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Two young people smiling and fist-bumping in Elevated Thought gallery

Funding List

Fiscal Year 2024: $1,870,000

YouthReach

Organization City/Town Grant
“e” Inc. Boston $22,000

Changemakers: for a science plus action program called The ChangeMakers that will engage up to 24 middle school youth, in 2 separate teams for 1.5 hours apiece each week, in gaining a hands-on understanding of several science topics regarding how our planet works, alongside developing the skills to plan and then carry out projects of their choosing, in conservation and/or advocacy, that will help save or support environmental concerns facing the community.

826 Boston Boston $22,000

Youth Literary Advisory Board (YLAB): for the 15-member Youth Literary Advisory Board (YLAB) program, in which students gain leadership skills as they oversee the publication of a book of their own, produce a podcast series, and are paid stipends to reinforce the intrinsic value of their writing and to encourage careers in arts.

Actors’ Shakespeare Project Boston $22,000

Shakespeare Inside & Out: for ensemble and performance-based Shakespeare and theater projects for vulnerable youth in the custody of DYS, on probation, or in transition back into society to develop social, pre-professional, artistic, and literacy skills.

Angkor Dance Troupe Lowell $22,000

Youth Creative Programming: to support vulnerable youth in their developmental process of self-identity through connecting them to their culture of origin, and to instill in them a strong goal-setting/work ethic through the demanding medium of Cambodian classical and folk dance.

Art Garden Shelburne $22,000

ARTeens: to support ARTeens, an out-of-school art program for Franklin County teens that provides multiple opportunities for them to explore, develop and share their unique artistic voices within a supportive community of peers, and as contributing members of the community-at-large.

Artists for Humanity Boston $22,000

Arts Micro-enterprise: for a paid apprenticeship/leadership program to provide teens with hands-on job training in the arts and enterprise under the mentorship of professional artists, and to include a public exhibition and sale of the young people’s artwork.

Arts in Recovery for Youth Pittsfield $22,000

Arts in Recovery for Youth: for the Arts in Recovery for Youth program an arts-based youth driven suicide prevention program.

Asian Community Development Corporation Boston $22,000

A-VOYCE Youth Program: to fund ongoing artist collaborations with our A-VOYCE youth program to co-design and implement public art projects that are reflective of and highlight community/resident voices.

BalletRox Boston $22,000

BalletRox Dance! Community Dance Program: to provide Boston youth ages 3-19 a chance to dance in a supportive, community based environment.

Barrington Stage Company Pittsfield $22,000

Playwright Mentoring Project: for an intensive out-of-school activity to use theatre as a catalyst to help at-risk youth, ages 13 to 19, learn valuable life skills that can aid them in developing positive self-images.

Berklee College of Music Boston $22,000

Advanced Skills, Technique, and Composition: for an intensive program for youth (grades 9-12) to develop musicianship by learning advanced skills, technique, and composition.

Berkshire Pulse Great Barrington $22,000

Performing Arts Program (PAP): to support Berkshire Pulse’s Performing Arts Program (PAP), which provides dance and performing arts instruction afterschool and during summer breaks for at-risk youth in southern Berkshire County, encouraging discipline, responsibility, collaboration and self-confidence.

Boch Center Boston $22,000

Boch Center City Spotlights Teen Leadership Programs: to support the City Spotlights Teen Leadership Youth Employment Program, a year-round arts-based work-study program for Boston teens.

Boston Children’s Chorus Boston $22,000

Boston Children’s Chorus 2023-24 Season: for BCC’s integrated social justice-based music and choral training programs, which enhance the education and personal growth of 400 – 500 young people, many from the city’s most under-represented populations.

Boston City Singers Boston $22,000

The other side of COVID – Rebuilding teen programs: to support the rebuilding of Boston City Singers programs for teens, whose numbers, programming breadth, and opportunities were drastically reduced during the pandemic.

Boston Music Project Boston $22,000

Before & After-School Programming at Josiah Quincy Elementary School (JQES) & Quincy Upper School (QU): for the Boston Music Project’s (BMP) before- and after-school-time Creative Youth Development (CYD) music-based programming at Josiah Quincy Elementary School (JQES) and Quincy Upper School (QU) .

