A day of volunteering to build a more just Cambridge.
Q&A with Lori Lander, founder, Many Helping Hands 365’s MLK Day of Service.
The Cambridge Community Foundation infuses $672,500 into Cambridge through nonprofit grants
Photo courtesy of Playworks New England November 26, 2019—Cambridge, MA The Cambridge Community Foundation announces it will infuse a total of $672,500 into the nonprofit sector in Cambridge, Massachusetts through its fall grantmaking and new investments in focused areas. Fifty-six local nonprofits will receive a total of $357,500 in grants from the Community Fund to help address a wide range of needs in Cambridge, including hunger and homelessness, and other housing challenges; youth and early childhood education and services, work force training, and services for elders. Grants also invest in preserving our city’s artistic and cultural vibrancy. The Foundation, in partnership with its donor partners, is also distributing an additional $315,000 this fall to strategic investments in three important areas: Equity and opportunity bolstering out-of-schooltime programs for middle schoolers through the Agenda for Children supporting the expansion of the Becoming A Man (BAM) guidance program for young men into Cambridge Rindge and Latin School investing in Cambridge Housing Authority’s Work Force program over three years to ensure low-income youth in Cambridge can access the award-winning program of educational, job, and career and college prep help expanding the HomeStart program in Cambridge to support low-income residents seeking affordable housing increasing mentorship
The impact of the United Legal Defense Fund for Immigrants’ first year
Photo courtesy of De Novo Center for Justice and Healing. Amid the current immigration crisis in our country, the stories of the people in our own community who are deeply affected by tightening immigration policies demonstrate the urgency of this issue. “Tania”, a teenage mother, suffered abuse and neglect at home and threats of gang violence in her native country. She escaped Central America, but only because of legal support from De Novo, can she now safely rebuild her life here in the U.S. “Paul”, who fled the Khmer Rouge genocide as a child, has raised his children in Massachusetts. Now at risk of deportation, Paul has gotten the help he needs from Greater Boston Legal Services to stay in the home he’s built with his family. Tania, Paul, and so many others in our community rely on free or low-cost legal services to be able to safely stay in the country. The United Legal Defense Fund for Immigrants is the local giving platform to help these vulnerable community members receive the legal services they need to lead safe lives in refuge. The critical role of the United Legal Defense Fund for Immigrants In March 2018, the Cambridge
Rooting immigrant students in community, college, and career paths
Being a high school student is a challenge, given academic expectations, social-emotional development, and planning for college or a career. It’s even tougher if you aren’t born in this country, you and your family aren’t familiar with the education landscape, and English isn’t your first language. Fortunately, Cambridge students who have immigrated can get support through Enroot, an afterschool program specifically designed to help them through high school and their first two years of college. Enroot prepares immigrant youth for academic, career and personal success through out-of-school time mentorships, tutoring, internships, and exposure to career paths and professionals. We chatted with Ben Clark, executive director, and Dananai Morgan, director of development and strategic initiatives, about Enroot’s work and goals for this 2019-20 school year. CCF: Enroot recently expanded its programming to include two years of college support. How is this helping your scholars? Dananai Morgan: In the past, we were only supporting students through high school. With new funding, we are able to continue our programming through the first two years of college, which is a help because almost all Enroot students are first-gen college students, so many decisions like financial aid and course load
Meet Geeta Pradhan, President of the Cambridge Community Foundation
Q&A with Geeta Pradhan, President Can you tell us a little about your background and what brought you to CCF? GP: My career in Boston spanned 30 years, with work ranging from community development to affordable housing to sustainability to philanthropy. When I got this phenomenal opportunity to go to the Cambridge Community Foundation, I was very intrigued. But honestly, my first reaction was, ‘Why would I go to Cambridge?’ The city has a reputation of wealth and prosperity, and I’d spent my whole life working on issues around equity and poverty in Boston. But then I started looking at the data. I was stunned that 18 percent of Cambridge children live in poverty. This is a small enough city, with world-class intellectual capital…why can’t we wrap our arms around it and solve the problems of the community? If we really put our minds to it, we can find solutions. What do you think makes Cambridge special? GP: What makes Cambridge special is that you can really sense the values of the city. Walking in Central Square, you see cultures from all around the world represented in the people, the restaurants and stores, and the languages spoken. That is
A groundswell of giving during year one of the United Legal Defense Fund for Immigrants
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
Falcon Pride Scholarships: Helping college-bound CRLS students succeed in higher ed
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,
Cambridge nonprofits make learning more engaging and equitable
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
Connecting Cambridge middle schoolers to positive, out-of-school experiences
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
How a frugal cattleman has sent students to Harvard for over a century
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
