Cooperative Metropolitan Ministries Awarded $75,000 Cummings Grant
Newton nonprofit receives three years of funding from Cummings Foundation
Newton, June 02, 2023 – Cooperative Metropolitan Ministries is one of 150 local nonprofits that will share in $30 million through Cummings Foundation’s major annual grants program. The Newton-based organization was selected from a total of 630 applicants during a competitive review process. It will receive $75,000 over the next three years.
Cooperative Metropolitan Ministries (CMM) is Greater Boston’s oldest interfaith social action network. CMM’s mission is to mobilize congregations and communities across economic, religious, racial, and ethnic boundaries so that, in partnership, we can work more effectively for a just and peaceful society and for spiritual growth and interfaith understanding.
“Data, gathered by the Boston Police Department, points to serious violence highly concentrated in Roxbury among other areas between 2018 to 2022,” says Sophia Bishop-Rice, CMM’s Executive Director. “CMM provides violence prevention workshops through its Values over Violence (VoV) program, to the Boston Public Schools and beyond, with its youth-aimed, two-generation approach in reducing anger, aggression, and violence. This is needed now more than ever in the public health emergency of city-wide violence as seen in the headlines. We have also successfully offered VoV workshops at the Blackstone Elementary School in Roxbury with tremendous outcomes such as attitudes and behavior changes in their most challenging students.
“We are grateful for the Cummings Foundation grant which will allow us to run a summer leadership academy at the Blackstone Elementary School for middle school youth, focused on the skills taught in Values over Violence, as well as those beyond.”
The Cummings $30 Million Grant Program primarily supports Massachusetts nonprofits that are based in and 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.
“The way the local nonprofit sector perseveres, steps up, and pivots to meet the shifting needs of the community is most impressive,” said Cummings Foundation executive director Joyce Vyriotes. “We are incredibly grateful for these tireless efforts to support people in the community and to increase equity and access to opportunities.”
The majority of the grant decisions were made by about 90 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).
“It would not be possible for the Foundation to hire the diversity and depth of expertise and insights that our volunteers bring to the process,” said Vyriotes. “We so appreciate the substantial time and thought they dedicated toward ensuring that our democratized version of philanthropy results in equitable outcomes that will really move the needle on important issues in local communities.”
The Foundation and volunteers first identified 150 organizations to receive three-year grants of up to $225,000 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 volunteer panel 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 46 different cities and towns.
Cummings Foundation has now awarded $480 million to greater Boston nonprofits. The complete list of this year’s 150 grant winners, plus nearly 1,500 previous recipients, is available at www.CummingsFoundation.org.
About Cooperative Metropolitan Ministries
CMM was established in 1966 by faith communities to address poverty, housing, and racial justice in Boston, and to link urban and suburban communities in just, transformative partnerships, CMM has tackled the most pressing issues facing our communities for more than 50 years, working to build Dr. King’s vision of a beloved community. CMM’s members include congregations, community partner organizations, educational institutions, and individuals around the Greater Boston Area. That is why CMM is NOT registered as a religious organization, but rather, it is registered and operates as a 501c3 COMMUNITY organization. It takes a village. Learn more at www.coopmet.org
About Cummings Foundation
Woburn-based Cummings Foundation, Inc. was established in 1986 by Joyce and Bill Cummings of Winchester, MA 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 www.CummingsFoundation.org.
Contact: Sophia Bishop-Rice, Cooperative Metropolitan Ministries, (978) 645-7861, sophiarice@coopmet.org
Contact: Alison Harding, Cummings Foundation, 781-932-7093, aeh@cummings.com
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