Boston String Academy Boston $22,000

Boston String Academy Youth String Orchestra Programs: to provide rigorous after-school string instrument instruction to children ages 4-17 in elementary, middle and high schools in the under-represented communities of Chinatown and Allston using standards that will give them the necessary skills to build a strong foundation in their musical, academic and personal growth.

Boston Youth Symphony Orchestras Boston $22,000

Intensive Community Program (ICP): to support the Intensive Community Program (ICP), which offers exceptional classical music training for students of color in greater Boston beginning when they are age 4-8 and continuing until they graduate from high school.

Boys & Girls Club of Greater Lowell Lowell $22,000

Music Clubhouse: to support free youth-driven music and broadcast instruction and mentoring to at-risk and low-income young people.

Brick House Community Resource Center Montague $22,000

Unscripted – Improvisational Theater: for the implementation of an improvisational theater program that will provide youth with opportunities to cultivate and demonstrate qualities such as self-awareness, conflict resolution, cooperation, leadership skills, and social-emotional knowledge, through collaboratively engaging in improvisational theater with the goal of creating, performing, filming and airing on local television, theatrical improv skits based on the youths’ lived experiences through a social justice framework.

Bridge Boston Charter School Boston $22,000

Bridge Boston Music Program: for the the El Sistema-inspired Music Program at Bridge Boston Charter School, which exists to provide a high quality and intensive ensemble-based music education to school-aged youth.

Cambridge Community Center Cambridge $22,000

The Hip Hop Transformation (THHT): for THHT, a program designed to teach young people the authentic history of hip hop culture, the role it plays in their lives and in society as a whole and equip them with the skills and resources to produce, write, record, perform, and distribute their own authentic hip hop music.

Cambridge Community Television Cambridge $22,000

Youth Media Program: to support teens in creating honest stories about themselves and their communities in paid positions as media artists.

Cape Ann Museum Gloucester $22,000

Cape Ann Museum Teen Arts Council: for the Cape Ann Museum’s Teen Arts Council, which employs 10 teens through three seasonal sessions over the course of a year.

Central Square Theater Cambridge $22,000

Youth Underground: for a theater ensemble for youth ages 13 to 25 that responds to social issues in their community, especially around issues of race, inclusion, and opportunity.

Chelsea Collaborative Chelsea $22,000

Youth Organizing Through Art: for a year-long youth leadership and community organizing program that will use applied theatre and arts training to empower youth voices, identify systemic issues that impact young people and effect change.

Children’s Services of Roxbury Boston $22,000

Beats, Rhymes & Life (BRL): for the Beats, Rhymes & Life (BRL) therapeutic hip-hop program that uses the power of written and spoken word for young people to heal from trauma, to explore creativity, to collaborate and build leaders, and to give voice to young people who are used to having their story told instead of telling it themselves.

City Strings United Agawam $22,000

City Strings United: to open access to high-quality out-of-school youth development through inspiring music education and performance opportunities for underrepresented youth of color living in Boston’s economically-depressed areas for the purpose of creating positive change in community through their leadership.

Clubhouse Network Boston $22,000

Collective Impact: A Clubhouse Youth Leadership Initiative: to support The Clubhouse, a creative after-school learning environment where teens from “at-risk” Boston neighborhoods develop projects based on their own interests, build skills, and gain confidence through technology.

Community Adolescent Resource & Education Center Holyoke $22,000

Paper City Poetry Project: to increase students’ awareness and love of language and poetry; to inspire students to express themselves through poetry; and to present contemporary poetry to the public through instruction, student poetry anthology, and public readings.

Community Art Center Cambridge $22,000

Teen Media Program: for teens to explore the issues in their lives and seek to create positive change through media production as well as through the management of a national festival for youth-produced films and videos.

