of promise to those who grow up here. Many youth and families, however, have difficulty accessing, navigating or affording the plethora of out-of-school opportunities. That’s why Cambridge Agenda for Children Out-of-School Time (AFCOST) helps youth find after-school activities that can help grow their passions and broaden their horizons through the Middle School Network (MSN). Back in 2009, the Mayor of Cambridge commissioned a report called Shared Youth, Shared Strategies, which found that just a third of Cambridge’s middle school-aged youth were involved in any after-school activity.   According to Cambridge AFCOST Co-Director Khari Milner, the “highly problematic” low enrollment in after-school activities at that time was an unfortunate result of our city’s school system structure. Specifically, after-school programs mirrored Cambridge school’s K-8 system – offering K-8 activities that many middle graders socially grew out of and lost interest in. The findings led Milner, with Co-Director Susan Richards, to launch the MSN.  Ten years into its journey, the MSN continues to live out its

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How a frugal cattleman has sent students to Harvard for over a century

2019-10-16T21:03:56-04:00October 15th, 2019|Philanthropy, Press Release, Shared Prosperity|

Jonathan Maynard Parmenter. Photo courtesy of The Parmenter Foundation. Jonathan Maynard Parmenter lived a simple life. He and his brother Henry drove cattle between Massachusetts and New Hampshire and shared the family’s modest farmhouse in Wayland, Mass. However, heeding advice from a local friend, he quietly invested his income from cattle with the Harvard Trust company in a range of nascent industries – such as rail, steel, mills, telephone, electricity, and manufacturing. Meanwhile, Parmenter appeared to have never spent a penny on himself, preferring to maintain the New England farm-lifestyle he’d long grown accustomed to. When he died in 1916, Parmenter left an estate worth more than $1 million dollars – to the pure shock of all those who knew him. In his will, he donated to his neighbors, family and local church, but Parmenter also designated a trust fund of $200,000 to go to scholarships that would enable “needy and deserving undergraduates” to attend Harvard College. The terms of the fund stipulate that the entire income be paid annually to Harvard University for Parmenter Scholarships at Harvard College. Since 1916, the Cambridge Community Foundation has been the trustee of the Fund, gifting annually over the course of a century

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Cambridge Redevelopment Authority Purchases Local Building to Preserve Nonprofit Social Service Space

2019-10-22T13:46:21-04:00October 10th, 2019|Press Release|

October 10 — Cambridge, MA The tenants of 93-99 Bishop Allen Drive celebrated the news of the building sale last week. There was celebration in Cambridge late last week, when the Cambridge Redevelopment Authority (CRA) and the nonprofit Enroot finalized the purchase and sale of the building at 93-99 Bishop Allen Drive in Central Square. Under the Cambridge Redevelopment Authority’s ownership, the building will remain affordable and available for the provision of nonprofit services today and in the future. The transaction, supported by local advocates and organizations, is an important step toward addressing the bigger regional issue of dwindling affordable office space for nonprofits. Enroot, formerly Cambridge Community Services, has owned and operated the building since 1965. Today, the 1855 converted townhouse building is home to over 100 staff from 11 nonprofit agencies that support Cambridge residents by providing children with affordable summer camps, improving math literacy and other academic skills, engaging youth with chronic illnesses in the arts, bolstering the City’s nonprofit sector and small businesses, and providing counseling to survivors of sexual violence. Building tenants have been aware of Enroot’s decision to sell the building since September 2018.  The property was formally put on the market in

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Dance for Dignity: Join us Oct. 25 to support the United Legal Defense Fund

2019-10-03T17:22:54-04:00October 3rd, 2019|Press Release|

On Friday, October 25th, join us for an evening of dance, live music, and support for immigrant communities. The event will feature live music by Somerville's classic rockers Stanley and the Undercovers, plus a special dance performance by Jean Appolon Expressions. All proceeds benefit the United Legal Defense Fund for Immigrants, which gives grants to local organizations offering pro-bono legal assistance to immigrants. Help our neighbors stay out of and get out of detention centers. Get your tickets now at dancefordignity.eventbrite.com Event details: When: Friday, October 25th, 7-10:30pm Where: The Somerville Armory, 191 Highland Avenue Cost: Tickets are $20 Organized in partnership with the City of Cambridge and Mayor Marc McGovern, the City of Somerville and Mayor Joe Curtatone, and Stanley and the Undercovers. Why we need your support Many immigrant families, children, and workers in our community are caught up in a humanitarian crisis that is tearing families apart, threatening to deport TPS holders and DREAMers from the only home they have ever known, and exposing asylum seekers to the persecution and abuse they faced in their home countries. Help us help our most vulnerable neighbors in Cambridge and Somerville with a tax-deductible contribution to

