$1.75 million in Boston Resiliency Fund grants distributed to 17 organizations

Mayor Martin J. Walsh, along with the Boston Resiliency Fund Steering Committee, today announced over $1,750,000 in funding to 17 nonprofit organizations serving the community, as part of the next round of Boston Resiliency Fund (BRF) grants. Of the 17 organizations awarded grants, 70 percent are led by a person of color and 76 percent are led by a woman.  

"The Boston Resiliency Fund has served as a lifeline for our most vulnerable residents since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. In collaboration with our partner nonprofit organizations, we have supported programming for youth and families, ensured public health and availability of COVID-19 testing, and increased access to food and basic needs," said Mayor Walsh. "Thank you to everyone who has donated to the Boston Resiliency Fund and to the nonprofits who have been vital to our response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Boston Resiliency Fund shows the power of working together."

"Kelli Bos is thankful and humbled for being awarded funding from the Boston Resiliency Fund for our creative art and sewing program," said Kelli Conway, founder of Kelli Bos Sewing for Success. "The Boston Resiliency Fund will help us tremendously in providing a lifelong skill to children and families which will help them to sustain themselves for a lifetime, passing down their skills to generation, all while promoting positive mental health in a safe and loving environment."

"The Community Builders is helping keep Boston neighborhoods strong during the pandemic," said Elizabeth Gonzalez Suarez, Vice President of Community Life for The Community Builders. "With support from the Boston Resiliency Fund, the TCB New Franklin Park food pantry will continue to be a lifeline for families in need."

Since launching in March, the Boston Resiliency Fund has raised $33.4 million from over 6,700 individual donors. Including this most recent round of grants, the Fund has distributed $29.4 million to over 360 local nonprofit organizations in Boston. Overall, 56 percent of grantees are led by a person of color and 58 percent are women-led. Additionally, 29 percent of all grants have gone to immigrant-serving organizations. A map and list of every organization that has received funding from the Boston Resiliency Fund can be found here.

This round's grantees represent organizations working to expand access to youth development programming, promote public health in our neighborhoods, support families (especially those with young children), and increase access to food and other basic needs in Boston's neighborhoods. These grants are intentionally focused on supporting organizations serving immigrant communities and communities of color. The grants announced today range in size and will be awarded to the following organizations:

Expanding access to safe youth programming

Boston After School and Beyond: Boston Beyond will use the BRF grant to support a network of youth development programs that have committed to serving high-need Boston students and providing care for children who are doing remote learning so families can work and children can be safe. In total, over 130 nonprofit Boston programs are hosting 300+ different in-person learning and enrichment opportunities during and after the school day reaching 6,250 students. The network includes partners like the YMCA of Greater Boston, Boys & Girl Clubs of Boston, Catholic Charities of Boston, East Boston Social Centers, West End House, Boston Chinatown Neighborhood Center, and many others. 

"Extraordinary collaboration is making the city a classroom for young people," said Chris Smith, executive director of Boston After School & Beyond, which coordinates a citywide network of after-school and summer programs.

Kelli Bos Sewing for Success: Kelli Bos will use the BRF grant to support extra-curricular learning and activities for students, seniors and families within the City of Boston. They will work with the Boston Centers for Youth and Families to teach sewing classes; students will learn how to make masks to distribute to the community. 

Transformative Culture Project: Transformative Culture Project will use the BRF grant to  expand their Creative Classrooms to additional schools and community centers that need support by hiring additional teaching artists and providing stipends to students for their time participating in the program. In addition, they will work with Outside the Box to increase community investment in these projects, as well as expand the reach of online Community Classroom resources to families throughout Boston. 

Promote public health in our neighborhoods

Black Boston COVID-19 Coalition: The Black Boston COVID-19 Coalition will use the BRF grant to collaborate with the City of Boston's Health and Human Services to increase the amount and continuity of testing, outreach and community health messaging in Boston's Black communities. They will also utilize youth and young adult outreach workers to spread educational information and  conduct COVID-19 wellness and safety checks for seniors and other vulnerable residents who continue to be homebound. Finally, the Black Boston COVID-19 Coalition will collaborate with the Health Commission on culturally-competent messaging on masks, physical distancing, education about COVID-19, holiday gatherings, and vaccines.

