Tufts Community Grants, which provides funding to nonprofit organizations, opened its annual grant application program, which will be available until Friday.
The program has received 24 grant applications as of Friday but anticipates receiving 70–90 applications by the end of the application window, according to Community Programs Specialist Leah Boudreau, who oversees the program.
Tufts Community Grants began in November 1995 to aid organizations that work with Tufts students in its four host communities of Boston, Grafton, Medford and Somerville.
Donations from Tufts faculty and staff through the Tufts Community Appeal, an annual internal fundraising campaign, and a matching gift from Cummings Foundation will allow the program’s board to award $105,000 this cycle.
Thanks to matching gifts from Cummings Foundation, the program has increased its funding each year, awarding grant recipients $1,000 in 2022 and $2,000 in 2023, before increasing to $3,000 in 2024.
“By supporting organizations focused on education, food access, public health, environmental preservation, and other vital services, TCG helps strengthen the social fabric of neighborhoods surrounding Tufts campuses,” Boudreau wrote in a statement to the Daily.
The Tufts Community Grants Board members spend several weeks in March and early April reading and ranking applications independently, according to Boudreau. In April, each team meets to discuss each proposal and make final award selections for their assigned community.
“They look for applicants that have robust and meaningful engagement with Tufts volunteers, proposals that are budgetarily feasible with $3,000, and projects that demonstrate a clear and impactful benefit to the needs of the host community,” Boudreau wrote.
The board is composed of university staff and faculty from different disciplines, as well as local residents.
The Mystic Learning Center, a nonprofit that helps low-income families in the Mystic Public Housing Development and surrounding neighborhoods, is a previous community grant recipient.
Tracey Stearns, executive director of the Mystic Learning Center, expressed her appreciation for their longstanding partnership with the Tufts After School Tutoring and Enrichment organization, where undergraduate students are paired with local kids from the center for one-on-one and group mentorship.
“We’re super grateful for what Tufts offers to outside agencies,” she said. “The [Tufts After School Tutoring and Enrichment] program in itself is like common nature now for us to have it. Continuing to have that inside connection with Tufts through that program opens up for more collaboration and partnerships, especially with students each year coming into the college and having new and different ideas.”
The grant funds went towards purchasing backpacks filled with supplies for students at their center, which included summer essentials such as towels, socks, sunscreen and water bottles.
Darien Rodriguez, a site coordinator for the Mystic Early Learning Center, underscored the importance of Tufts’ involvement with the program. As a youth, Rodriguez was enrolled in the [Tufts After School Tutoring and Enrichment] program and received mentorship from a Tufts student.
“I personally am grateful that Tufts continues to keep on reaching out and has a strong program with Mystic,” he said. “Our kids look up to the Tufts students, and they always are wondering when the next time they will see them. … They just love them so much that they run to the door, give them a hug and greet them as soon as they see them.”
However, Rodriguez said the organization will not apply for a grant this year since they already have enough funding from last year’s grant to purchase backpacks for the upcoming summer.
Scott Pyzik, associate director for tutor engagement at EVkids, a Boston-based nonprofit focused on education for underserved youth, was excited to receive a grant for the first time last year.
“We’ve had university student tutors from Tufts in the past, so we were naturally inclined [to apply],” Pyzik said. “Essentially what we applied for in the grant was to support our fall tutoring experience.”
The grant went towards providing free transportation, training and a mentoring day to support EVkids’ tutors. According to Pyzik, the organization plans to apply for a grant again this year and use it for similar purposes.
