Plummer Youth Promise Receives Cummings Foundation Grant

Salem, June 8th, 2017- Plummer Youth Promise is one of 100 local nonprofits to receive grants of $100,000 each through Cummings Foundation’s “$100k for 100” program. The Salem-based organization was chosen from a total of 549 applicants, during a competitive review process.

Formerly The Plummer Home for Boys, Plummer Youth Promise believes that all young people need families unconditionally committed to nurture, protect and guide them to successful adulthood. To that end, Plummer works with young people in or at risk of entering the foster care or juvenile justice system, focusing specifically on making sure they have permanent families, skills and connections to their community. Plummer operates multiple programs, including a group home, apartments, foster care and detention diversion program.

Representing Plummer Youth Promise, James Lister, Executive Director and Candice McLaughlin, Development/Social Media/Volunteer Coordinator joined approximately 300 other guests at a reception at TradeCenter 128 in Woburn to celebrate the $10 million infusion into Greater Boston’s nonprofit sector. With the conclusion of this grant cycle, Cummings Foundation has now awarded more than $170 million to local nonprofits alone.

“A grant of this size is a game-changer,” said Plummer Youth Promise Executive Director James Lister. “Suddenly, work that you’ve been doing slowly and methodically gets a jolt forward, pulling the whole organization along with it. This is great for the young people we serve today, and for those who will follow.”

Several years ago, Plummer Youth Promise made evaluation of effectiveness one of its priorities. Since then, the organization had designed and started to implement a data collection and evaluation system to help determine which practices are working, and which needed improvement. This grant will fund further implementation of this system while also helping the organization with wide-ranging technology needs.

“It couldn’t have come at a better time, said Lister. During the past 10 years, we’ve quadrupled in size and focused intensely on designing our clinical model. We’ve added 5 programs, expanded our services to girls and doubled the size of our staff. The Cummings grant will help ensure that our recent expansion and delivery of effective services is sustainable by enabling us to focus on evaluation and some basic infrastructure.”

The $100k for 100 program supports nonprofits that are not only based in but also primarily serve Middlesex, Essex, and Suffolk counties This year, the program is benefiting 35 different cities and towns within the Commonwealth.

Through this place-based initiative, Cumming Foundation aims to give back to the area where it owns commercial buildings, all of which are managed, at no cost to the Foundation, by its affiliate Cummings Properties. Founded in 1970 by Bill Cummings of Winchester, the Woburn-based commercial real estate firm leases and manages more than 10 million square feet of space, the majority of which exclusively benefits the Foundation.

“Nonprofit organizations like Plummer Youth Promise are vital to the local communities where our colleagues and clients live and work,” said Joel Swets, Cummings Foundation’s executive director. “We are delighted to invest in their efforts.”

This year’s diverse group of grant recipients represents a wide variety of causes, including homelessness prevention and affordable housing, education, violence prevention, and food insecurity. Most of the grants will be paid over two to five years.

The complete list of 100 grant winners is available at www.CummingsFoundation.org

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About Plummer Youth Promise

Founded as a reform school in 1855 through a bequest of Caroline Plummer, Plummer Youth Promise today operates multiple programs serving young people throughout eastern Massachusetts. Believing that every young person needs a family unconditionally committed to nurture, protect and guide them to successful adulthood, Plummer designed an Intervention Model that deeply engages family for each young person Plummer serves, while building their skills and community connections. Plummer shares its knowledge with others through a practice leadership division focused on teaching best practices for achieving lifelong families for young people in foster care.

About Cummings Foundation

Woburn-based Cummings Foundation, Inc. was established in 1986 by Joyce and Bill Cummings of Winchester. With assets exceeding $1.4 billion, it is one of the largest foundations in New England. The Foundation directly operates its own charitable subsidiaries, including two New Horizons retirement communities, in Marlborough and Woburn. Its largest single commitment to date was $50 million to Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University. Additional information is available at www.CummingsFoundation.org.