BOSTON (PRWEB)
June 09, 2022

Boston Children’s Museum is one of 140 local nonprofits to receive grants of $100,000 to $500,000 each through Cummings Foundation’s $25 Million Grant Program. Boston Children’s Museum was chosen from a total of 580 applicants during a competitive review process and will receive $100,000 in support of the upcoming You, Me, We exhibit.

You, Me, We will address assumptions based on race, ethnicity, class, religion, ability, and gender, and is rooted in current scholarship on multicultural understanding and empathy. Envisioned as a collaborative, interactive, and participatory experience, You, Me, We will encourage conversations, create opportunities to experiment with appreciating differences, and raise philosophical questions about identity and the nature of bias.

“We are very grateful for the generous grant from the Cummings Foundation in support of our new You, Me, We exhibit,” said Carole Charnow, President & CEO. “Boston Children’s Museum is known as an inclusive and welcoming place for kids and families where they can experience the joy of discovery and learning. The Museum also has a successful track record of presenting material that is sometimes difficult for parents to discuss with their children. Taken together, these attributes make the Museum an ideal environment for visitors to explore important issues of identity, diversity, and bias and to learn about themselves and others in their community. We are very grateful to the Cummings Foundation for partnering with us on this important and timely exhibition.”

For more than 109 years, Boston Children’s Museum has provided opportunities for children to discover, learn, play, and wonder about the world around them, allowing them to reach their greatest potential. The Museum draws on its long tradition and history of service to children and families playing, discovering, and learning together.

The Cummings $25 Million Grant Program supports Massachusetts nonprofits that are based in and primarily 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.

“We are so fortunate in greater Boston to have such effective nonprofits, plus a wealth of talented, dedicated professionals and volunteers to run them,” said Cummings Foundation executive director Joyce Vyriotes. “We are indebted to them for the work they do each day to provide for basic needs, break down barriers to education and health resources, and work toward a more equitable society.”

With the help of about 90 volunteers, the Foundation first identified 140 organizations to receive grants of at least $100,000 each. Among the winners were first-time recipients as well as nonprofits that had previously received Cummings Foundation grants. Forty of this latter group of repeat recipients were then selected to have their grants elevated to 10-year awards ranging from $200,000 to $500,000 each.

“Our volunteers bring diverse backgrounds and perspectives, which is so critical to our grant selection process,” said Vyriotes. “Through this democratized approach to philanthropy, they decide more than half the grants every year.”

This year’s grant recipients represent a wide variety of causes, including food insecurity, immigrant and refugee services, social justice, education, and mental health services. The nonprofits are spread across 45 different cities and towns.

The complete list of 140 grant winners, plus more than 900 previous recipients, is available at http://www.CummingsFoundation.org.

Cummings Foundation has now awarded more than $375 million to greater Boston nonprofits.

About Boston Children’s Museum

Boston Children’s Museum engages children and families in joyful discovery experiences that instill an appreciation of our world, develop foundational skills, and spark a lifelong love of learning. More information about Boston Children’s Museum can be found at http://www.BostonChildrensMuseum.org. Become a fan of the Museum on Facebook and follow us on Twitter

About Cummings Foundation

Woburn-based Cummings Foundation, Inc. was established in 1986 by Joyce and Bill Cummings and has grown to be one of the largest private foundations in New England. The Foundation directly operates its own charitable subsidiaries, including New Horizons retirement communities, in Marlborough and Woburn, and Cummings Health Sciences, LLC. Additional information is available at http://www.CummingsFoundation.org.

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