Children’s Friend and Family Services, Healing Abuse Working for Change, and Essex National Heritage Commission have been selected as three of the 100 local nonprofits to receive grants of $100,000 each through Cummings Foundation’s new $100K for 100 program. The Salem-based organizations were chosen from more than 370 applicants during a competitive review process by the Foundation.
"Our staff at Children’s Friend and Family Services (CFFS) look forward to working with the youth participants of Salem CyberSpace in both group and one-one-one sessions. We are also seeing an increase in need for services among teenagers and feel this is a very proactive way to address these needs early", said Carla Saccone, Executive Director of CFFS.
CFFS will be providing services at Salem CyberSpace's offices.
"Students will feel comfortable being at a known facility with familiar, trusted staff on hand, will not have to arrange transportation or make another appointment, thereby increasing the probability that the student will consistently access the services", added Linda Saris, Director of Salem CyberSpace, a program of North Shore Community Action Programs, Inc.
Healing Abuse Working for Change will use the funds to provide services for victims of domestic violence, including a 24-hour hotline, legal advocacy, counseling, emergency shelter, and a trauma recovery program.
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Essex National Heritage Commission will use its grant to provide educational and work opportunities for under-engaged youth, while preserving the natural resources of Essex County.
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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All of the selected charities serve local communities, with 50 percent of the grants being awarded in Middlesex County, 30 percent in Suffolk (including Jamaica Plain, Dorchester, and Roxbury), and 20 percent in Essex County. Joel Swets, Cummings 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 these hard-working agencies in their admirable work in the community.”
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 Children’s Friend and Family Services
Since 1837, Children’s Friend and Family Services has committed itself to a sustainable, long term vision of creating and cultivating a community of loving, caring, capable families. Throughout the years, Children’s Friend has helped touch generations of families by providing programs that make better parents, mend relationships, foster independence, and clear the roadblocks towards stable and productive lives.
About Healing Abuse Working for Change (HAWC)
The purpose of HAWC is to create social change by taking action against personal and societal patterns of violence and oppression. HAWC provides services and support to victims of domestic violence residing in 23 cities and towns on Massachusetts' North Shore in order that they may make informed, independent decisions about their futures.
About Essex National Heritage Commission
The Commission develops public/private partnerships that support the hundreds of heritage organizations and sites in the thirty-four communities within the Heritage Area. Bringing together organizations diverse in size, budget, mission and experience, Essex Heritage provides a structure that respects, promotes and sustains regional resources and works to make those resources integral to residents’ lives and visitors’ experiences.
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.
