Girls’ LEAP awarded $90,000 Cummings Grant
Boston nonprofit receives 3 years of funding from Cummings Foundation
June 5th, 2023 – Girls’ LEAP, a Dorchester-based non-profit, serving young women, girls and nonbinary youth in Greater Boston, is one of 150 local nonprofits that will share in $30 million through Cummings Foundation’s major annual grants program. The Boston-based organization was selected from a total of 630 applicants during a competitive review process. It will receive $90,000 over three years. Girls’ LEAP works to disrupt the violence that surrounds all girls and nonbinary youth by amplifying their voices, emboldening their courage, and imparting critical life and self-defense skills so they can take on challenges with confidence.
Girls’ LEAP programs uniquely combine physical self-defense skills with social-emotional learning and practical life skills. They fill a gap in services by bringing positive youth development programming to 300+ girls and gender-expansive youth annually, most of whom live in low-income, disinvested, and historically marginalized Boston communities.
“We thank the Cummings Foundation for their trust in Girls’ LEAP. They have been by our side throughout our growth, and we are deeply grateful they are renewing their support. By providing us a significant level of general operations funding, they enable us to use the funds where they are most needed to bring our programming to more young people across Greater Boston. Having multi-year support is enormously helpful; it allows us to plan ahead and make the best use of their investment,” said Lynn Masterman, Co-Executive Director of Girls’ LEAP.
With this investment LEAP will expand their capacity to reach at-risk girls and nonbinary youth in urban Boston communities of greatest need. LEAP will expand existing core programs, while establishing innovative, mission-aligned strategic partnerships that support youth to cultivate protective factors against violence and its negative effects; prepare them to set and defend their boundaries and build a social-emotional foundation to grow into healthy, college- and career-ready young adults and leaders.
The Cummings $30 Million Grant Program primarily supports Massachusetts nonprofits that are based in and serve Middlesex, Essex, and Suffolk counties. Through this place-based initiative, Cummings Foundation aims to give back in the areas where it owns commercial property. Its buildings are all managed, at no cost to the Foundation, by its affiliate, Cummings Properties. This Woburn-based commercial real estate firm leases and manages 11 million square feet of debt-free space, the majority of which exclusively benefits the Foundation.
“The way the local nonprofit sector perseveres, steps up, and pivots to meet the shifting needs of the community is most impressive,” said Cummings Foundation executive director Joyce Vyriotes. “We are incredibly grateful for these tireless efforts to support people in the community and to increase equity and access to opportunities.”
The majority of the grant decisions were made by about 90 volunteers. They worked across a variety of committees to review and discuss the proposals and then, together, determine which requests would be funded. Among these community volunteers were business and nonprofit leaders, mayors, college presidents, and experts in areas such as finance and DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion).
“It would not be possible for the Foundation to hire the diversity and depth of expertise and insights that our volunteers bring to the process,” said Vyriotes. “We so appreciate the substantial time and thought they dedicated toward ensuring that our democratized version of philanthropy results in equitable outcomes that will really move the needle on important issues in local communities.”
The Foundation and volunteers first identified 150 organizations to receive three-year grants of up to $225,000 each. The winners included first-time recipients as well as nonprofits that had previously received Cummings grants. Twenty-five of this latter group of repeat recipients were then selected by a volunteer panel to have their grants elevated to 10-year awards ranging from $300,000 to $1 million each.
This year’s grant recipients represent a wide variety of causes, including housing and food insecurity, workforce development, immigrant services, social justice, education, and mental health services. The nonprofits are spread across 46 different cities and towns. Cummings Foundation has now awarded $480 million to greater Boston nonprofits. The complete list of this year’s 150 grant winners, plus nearly 1,500 previous recipients, is available at www.CummingsFoundation.org.