Community Day Charter Pub School – Prospect Lawrence $22,000

Community Strings Violin Program: to support staffing and program costs for the Community Strings violin program, a rigorous, empowering, and expansive music lesson and ensemble program that serves 3rd through 8th grade students at three Community Day Charter Public Schools in Lawrence.

Community Music Center of Boston Boston $22,000

Youth leadership at CMCB’s Community Music School: to support a cohort of students to participate in youth arts and employment programs that support creativity, social-emotional-development, cultural inclusion, workforce development, and post-secondary aspiration.

Community Music School of Springfield Springfield $22,000

Sonido Musica: to support musical, social-emotional and leadership development for youth in partnership with the Springfield public schools.

Conservatory Lab Charter School Boston $22,000

El Sistema Music at Conservatory Lab: for the El Sistema Music Program at Conservatory Lab Charter School.

El Sistema Somerville Somerville $22,000

El Sistema Somerville: to support an out-of-school youth empowerment program that serves 80 under-served students and their families in Somerville, MA through daily music instruction, academic supports, and community building.

Elevated Thought Foundation Lawrence $22,000

I Am Art. I Am Change. Youth Apprenticeship: to provide artistic and financial opportunities for youth to explore and expand their creative and social entrepreneurship skills.

Eliot School of Fine and Applied Arts Boston $22,000

Teen Bridge: for Teen Bridge, a multi-year program that provides a pathway for youth to grow through intensive art studios, opportunities for leadership, employment, and creation of public art/events around a social justice theme in collaboration with the Eliot School’s annual Artist in Residence.

Express Yourself Beverly $22,000

Year Long Immersion in the Arts: to support community youth and young people from the Department of Mental Health to collaborate in a multi-disciplinary, culturally diverse arts program that brings 17 isolated communities together to perform at the Citi Wang Theater.

Flying Cloud Institute Great Barrington $22,000

Young Women in Science: The Next Generation of Innovators: to inspire the next generation of women, girls, female-identified and nonbinary youth to see themselves as creative thinkers, scientists, artists, and engineers through mentorship and authentic, hands-on STEM explorations and challenges.

Follow Your Art Community Studios Melrose $22,000

Create Your Opportunity (CYO) Program: to provide the training, guidance and support for youth to develop their creative identity and advance their skills in artmaking, mentoring, and collaborative community engagement in the arts.

Girls Incorporated of Lynn Lynn $22,000

Beach Sisters, an environmental and marine science program for girls: to provide teen leaders with the opportunity to work with scientists to help influence peers and younger girls to see science as exciting, to engage with their community, and to see careers in STEM as a viable option.

Gnome Fall River $22,000

Gnome Surf’s Artivist Leadership Program: This is a grant of financial assistance to expand Gnome Surf’s Artivist Leadership Program to support our emerging leaders with training and mentorship to develop the entrepreneurial skillset needed to turn their skills and passion into marketable goods and services.

GreenRoots Chelsea $22,000

Achieving Environmental Justice Through Youth Engagement and Empowerment: for GreenRoots’ Environmental Chelsea Organizers (ECO) Youth Crew to develop and implement youth-led responses to environmental injustices plaguing our community of Chelsea through peer-to-peer youth empowerment and leadership, youth advocacy, community-based research, hands-on community building projects and events and through uplifting youth voices and power.

Groundwork Lawrence Lawrence $22,000

Green Team: Engaging and Empowering Youth through Employment and Education: to support the Green Team youth job training and STEAM education program which provides year-round, part-time employment opportunities for Lawrence high school students.

Hanover Theatre Worcester $22,000

The WYSH Project: for The WYSH (Worcester Youth Speak Honestly) Project, a 28-week devised theatre and youth development program of The Hanover Theatre Conservatory serving youth living in Worcester and/or attending Worcester Public Schools.

Hyde Square Task Force Boston $22,000

Ritmo en Acción: for an afterschool Afro-Latin dance program to promote the artistic growth and personal resilience of low-income, minority Boston teens and help them become successful and civically engaged artists and individuals.

Inquilinos Boricuas en Acción Boston $22,000

IBA’s Youth Development Program: to support an employment-based, out-of-school opportunity that places high school-aged participants (called Peer Leaders) in rigorous courses centered on the Creative Youth Development model and civic engagement.

