MCCA Distributes Annual Community Partnership Grants & Hospitality Scholarships

James E. Rooney, executive director of the Massachusetts Convention Center Authority (MCCA), awarded $120,000 in community grants and $10,000 in academic scholarships to 24 Boston nonprofits and four Massachusetts hospitality students at the Authority’s annual awards luncheon on May 29. In addition, the MCCA plans to donate $10,000 from the Community Partnership Grants fund to One Fund Boston in support of the victims of the April 2013 Boston Marathon tragedy. 

The awards were distributed as part of the MCCA’s Community Partnership and Hospitality Scholarship Fund, a two-part program established and sponsored by the MCCA and former State Senator Jack Hart. The program is funded by revenue generated from consumer shows held at the Boston Convention & Exhibition Center. The goal of the program is for all of Boston’s neighborhoods to benefit from the work of the MCCA as well as to provide workforce development support for Massachusetts students entering the hospitality industry.

“We understand the importance of the extensive number of nonprofits who work tirelessly to serve all of Boston’s diverse neighborhoods,” said Rooney.  “Our Community Partnership Grants program is a way for the MCCA to reward these nonprofits for the positive contributions they are making to Boston and its collection of neighborhoods.  The grants are also a way to ensure that the organizations receive the funding that allows them to continue to make our city’s communities better places to live, work and enjoy.”    

The 24 nonprofits represent the following Boston neighborhoods:

• Boston – (3) BUILD – Greater Boston; Children's Trust Fund; Jumpstart for Young Children

• Brighton – (1) Fishing Academy

• Charlestown – (1) Charlestown Little League

• Dorchester – (8) All Dorchester Sports League; Bird Street Community Center; Boston City Singers; Codman Academy Foundation; College Bound Dorchester; Kit Clark Senior Services; Mujeres Unidas Avanzando; Project D.E.E.P. Associates

• East Boston – (2) Salesian Boys & Girls Club; Zumix

• Hyde Park – (1) Youth & Family Enrichment Services

• Jamaica Plain – (2) BalletRox; Little Brothers Friends of the Elderly

• North End – (1) North End Against Drugs 

• Roslindale – (1) S.A.W. Youth Program

• Roxbury – (4) Discover Roxbury; Omega men in Action; WEATOC; Write Boston

"The Sisters @ Work Youth Program Inc. (S.A.W.) is very excited about the partnership with the Massachusetts Convention Center Authority,” said Me’Chelle “Mikey” Miles, executive director.  “Without organizations such as the MCCA supporting the urban community and the development of at risk females in Boston, S.A.W. would not be able to increase the number of women in the field of construction.  Thanks to the MCCA’s generosity, we are able to help young women see that a four-year apprenticeship program in the building trade is equal to a four-year college. "

The four scholarship winners hail from communities across the state:

• Dorchester – Marshea Kimble, Newbury College
• Methuen – Britney Haney, Johnson & Wales University
• Wakefield – Erin McConnell, North Shore Community College
• West Barnstable– Meghan Lee, University of Massachusetts Amherst

Each nonprofit was awarded a $5,000 grant and each student was awarded a $2,500 scholarship. Since the program launched in 2007, the MCCA has awarded more than $647,845 in grants to dozens of nonprofit organizations in Boston and $65,000 in academic scholarships to local students.

For more information, please see the following:

• About the Community Partnership & Hospitality Fund:

                http://massconvention.com/community/grants-program-overview