Education Origin Story

Tom Yawkey helps to establish the Agganis Foundation in memory of Red Sox star Harry Agganis, to support educational opportunities for students from Agganis’ hometown, Lynn, Massachusetts, and Greater Boston. Over the following decades, the Yawkey Foundation provides more than $600,000 in grants to help the Agganis Foundation support college tuition scholarships for students from Boston and Lynn.

Upon Tom Yawkey’s death, the Thomas A. Yawkey Scholarship Program at Yale University is established according to instructions he set forth in his will. Tom graduated from Yale’s Sheffield Scientific School in 1925 and played club baseball. In 2016, the Yawkey Foundation launches a Yawkey Community Service Fellowship to support Yale students interning with nonprofit organizations.

Jean Yawkey establishes the Thomas A. Yawkey Scholarship Fund at Boston College to provide tuition support for minority student-athlete baseball players from the Greater Boston area.

Jean Yawkey establishes the Yawkey Scholarship with the Jackie Robinson Foundation, providing a multi-faceted experience designed to not only address the financial needs of minority students who aspire to attend college but also to guide them through the process of higher education. Since that initial gift, the Yawkey Foundation has funded Jackie Robinson Scholars with more than $600,000 in scholarship funding, and the support continues today.

The Yawkey Foundation begins to support Catholic Memorial High School with program grants for scholarship support, small capital grants for a gymnasium renovation and additional academic space, and in 2018 a transformational capital grant of $2.5 million for the construction of the Center for Integrated and Applied Learning.

The Yawkey Foundation begins to provide program support for Action for Boston Community Development (ABCD) to provide mentoring and academic support to vulnerable, low-income high school students. This relationship would span decades through the Yawkey ownership of the Boston Red Sox and resulted in more than $750,000 in programmatic grant support.

The Yawkey Scholarship Program at Stonehill College is established in honor of Yawkey Foundation Trustee, Ron Burton, Sr., to support worthy students who demonstrate exceptional achievement and noteworthy leadership during out-of-school time, have strong academic potential, and demonstrate a desire to make a meaningful contribution to society now and in the future. With grants totaling $1 million, this program has funded many scholars who are graduates of the Ron Burton Training Village in Hubbardston, MA.

Building upon the Yawkeys’ commitment to providing educational opportunity, especially for students with  financial barriers, the Yawkey Foundation establishes The Yawkey Scholars Program, a four-year, renewable need-based scholarship program for high-achieving students from Massachusetts and Georgetown County, SC. The program combines tuition assistance with advising and other supports. Since 2005, the Yawkey Scholars Program provided nearly $16 million in tuition and other supports to more than 380 Scholars as they pursued a higher education. Learn more about recent updates to the Yawkey Scholars Program .

In order to provide tuition support to underserved adults continuing their education or enrolling in a college program for the first time, the Yawkey Foundation establishes an adult scholarship program providing more than $6.5 million in program support to colleges and universities with established programs serving non-traditional aged students, including Ben Franklin Institute of Technology, Regis College, Wentworth Institute of Technology, Bunker Hill Community College, Laboure College, Curry College, Horry-Georgetown Technical College, and Lesley University.

Supporting the tuition needs for underserved students, the Yawkey Foundation funds a series of scholarship programs totaling more than $8 million at schools serving students with significant financial need, including Bellisini Academy in Lawrence, Boston College High School, Cathedral High School, Catholic Memorial, Catholic Schools Foundation, Cristo Rey Boston High School, Esperanza Academy in Lawrence, Fontbonne Academy, Malden Catholic, Mother Caroline Academy, Nativity Prep, Notre Dame Cristo Rey in Lawrence, St. Joseph’s Preparatory School, Ursuline Academy, and Xaverian Brothers High School.

The Yawkey Foundation begins a long-term relationship with the Black Ministerial Alliance providing nearly $2 million in multi-year program support for the Victory Generation after-school education programs. Offering multi-site, out-of-school time programs for more than 400 youth across the City of Boston, Victory Generation is designed to improve academic success and student outcomes.

The Yawkey Foundation establishes the Christine Armstrong Nursing Scholarship at Horry-Georgetown Technical College in Georgetown, South Carolina. The program provides tuition support, books, supplies, and uniforms to students enrolled in allied healthcare educational programs at the College.

The Campaign for Catholic Schools establishes a new, regional elementary school in the City of Boston to provide a high-quality education in newly renovated facilities for more than 1,000 students in grades PreK-8. The Yawkey Foundation provides a $15 million transformational capital grant to support the new Saint John Paul Catholic Academy in Dorchester.

The Yawkey Foundation provides a series of program grants to support Catholic Charities in Brockton and their English Transcultural Center offering high-quality instruction to help adult learners develop the English proficiency needed to participate in the workforce and civic life. These program grants continue a legacy of work providing adult education services to underserved families, including grants to the Immigrant Learning Center in Malden, the Boston Higher Education Resource Center, Project Hope, Project Place, EMPath, Mujeres Unidas en Accion, and International Institute of New England.

The Yawkey Foundation awards a $10 million transformational capital grant for a permanently-endowed Yawkey Nonprofit Internship Program at Boston University, which provides living allowance stipends for unpaid nonprofit internships, as well as an educational framework which strengthens the experience through a series of program components that help students to plan for, engage in, and reflect upon their internships. This program continues today and is augmented by a variety of other Yawkey Foundation-funded nonprofit internship programs at leading colleges and universities including Bentley University, Merrimack College, and Yale University to provide hands-on experience to students working at local nonprofit organizations.

The Yawkey Foundation completes a $26 million investment in facilities upgrades to 30 Boston area Catholic schools that provide educational opportunities for students from underserved backgrounds, including Saint John Paul II Catholic Academy, Cathedral High School, Catholic Memorial High School, Cristo Rey Boston High School, Boston College High School, Malden Catholic, Mission Grammar School, Nativity Boston, Fontbonne Academy, St. Columbkille’s Partnership School, St. Joseph Preparatory High School, Ursuline Academy, and Xaverian Brothers High School.

Catholic Memorial, a West Roxbury college preparatory school primarily serving students from urban backgrounds, dedicates its largest capital building project in the school’s history as the Yawkey Center and the Center for Integrated and Applied Learning (CIAL). The CIAL transforms the school’s underutilized administrative wing into a nucleus of 21st century teaching, learning, and collaboration, and features five cutting-edge studio classrooms in addition to a series of collaborative workspaces.