Breakthrough Greater Boston Awarded a $500,000 Catalyst Grant

June 9, 2017

BOSTON, June 9, 2017 – Breakthrough Greater Boston is one of 100 local nonprofits to receive grants of $100,000 each through Cummings Foundation’s “$100K for 100” program. The organization, which is in the middle of a multi-phase expansion from Cambridge into Boston and Somerville, was chosen from a total of 549 applicants, during a competitive review process.

Founded in Cambridge in 1992, Breakthrough Greater Boston is a year-round, tuition-free program that offers six years of academically intensive out-of-school time services to highly motivated, traditionally underserved middle and high school students in Greater Boston. Unique to Breakthrough is the Students Teaching Students model which offers diverse, high achieving college and high school students the opportunity to teach classes, while benefiting from professional mentorship and research-based training.

Representing Breakthrough Greater Boston, Kristie Loftus, Director of Development, joined approximately 300 other guests at a reception at TradeCenter 128 in Woburn to celebrate the $10 million infusion into Greater Boston’s nonprofit sector. With the conclusion of this grant cycle, Cummings Foundation has now awarded more than $170 million to local nonprofits alone.

“This grant from Cummings Foundation will allow Breakthrough to double its impact in Boston as we roll out our final three years of expansion in this community,” said Elissa Spelman, Breakthrough Greater Boston’s Executive Director. “The multi-year commitment from Cummings Foundation provides the organization with the ability to effectively plan in order to best serve our students and teachers over time.”

The $100K for 100 program supports nonprofits that are not only based in but also primarily serve Middlesex, Essex, and Suffolk counties. This year, the program is benefiting 35 different cities and towns within the Commonwealth.

Through this place-based initiative, Cummings Foundation aims to give back in the area where it owns commercial buildings, all of which are managed, at no cost to the Foundation, by its affiliate Cummings Properties. Founded in 1970 by Bill Cummings of Winchester, the Woburn-based commercial real estate firm leases and manages more than 10 million square feet of space, the majority of which exclusively benefits the Foundation.

“Nonprofit organizations like Breakthrough Greater Boston are vital to the local communities where our colleagues and clients live and work,” said Joel Swets, Cummings Foundation’s executive director. “We are delighted to invest in their efforts.”

This year’s diverse group of grant recipients represents a wide variety of causes, including homelessness prevention and affordable housing, education, violence prevention, and food insecurity. Most of the grants will be paid over two to five years.
The complete list of 100 grant winners is available at www.CummingsFoundation.org.

About Breakthrough Greater Boston
Breakthrough Greater Boston transforms urban education for students and teachers. Through six years of intensive, tuition-free, out of school time programming, Breakthrough changes students’ academic trajectories and supports them along the path to four-year college. Simultaneously, Breakthrough builds careers in education through an unparalleled teacher training program for college-aged students that features competitive recruitment, research-based training, and daily coaching from master teachers. Breakthrough’s unique Students Teaching Students model inspires college students to become the next generation of urban educators and students to become college graduates.
Visit www.BreakthroughGreaterBoston.org to learn more.

About Cummings Foundation
Woburn-based Cummings Foundation, Inc. was established in 1986 by Joyce and Bill Cummings of Winchester. With assets exceeding $1.4 billion, it is one of the largest foundations in New England. The Foundation directly operates its own charitable subsidiaries, including two New Horizons retirement communities, in Marlborough and Woburn. Its largest single commitment to date was $50 million to Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University. Additional information is available at www.CummingsFoundation.org.