New murals will make Central Square an open gallery for everyone By Jeffrey Blackwell Cambridge Community Foundation Correspondent On a blistering-hot afternoon in Central Square an eager group of residents, business owners and curious passersby gathered in Lafayette Square Park for a neighborhood tour of seemingly nothing more than the weathered brick and cement walls of 10 area buildings. But even on this extremely humid August day, the crowd of about 100 people was charged with enthusiasm. What they were anxiously waiting to see was not just walls, but future canvases for the Central Square Mural Project. “Art is an important medium and we live in Boston where we have no shortage of institutions where people can experience fine art,” said Michael Monestime, executive director of the Central Square Business Association (CSBA) and the tour guide. “It’s important that art be accessible, and through this mural project we will be creating an open gallery right here in Central Square.” Michael Monestime leads a tour of 10 mural sights in the neighborhood. This fall, a group of 10 artists from Cambridge and Boston will transform the highly-visible building walls into abstract and interpretative murals in celebration of the

Grants Available to Legal Defense Organizations Serving Immigrant Residents and Workers in Cambridge, MA August 14, 2018--Cambridge, MA The Cambridge Community Foundation (CCF) has released a Request for Proposals to help Greater-Boston/Cambridge nonprofit organizations increase legal representation for low-income immigrants from Cambridge and surrounding under-served communities, currently facing or threatened with deportation proceedings.  CCF will be distributing at least $150,000 already pledged by donors as part of a grass-roots campaign launched last spring to carry out the mission of the Cambridge Legal Defense Fund for Immigrants. “The immigration crisis is a humanitarian crisis that is playing out nationally and locally, affecting DACA recipients, asylum seekers, undocumented workers, and immigrant parents and their children who were separated at the border.  No matter what side of the immigration debate you are on or what political party you support, as Americans--a country of immigrants--there is one thing that we should stand behind and that is the right to due process for all people,” said Geeta Pradhan, President of the Cambridge Community Foundation. “We are eternally grateful to the hundreds of residents who contributed to the Cambridge Legal Defense Fund for Immigrants.  This was truly a grass-roots effort with people donating what they could.

Nonprofit Spotlight Cambridge Camping Association Enters its 125th Year Providing Camp Experiences to Local Youth By Elie Levine Cambridge Community Foundation Intern Cambridge Community Foundation is pleased to partner with nonprofits that support an equitable, socially just and culturally rich city. Cambridge Camping Association (CCA) is one such organization. This year, CCA is celebrating its 125th year of giving under-resourced urban kids a camp experience. According to Executive Director Sharon Zimmerman, the organization has been sending kids to camp for longer than women’s suffrage and the Ford Model T have been in existence. “Camp is where children play, learn, build confidence and make friends for a lifetime,” Sharon says. “All children deserve the opportunity to experience the magic of camp.” Such continuity and dedication to Cambridge through the decades is impressive, and those who have stayed with Cambridge Camping over time stay committed to the organization’s growth. Taylor Cole started camp at 9 years old and grew up attending camp each year, rising up in the ranks from junior counselor to CIT. Now, at the age of 25, she serves as the assistant director of Cambridge Adventure Day Camp and just completed her master’s in social work from Boston

Nonprofit Spotlight Inside CommonWealth Kitchen: Q&A with Executive Director Jen Faigel By Elie Levine Cambridge Community Foundation Intern As home to the most innovative square mile on the planet, we Cantabrigians know all about incubation, but in our city the term isn’t restricted to the tech industry.  Think food. Jen Faigel, co-founder and Executive Director of CommonWealth Kitchen, is making big strides in food-biz innovation through Greater Boston’s first shared kitchen and business incubator space. CommonWealth Kitchen has helped launch more than 200 food companies, the majority of which are owned by women, minorities, low income residents and immigrants.  This year, the Cambridge Community Foundation gave seed money to CommonWealth Kitchen to help create a new lunch-time retail business incubation space in Kendall Square. We caught up with Jen at the opening of The Dining Car on Athenaeum Street to learn more about incubating food startups in Cambridge and the impact on business owners and our community.  Here’s what we learned: What does CommonWealth Kitchen do and what’s the impact locally? We are not only Greater Boston’s food and business incubator and food manufacturing enterprise, we are also an economic development organization focused on asset building and wealth creation

Four graduating seniors were awarded the 2018 Falcon Pride Scholarships by Andus Baker and Kim Green Goldstein at the Cambridge Rindge and Latin School’s Scholarship Evening on May 17th, 2018. This year’s cohort included Kelsey Jajoute, Vanessa Marques Pineda, Lisa Mekonnen, and Bryanna Rodriguez. They are every bit as inspiring and full of promise as the first group of scholarship recipients last year. Awarding the scholarships stands as a high point of the year for the Foundation, which is seeding the Falcon Pride Scholarship Fund; for our Falcon Pride Scholarship donors; and for the students an affirmation of their achievements as students. The students are brimming with excitement about their futures, and they are thrilled to have these two-year scholarships demonstrating the Cambridge community’s commitment to their success. For our donors, it is a way to address the opportunity disparity students feel as they move from high school to post-secondary education with scholarship support that makes education accessible and helps to put completion within grasp. To date, we have committed funding to eight CRLS seniors, four of whom are now in college. The Falcon Pride Scholarship Fund has secured over $300,000 since its founding in 2017, and we are