Education Initiative

With more than $900,000 in 2008, our grantees created and sustained after-school, vocational, technical and summer programs; they taught English to children of immigrants, and showed kids how to see into their own futures by getting a glimpse into the world of high school and college, and learning how to get there.

Grant Recipients

Action Center for Educational Services & Scholarships (ACCESS)
$25,000
To provide free, one-on-one financial aid advice for students in 39 Boston high schools.

Adelante
$30,000
To offer test preparation and academic enrichment programs to seventh and eighth grade students seeking to enroll in tuition-based schools and award four-year scholarships to high school students who perform community service in return.

Blessed Stephen Bellesini, OSA Academy
$15,000
To provide support services for alumni throughout high school and college to ensure that they acquire a college degree.

Boston Chinatown Neighborhood Center
$20,000
To help Chinese immigrant youth succeed in school and life through classes, tutoring and support for college.

Boston Scholars Program
$25,000
To provide tuition assistance, mentoring and academic opportunities for low-income Boston youth.

Bottom Line
$100,000
To help disadvantaged students in Massachusetts get into college, graduate from college and go far in life through one-on-one comprehensive support.

Cathedral High School
$15,000
To support smaller English classes so that students with limited English proficiency can be mainstreamed with higher-proficiency students.

Catholic Schools Foundation
$500,000 over five years
(first-year installment)
To provide scholarships through the Inner City Scholarship Fund for needy students—regardless of faith—attending inner-city parochial schools in the Boston area.

Community Day Charter School
$10,000
To expand the secondary school educational options for 100 low-income students in grades 6–8 in Lawrence, Massachusetts, by preparing them for admission to academically rigorous high schools.

Boston Higher Education Resource Center
$15,000
To support Passport, a two-year academic enrichment and college advising program for high school juniors and seniors.

Esperanza Academy
$10,000
To provide opportunities for meaningful and enriching extracurricular activity, community service projects and individual academic assistance through the Esperanza Extended Day program.

Franklin Institute
$60,000
To help disadvantaged juniors and seniors from Boston high schools prepare for college by taking courses at the Institute, and to provide scholarships for disadvantaged Boston students who require, but cannot afford, the academic support of a third semester.

Generations Incorporated
$26,000
To connect retirees with young students who need mentoring and assistance with reading and math.

Council of Greater Lawrence Community Action
$15,000
To offer family literacy services to newly arrived immigrant adolescents and their parents.

Hispanic Office of Planning & Evaluation (HOPE)
$25,000
To increase access to academic opportunities and options for low-income Latino youth in Boston and Lawrence through the Hope for Youth After School Programs and Saturday Academy that provide homework support, technology skills building, English language instruction and college readiness services.

Hull Lifesaving Museum
$25,000
To support the Maritime Apprentice Program, which prepares young people in the custody
of the Department of Youth Services for adulthood and careers in the maritime trades.

La Alianza Hispana
$15,000
To provide low-income English-language learners at Lilla G. Frederick Middle School in Dorchester with literacy skills that support a successful transition to high school.

Latino After School Initiative
$35,000
To provide technical support, training, guidance and activities for English language learner (ELL) students and their families to understand the college admissions process and career choices.

Mass Insight Education
$25,000
To increase the availability of advanced placement (AP) classes in math, science and English for Boston students to boost exam performance and enhance college readiness.

MathPower
$25,000
To support the Algebra Plus Summer Camp, which provides children with activities to strengthen math skills, and expand personal, social and educational interests.

Merrimack College
$15,000
To help the Accept the Challenge program, an after-school enrichment and summer residency initiative for English-as-a-second-language students from Lawrence High School.

Mother Caroline Academy and Education Center
$15,000
To offer a comprehensive program of rigorous academics that assists girls in preparing for success in top-tier high schools and colleges.

Nativity Preparatory School
$15,000
To provide quality, tuition-free education for low-income boys in grades five through eight that will prepare them for study at prestigious high schools.

Notre Dame High School of Lawrence
$10,000
To help sustain the Academic Support Program, which focuses on improving the academic achievement of 244 students through summer and before- and after-school tutoring; remedial math classes; and a virtual high school program.

Roxbury Preparatory Charter School
$15,000
To support the Summer Academic Program, which provides intensive instruction and support for students who need additional resources to succeed.

Sociedad Latina
$15,000
To provide 150 low-income, at-risk students with a safe, stimulating environment that
encourages academic achievement and personal growth.

Steppingstone Foundation
$100,000
To prepare underserved students for admission to competitive independent and public exam schools in sixth, seventh and ninth grades and provide support services to ensure high school graduation and college enrollment.

The Hyde Square Task Force
$15,000
To support the Youth in Action leadership development program, which promotes leadership, academic achievement and college and career aspirations.

The Posse Foundation
$10,000
To help Posse Scholars participate in weekly workshops and related activities that prepare them to form a support system for one another, to succeed in college and to be agents of change on campuses.

The Writers’ Express (WEX)
$10,000
To provide three distinct skills-based summer writing programs for students in grades five through ten, which take them step by step through the development of the behavioral habits, core literacy and ready-to-learn mind-set they need to succeed.

UMass Institute for Learning and Teaching
$15,000
To support academic enrichment programs at UMass Boston for low-income Latino students and English-language learners to prevent summer learning loss and prepare them to apply to Boston’s exam schools.

West End House
$15,000
To help sustain SCOPE, a comprehensive college preparation program that targets high school juniors and seniors whose schools do not provide the services necessary to assist in the pursuit of a college education.

YouthBuild Boston
$15,000
To support The Designery, a program that helps young people develop the goals, motivation, confidence and skills they need to graduate from high school and pursue training and careers in the design and
building industries.