Neighborhood Service Fund awards $18,500 to community organizations

The Tufts Neighborhood Service Fund (TNSF)recently awarded $18,500in grants to 35 community programs that arelocated in or serve the residents of Medford, Somerville, Grafton or Chinatown. 

Grants ranged from $200 to $2,000 in value and are intended to implement and assist in a variety of community projects. The recipients include the Grafton Food Bank, the Boys & Girls Clubs of Middlesex County, the Community Cupboard Food Pantry of the Unitarian Universalist Church in Medford, the Asian American Civic Association in Chinatown and Shortstop Somerville Wayside Youth and Family Services, among others.

According to Barbara Rubel, director of community relations, the TNSF Committee met on Dec. 18 to discuss the allocation of funds. She explained that the committee received 63 proposals, totaling at $90,829.70, and was able to fund 35 of them with its $18,500 available. The university absorbs expenses of the program, she said in an email.

Criteria for recipients include serving or being based locally, having Tufts volunteers currently working with the organization and being tax-exempt or having a tax-exempt fiscal agent, Rubel noted. She said that prior to the TNSF Committee meeting, committee members are given the grant proposals and a spreadsheet to keep track of their reactions, along with information regarding whether or not each organization that requested funds met the outlined criteria.

The money was mostly raised through the annual Tufts Community Appeal (TCA), which collects contributions from Tufts faculty and staff to distribute to non-profit organizations in Tufts’ host communities, including Financial Aid, United Ways, Combined Health Appeal and others, Rubel said.

Rubel stated that faculty and staff from all of Tufts' campuses contribute to the campaign, ensuring the committee’s commitment to allocating funds back into each of Tufts’ host communities.

“There have been a few small events, raffles held by individual departments, revenue from donated supplies, that have been given to TNSF, but other than that we rely on TCA contributions,” she explained. “We would love to raise more money for these worthwhile programs in our host communities, but we are all volunteers with full-time university jobs and haven't figured out yet a way to do that.”

Rubel explained that the committee often has to wait for gifts to be completed through payroll before the money is given away to community organizations.

“This is money that was raised in last year's appeal because so many give through payroll deduction,” she added.

TNSF Committee member Ange Brome added that, unfortunately, TNSF cannot provide for every community organization doing powerful work with limited resources

“We work diligently to stretch every dollar through creative and resourceful solutions in order to fund as many projects as possible,” Brome wrote in an email. “The committee carefully reviews each application and attempts to award funds in areas where the greatest need can be met most efficiently ... We try very hard to ensure that funds are distributed equitably across our host communities.”

University President Anthony Monaco serves as a co-chair of the TCA and has advocated for faculty and staff across the three Tufts campuses to get involved in active citizenship. He has historically praised the many faculty and staff members who helped with last year's campaign, some of the proceeds of which contributed to TNSF grants. 

“We are grateful to the many faculty and staff who participated in last year’s campaign and pledged over $160,000 in donations,” he wrote in an open letter to the Tufts community in October 2014.

Brome also emphasized that it is important for the university to help local residents.

“I am amazed at the level of generosity shown by the university employees, in spite of the current economic downturn,” Brome explained. “I would encourage everyone to support our students, faculty and staff volunteers working with organizations in the Tufts’ host communities.”