Institute of Contemporary Art Boston $22,000

Fast Forward: to support high-need youth create audio and film work for critique and presentation, acquiring artistic, professional, and life skills supported by artists/mentors.

Kids 4 Harmony Pittsfield $22,000

Kids 4 Harmony: to support for Kids 4 Harmony (K4H), an El Sistema inspired, intensive classical music education program provided at no charge to children and their families from under-resourced communities in Pittsfield and North Adams.

Margarita Muñiz Academy Boston $22,000

Margarita Muniz Academy El Sistema-Inspired Music Program: to provide quality programming in both musical skills and creative youth development through El Sistema-inspired instruction.

Mass Audubon Lincoln $22,000

Lowell Leaders in Stewardship: to provide out-of-school opportunities for youth in Lowell to work alongside mentors to conduct scientific investigations, participate in habitat stewardship projects, and develop leadership skills.

Mass Poetry Boston $22,000

Word Play: A Citywide Teen Spoken Word and Workshop Series: to launch “Word Play,” a new spoken word program for teens at GrubStreet’s Center for Creative Writing in Boston’s Seaport, where Mass Poetry now serves as an arts-partner-in-residence.

Massachusetts College of Art and Design Boston $22,000

Artward Bound: to address issues of equity and social justice through its free, 4-year college preparatory program.

Musica Franklin Greenfield $22,000

After-School Music Ensemble: to support Música Franklin’s operating expenses for a free, immersive after-school music and social justice education program.

musiConnects Boston $22,000

musiConnects Residency Program: to maintain and deepen the impact of musiConnects’ high-quality, accessible music education and healthy mentoring program in under-resourced neighborhoods of Boston.

Mystic Learning Center Somerville $22,000

Books Of Hope: to offer under-resourced and under-represented youth a platform for the creative expression of their lived experiences; and provide professional development for young authors and teaching artists.

New Art Center in Newton Newton $22,000

New Art Youth Leadership Program: to provide teen students the opportunity to find their artistic voice, develop creative and administrative skills, and use these skills to plan and implement community outreach projects.

New Bedford Whaling Museum New Bedford $22,000

High School Apprenticeship Program: to provide up to 18 New Bedford high school students with resources and experiences to deepen community engagement, promote personal and professional development, and cultivate college and career readiness.

New England Aquarium Corporation Boston $22,000

Teen Interns at NEA: to offer paid career exploration in science and museum administration, as well as life skills development for youth ages 14 to 18.

New England Public Media Springfield $22,000

NEPM Media Lab: for New England Public Media’s Media Lab, a free, youth media training program that inspires storytelling, broadcast journalism and creative media production for middle, high school and college students in underrepresented communities such as Springfield and Holyoke, Massachusetts.

Northern Berkshire Community Coalition North Adams $22,000

Teen Writing Workshop: to assist young writers to develop their creative work with the guidance of expert staff through participation in weekly writing sessions, and to provide the opportunity to publish their work and share it in public readings.

OrigiNation Cultural Arts Center Boston $22,000

Professional Dance Division: to provide youth with intensive dance training and performance opportunities (in multiple genres), leadership development, and professional development training to promote their self-esteem, physical fitness, and long-term self-sufficiency.

Partners for Youth With Disabilities Somerville $22,000

Access to Theatre: for accessible afterschool and summer performing arts programs, workshops, special events, classes, and leadership opportunities for approximately 50-60 youth with and without disabilities.

Piti Theatre Company Shelburne $22,000

Valley Playwright Mentoring: for a project that mentors Franklin County teens around creating plays (or podcasts, during COVID) based on stories from their lives.

Project STEP Boston $22,000

Project STEP’s String Training Program for Underrepresented Children: Access, Intensity, Support, and Success: to support the comprehensive, high-quality string instrument training and deep support provided for the young people of color in Project STEP’s Core Program.

Provincetown Art Association and Museum Provincetown $22,000

Art Reach: to provide free project-based curriculum in traditional and digital arts for under-served youth 13-18 from 8 towns of Outer Cape.

