Press Release

Rev. Lorraine Thornhill was elected to the board of directors of the Cambridge Community Foundation at its quarterly meeting in September.  She is the first female pastor of the First Holiness Church, Cambridge.  Prior to that she worked for seven years in the role of psychotherapist for Bentley College in Waltham, MA. “I am delighted to be offered this opportunity to serve the Cambridge community in this new role ” said Rev. Thornhill. “The Foundation has a long history and a unique role to play, connecting people, raising issues of common concern, and supporting the important work undertaken by local nonprofits.” Rev. Thornhill currently serves as the president of the Cambridge Black Pastors Alliance. She is also one of three chaplains commissioned to serve in the Cambridge Police Chaplaincy Program, the first program of its kind in Massachusetts, and serves as a commissioner for the City of Cambridge’s Human Services Department and as vice-chair of the Cambridge YWCA. Rev. Thornhill is the founder of Higher Heights, LLC, a life-coaching business. “Lorraine Thornhill is a wonderful addition to the Foundation’s board board,” said Richard Harriman, chairman of the board of directors. “Her many leadership roles illustrate her deep personal and

The Cambridge Community Foundation has been selected among 1,400 applicants from across the country to be a finalist in a major grant program that aims to increase the role of arts and culture in community planning and development. On June 7, 2016, ArtPlace America announced that the Cambridge Community Foundation’s Central Square: Preserving Equity in a boom town project, is one of 80 projects that will be considered for its 2016 National Creative Placemaking Fund. ArtPlace America (ArtPlace), a New York City-based organization, is a ten-year collaboration among 16 partner foundations, along with 8 federal agencies and 6 financial institutions, that works to position arts and culture as a core sector of comprehensive community planning and development in order to help strengthen the social, physical, and economic fabric of communities. ArtPlace focuses its work on creative placemaking, which describes projects in which art plays an intentional and integrated role in place-based community planning and development. This brings artists, arts organizations, and artistic activity into the suite of placemaking strategies pioneered by Jane Jacobs and her colleagues, who believed that community development must be locally informed, human-centric, and holistic. “This is wonderful news,” said Geeta Pradhan, president and CEO of

Cambridge Community Foundation President Geeta Pradhan will interview Karl Dean, former mayor of the City of Nashville, in a forum open to the public on March 29 in Boston. Dean earned national attention for his efforts to leverage a building boom to connect neighborhoods, expand transit and build greater opportunity for local residents. He is the first Mayor in Residence at the Boston University Initiative on Cities, a program created to advance strategies to help cities serve as centers of economic growth and positive social development. The one-on-one conversation, titled Urban Identity Quest, brings together two civic leaders who have earned reputations as agents of urban change and increased quality of life. He will be interviewed by Geeta Pradhan, a catalyst in efforts to leverage expanded transportation access to increase opportunity in low-income Boston neighborhoods.  Her work was crucial to the creation of the Fairmount Corridor Initiative, which brought jobs, housing and economic investment to a nine mile stretch of Boston neighborhoods. She currently serves as president of the Cambridge Community Founding, the only foundation serving all of Cambridge, making grants to local nonprofit organizations and serving as a neutral convener working across sectors to identify critical issues and