More than 250 people, including staff and board members from nearly all 100 recipient organizations, gathered at the Foundation’s first annual Grantee Reception on June 19 at TradeCenter 128 in Woburn. The elated attendees accepted their official award letters, posed for photos with Foundation representatives, networked with their peers, and celebrated the $10 million infusion of funding into greater Boston’s nonprofit sector.
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Barbara Gardner, executive director of BSRI, stated, “We are so pleased and proud to have support from Cummings Foundation for our work with Malden Public Schools. This grant will provide much needed funding and allow us to work with all of Malden’s elementary schools.”
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All of the selected charities serve local communities, with 50 percent of the grants being awarded in Middlesex County, 30 percent in Suffolk County (including Dorchester, Jamaica Plain, and Roxbury), and 20 percent in Essex County. Joel Swets, the Foundation’s executive director, noted that the narrow geographic priority area reflects a desire to give back in the areas where the grant funds were derived.
Swets explained, “As the primary beneficiary of commercial real estate firm Cummings Properties, the Foundation is very committed to the 10 communities in which the firm manages buildings, as well as the hometowns of its 350 staff members. We are delighted to support Bay State Reading Institute in its admirable efforts to ensure reading proficiency in elementary school children.”
The diverse group of grant recipients represents a wide variety of causes, including underserved populations, education, healthcare, homelessness, and social justice. Many of the grants will be paid over two to five years.
About Bay State Reading Institute
The Bay State Reading Institute’s (BSRI) mission is to ensure that every child leaves elementary school a proficient reader, and to eliminate the literacy achievement gaps between children of different socio-economic status, race, first language or ability. BSRI works toward this goal in partnership with elementary schools which transform into high performing schools driven by exceptional teaching and leadership, and the use of student achievement data to individualize instruction. These improvements benefit instruction in all subjects, and schools that implement the BSRI model well see improvement in MCAS scores in both reading and math. BSRI operates in 43 schools in 12 school districts in Massachusetts with an emphasis on schools in Massachusetts Gateway Cities.
About Cummings Foundation
Woburn-based Cummings Foundation, Inc. was established in 1986 by Joyce and Bill Cummings of Winchester, Mass. With assets exceeding $1 billion, it is one of the very largest grant-making foundations in New England. The Foundation directly operates its own charitable subsidiaries, including two New Horizons senior communities in Marlborough and Woburn. Its largest single grant to date was $50 million to Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University in North Grafton, Mass. Additional information is available at www.CummingsFoundation.org.