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September 2019

Cambridge summer programs give all kids access to learning and fun

2022-10-06T20:57:55-04:00September 25th, 2019|Grantmaking, Press Release|

Cambridge summer programs give all kids access to learning & fun Summer experiences for urban kids run the gamut—from sleep away camps and specialty classes like Mindcraft coding or art, to nothing at all, which means some kids end up on digital devices sitting at home or caring for younger siblings. Research tells us that kids from low-income families suffer from a summertime opportunity gap—a lack of access to learning opportunities—that becomes an educational gap, with kids losing two months of reading and math skills each summer. So why shouldn’t all Cambridge kids, regardless of their parents’ income, have access to summer learning experiences?  The good news is, in our city, they can. Thanks to nearly a dozen of our nonprofit partners, and many other programs, Cambridge kids have access to summer enrichment opportunities regardless of their economic background. The Cambridge Community Foundation is a partner of the Summer Fund, a collaborative that supports a network of high-quality summer programs for under-served communities in Cambridge and the Greater Boston Area.  In Cambridge, the Summer Fund contributed $72,000 to support 1,054 local kids in camps. We are also long-time financial supporters of nearly a dozen local nonprofits that give hundreds

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New members join Board of Directors and Professional Advisors Council

2019-09-23T21:57:31-04:00September 23rd, 2019|Press Release|

The Cambridge Community Foundation (CCF) has appointed three local civic leaders to its Board of Directors and added two new members to its Professional Advisors Council (PAC), effective this fall. New board members include Rev. Adam Lawrence Dyer, lead minister at First Parish in Cambridge Unitarian Universalist, author and musician; Ed Feijo, a top Coldwell Banker sales associate; and Michael Monestime, executive director of the Central Square Business Association and Cultural District. They will each serve a five-year term. New PAC members include Bill Laskin, co-founder of PG Calc, a leading provider of gift planning software and services, and Nadia Yassa, director of Estate and Gift Planning and Technical Advisor at Emerson College. They will both serve a three-year term. The Board of Directors serve as the ultimate authority on the Foundation’s activities, setting its community impact and civic leadership agenda, signing off on two annual rounds of grants to local nonprofit organizations, promoting philanthropy, and building the Cambridge Endowment to support the City’s pressing urban needs today and in the future. The Cambridge Community Foundation and its donors awarded $1.5 Million in grants to 150 nonprofits and programs last year. The Professional Advisor’s Council helps the Foundation build the

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Education as equalizer: a conversation with Elissa Spelman, Executive Director of Breakthrough Greater Boston

2019-10-10T16:03:48-04:00September 20th, 2019|Civic Leadership, Grantmaking, Press Release|

Research reminds us that education and opportunity go hand in hand. That’s why learning is so important—even over the summer. We caught up with Elissa Spelman, executive director of Breakthrough Greater Boston (BTGB), one of our nonprofit partners, to talk about the importance of out of school time learning and the challenges we need to overcome for kids in our community. As a city, we’re fortunate to have a wide array of summer programs for school-aged kids, ranging from the Mayor’s Summer Youth Employment Program, to CitySprouts, Cambridge Camping, the Cambridge Community Center, and other nonprofits funded by the Cambridge Community Foundation. Why is summer learning so important? The school year calendar was established to support an agrarian economy so kids could work in the fields in the summer, but it’s not what is best for learning. For students, summer is a long expanse of time when activities can vary widely, everything from traveling abroad or attending an expensive overnight camp to sitting on the couch, watching TV or caring for younger siblings. Research shows there’s dramatic learning loss in the summer. Low income students lose an average of two months of reading and two months of math every

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Cambridge Community Foundation

99 Bishop Allen Drive
Cambridge, MA 02139

617-431-3150
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