Investing more than $125 million in Greater Boston Nonprofits Empowering Individuals to Achieve Educational and Economic Mobility Aspirations
DEDHAM, October 10, 2024 – The Trustees of the Yawkey Foundation today announced $500,000 in Program & Small Capital grants to 14 Education nonprofit organizations in Greater Boston. The Foundation’s Program & Small Capital grants provide high-impact nonprofit organizations with up to $100,000 for programming, small projects, or equipment to further their missions. The nonprofit recipients of these grants were recognized for their steadfast commitment to providing resources and pathways to academic and economic mobility to underserved youth and families, perpetuating the legacies of the Foundation’s founders, Tom Yawkey and Jean Yawkey.
Among the 14 Education nonprofits receiving 2024 Program & Small Capital grants from the Yawkey Foundation are organizations located in neighborhoods throughout the City of Boston and Gateway City communities, including Fall River, Lawrence, Malden, and New Bedford.
Education nonprofits receiving 2024 Program & Small Capital grants include:
| Blessed Stephen Bellesini O.S.A Academy | Freedom House |
| Boston Debate League | Girls Incorporated of Lynn |
| Boston Higher Education Resource Center | Immigrant Learning Center |
| Cristo Rey Boston High School | Massachusetts Advocates for Children |
| East Boston Social Centers | Northern Essex Community College Foundation |
| Esperanza Academy | Notre Dame Education Center – Lawrence |
| Foundation to Advance Catholic Education | YWCA of Southeastern Massachusetts |
In addition to these Program & Small Capital Education grants, earlier this year, the Foundation also provided a $2.5 million Transformational Capital grant to Benjamin Franklin Cummings Institute of Technology to establish and construct a new campus in Nubian Square. Additionally, the Foundation recently provided a $460,000 Transformational Capital grant to Ron Burton Training Village to improve its facilities and infrastructure to enable year-round leadership training for young men and women. Throughout 2024, the Foundation continues to fulfill meaningful multiyear grants to critical Education organizations, including a $3 million commitment to Lawrence Catholic Academy, among other charitable investments in this priority area that was so important to the Yawkeys.
These grants build upon the Foundation’s ongoing investments for college tuition scholarships through the Yawkey Scholars Program, the Yawkey 1933 Scholars, and Yawkey-endowed higher education scholarship programs at several colleges and universities. These awards prioritize first-generation students living in communities subject to under-investment in Massachusetts and South Carolina, the two places Jean and Tom Yawkey called home during their lifetimes.
The Yawkey Foundation is dedicated to perpetuating Tom Yawkey’s and Jean Yawkey’s philanthropic legacy, whose eight decades of quiet generosity supported individuals and families in the communities closest to their hearts – Massachusetts and Georgetown County, South Carolina. Having awarded more than $575 million to date in charitable grants to organizations focused on health care, education, human services, youth and amateur athletics, arts and culture, and conservation and wildlife, the Yawkey Foundation is committed to preserving and sustaining the Yawkeys’ charitable values by investing in nonprofits that provide resources, opportunity, and dignity to the vulnerable and underserved. For more information and the latest announcements, please visit the Foundation’s website, LinkedIn, Instagram, and Facebook.