Esperanza Academy Awarded Cummings Foundation Grant
Esperanza Academy is one of 150 local nonprofits that will share in $30 million through Cummings Foundation’s major annual grants program. The Lawrence-based tuition-free independent school for girls was selected from a total of 715 applicants during a competitive review process. It will receive $500,000 over 10 years to support its equity in STEM programming.
“Research indicates that middle school is where girls decide whether they belong in STEM,” said Esperanza Academy Head of School Jadi Taveras. “A comprehensive set of strategies drive our STEM program. This substantial commitment from Cummings will help ensure our school has the personnel and material resources to invest in creating future Black and Brown female scientists, engineers, and mathematicians.”
Esperanza is well-positioned to maximize the benefits of this long-term grant. It will use the funding immediately to hire a second full-time math teacher to help prepare more young girls of color for future success in STEM-related education and careers.
Looking ahead, Esperanza will break ground on a new school building in fall 2024 where it plans to expand its tuition-free, all-girls model to begin in kindergarten. Esperanza will advance equity, justice, and access through thoughtful STEM programming with relevant curriculum resources for topics like coding, medicine, and 3D modeling that will help students see themselves as part of the solution to solving real-world problems. It will close experiential and educational gaps by creating a laboratory for experimenting and bringing joy to math and science learning.
The Cummings $30 Million Grant Program primarily supports Massachusetts nonprofits that are based in and serve Middlesex, Essex, and Suffolk counties, plus six communities in Norfolk County: Brookline, Dedham, Milton, Needham, Quincy, and Wellesley.
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.
“Greater Boston is fortunate to have a robust, dedicated, and highly capable nonprofit sector that supports and enhances the community in myriad ways,” said Cummings Foundation executive director and trustee Joyce Vyriotes. “The entire Cummings organization is thankful for their daily work to help all our neighbors thrive.”
The majority of the grant decisions were made by nearly 100 community 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).
“We believe strongly that grant decisions will be more equitable when made by a diverse group of community members,” said Vyriotes. “We’re incredibly grateful to the dozens of individuals who participated in our democratized philanthropic process.”
The Foundation and volunteers first identified 150 organizations to receive three-year grants of up to $300,000 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 panel of community volunteers 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 49 different cities and towns.
Cummings Foundation has now awarded $500 million to greater Boston nonprofits. The complete list of this year’s 150 grant winners, plus nearly 2,000 previous recipients, is available at www.CummingsFoundation.org.