Building Alliance to Support Immigrant Mental Health (BASIMH): BASIMH will use the BRF grant to retain the services of 6 different multilingual providers and 2 program coordinators to support essential workers who are experiencing extreme stress related to COVID-19.  

TeleHealth Access for Seniors: TeleHealth Access for Seniors will use this grant to provide TeleHealth-compatible smartphones or tablets to elderly and low-income patients in partnership with Mattapan Community Health Center so that patients will be able to manage their care at home through video-calls. 

Trinity Boston Connects: Trinity Boston Connects will use the BRF grant to sustain services for frontline youth workers. In addition, they will coordinate emergency resources for high need participants in their Trinity@McCormack program.

Supporting families, especially those with young children 

Boston Cares: Boston Cares has seen a 35% increase in the need for volunteers compared to this time last year, and BRF funding will allow them to continue to provide recruitment, management, and tracking of volunteers to fill these needs, specifically at Boston Public Schools. 

Delta Sigma Theta, Boston Alumnae Chapter: Delta Sigma Theta, Boston Alumnae Chapter will use the BRF grant to ensure they can continue to meet the academic and social-emotional needs for over 100 young girls, all of whom are Boston Public School students or residents of the City of Boston, through their Delta GEMS program. 

English for New Bostonians: Responding to needs raised by English as a Second Language (ESOL) students, ENB will recruit, train and deploy an "Allies for Immigrants ESOL Virtual Team" to work with students in virtual classrooms and small groups. The Virtual Team will help approximately 240 ESOL students get connected, offer Zoom troubleshooting, and help parents navigate school communication and support their children's online learning. 

Neighborhood Villages: Neighborhood Villages will use the Boston Resiliency Fund grant to support the Boston Children's Relief Initiative. This initiative will place AmeriCorps members in  Boston early learning centers and after-school organizations that are caring for and educating young children during the day while their parents work. AmeriCorps members will support the instruction of young children and support efforts to ensure that wraparound supports, such as nutrition and material goods, are delivered to children and families in need.

United South End Settlements: United South End Settlements will use the BRF grant to continue providing fresh produce and pantry items for 200 households in the South End and Roxbury. 

Ensuring and increasing access to food and other basic needs in our neighborhoods

STEAM Ahead: STEAM Ahead provides free S.T.E.A.M. (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Math) programming to underserved groups of youth throughout Boston.  STEAM Ahead will use the BRF grant to prepare healthy grocery packs along with educational materials and deliver them directly to their participants and their families. They will also distribute free personal protection supplies to city residents who are at the highest of pandemic risk.

The Community Builders, New Franklin Park: The Boston Resiliency Fund grant will enable The Community Builders to operate and stock the New Franklin Park (NFP) food pantry for residents. The pantry currently distributes food almost every week to over 400 households in its Dorchester neighborhood.

The Food Project, in partnership with Dudley Square Neighborhood Initiative: DSNI has addressed the need for food access in its community by coordinating an outdoor food distribution site throughout the pandemic, providing resources from the YMCA, Breaktime, The Food Project and the Mayor's Office of Food Access. Together, they will use the BRF grant to establish an indoor food hub in the community space at The Food Project's office, with capacity to sort, pack and distribute food on a curbside basis on West Cottage Street in Dorchester. 

Transgender Emergency Fund of Massachusetts, Inc.: The Transgender Emeregency Fund of MA will use the BRF grant to provide ongoing support to low-income and homeless transgender and gender non-conforming individuals living in Boston.

Urban Guild, Inc.: The Guild will use the BRF grant to continue their work of providing holistic support for their community, including distributing personal care supplies and providing food access support for their community by purchasing and distributing food boxes through local businesses. 

The Boston Resiliency Fund exists within the Boston Charitable Trust, an existing 501(c)(3) designated trust fund managed by the City of Boston's Treasury Department. For more information on how to make a donation, or how to submit a statement of interest form, please visit: boston.gov/resiliency-fund. For general inquiries, please email brf@boston.gov.