RAW Art Works Lynn $22,000

RAW Chiefs and Project Launch: to help teens at the critical juncture between youth and adulthood to envision and create positive futures; for RAW Chiefs to mentor younger artists at RAW; and for Project Launch to provide teens with one-to-one mentoring for college access.

Rehearsal for Life Boston $22,000

Rehearsal for Life Youth Unscripted: to support Rehearsal for Life’s after-school program, Youth Unscripted, for Boston’s youth, which fosters self-efficacy through student’s creative exploration of themselves, their communities, and their capacity to create social change.

Roots Rising Pittsfield $22,000

Roots Rising’s Youth Crews: Meaningful Work, Food Justice, and Community: for Roots Rising’s Youth Crew program, which empowers youth through food and farming and includes Spring, Summer, and Fall Farm Crews as well as a graduate-level Market Crew who run the Pittsfield Farmers Market.

Save the Harbor/Save The Bay Boston $22,000

Youth Jobs and Leadership Development Program: to develop the leadership and job readiness skills of the high school students we employ while providing opportunities for creative and intellectual expression using Boston Harbor as a canvas and classroom.

Shakespeare & Company Lenox $22,000

Shakespeare in the Courts: for Shakespeare in the Courts.

Sociedad Latina Boston $22,000

Youth Artist Master Program: to engage local youth in music creation and production.

SPOKE Art Boston $22,000

Youth Public Art Internship: to provide employment opportunities, mentorship, case management, and therapeutic creative work for underserved or marginalized youth from across the city of Boston.

Springfield Public Schools Springfield $22,000

The SciTech Band: to empower students through music, specifically by 1) building and maintaining an instrument inventory for students who cannot afford their own instruments, and 2) sustaining and expanding the SciTech Band Mentoring through Music IGNITE program, through which SciTech Band graduates mentor current students.

The Performance Project Springfield $22,000

First Generation: to engage youth in artistic training, social justice dialogues, inter-generational mentoring and leadership development.

Theater Offensive Boston $22,000

True Colors Out Youth Theater: for an educational theater program that provides arts instruction and leadership training to lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) youth and their straight allies, ages 14-22.

Urbano Project Boston $22,000

Youth Artist Program (YAP): for Urbano Project’s Youth Artist Program (YAP) which are collaborative classes in contemporary art in which Boston Public School youth (ages 14-19) work with professional artists (Artists-in-Residence) to develop and create participatory art projects that are shared with the community in culminating exhibitions or events.

Worcester Chamber Music Society Worcester $22,000

Neighborhood Strings: for Neighborhood Strings, an intensive music education program for at-risk youth in Worcester.

Worcester Public Schools Worcester $22,000

Worcester UNITES: to support our WPS afterschool music program designed and led by youth leaders at 3 sites, including support for stipends, music, repairs and teambuilding.

Worcester Roots Project Worcester $22,000

Show Me the Funny: to support a workshop to teach people the art of developing a showcasing a comedic routine.

Worcester Youth Center Worcester $22,000

Proclaiming a Visual Voice (PAVV): for students to work with an artist to explore social justice issues and design a mural for the WYC building in a creative expression program.

YMCA of the North Shore Beverly $22,000

VIBE Creative Arts afterschool program at the Salem YMCA: to support the VIBE creative arts program at the Salem YMCA, which seeks to provide a safe and nurturing community in which youth can explore their creative instincts, express themselves, grow their confidence, learn teamwork, and feel safe, included, and welcome to be themselves.

Zoo New England Boston $22,000

ZooTeens: to support the ZooTeen, ZooTeen, Jr., Teen Ambassador, and Youth Advisory Council programs in order to provide students with access to hands-on learning opportunities, exposure to jobs in zoos and conservation organizations, and workplace skills.

Zumix Boston $22,000

Hands-On Youth Development Program: to support personal guidance, self-assessment, and leadership development in urban youth through focus on four distinct areas: songwriting and performance, instrumental music, creative technology, and radio.

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