Community grant program applications open

Applications for this year’s Tufts Community Grants (TCG) cycle opened on Feb. 3 and close on March 13. The winners will be announced in early April, according to the Office of Government and Community Relations’ website.

Tufts Community Grants (TCG) is completely funded by Tufts faculty and staff through the Tufts Community Appeal. Originally called the Tufts Neighborhood Service Fund when it was established in 1995, TCG assists nonprofit organizations operating in Tufts' surrounding communities.

Thirty-six different nonprofit organizations were awarded a grant last April, according to Leah Boudreau, the administrative coordinator in the Office of Government and Community Relations.

Friday Night Supper Program, Apple Tree Arts, the Greater Boston Chinese Golden Age Center, Boston Shakespeare Project, Ricesticks and Tea and the Somerville Homeless Coalition were some of the organizations who benefitted from the record $28,000 in grants awarded in last year's cycle.

“All of these nonprofit organizations are based in or serve Tufts’ host communities of Boston, Grafton, Medford and Somerville, and have Tufts students, faculty and/or staff as volunteers,” Boudreau wrote in an email. “Both of these conditions are requirements for being eligible for the program.  They were picked by the Tufts Community Grants Board, which is comprised of staff and faculty from across the University.”

TCG grants fund a variety of projects, ranging from transportation costs to training to the purchase of food and other resources. The grants vary in size, from $250 to $2,000, and even the smaller grants can make a big difference for nonprofit organizations working with limited resources, according to Boudreau. 

Clinical Director of the Greater Boston Chinese Golden Age Center Megan Cheung told the Daily how the Center applied its TCG grant last year.

“We used the grant to install a memory cafe, it’s for people with early dementia," Cheung said. "So this is the first Chinese-American memory cafe, targeting Chinese-speaking people with early dementia.”

Boudreau added that Cambridge And Somerville Programs for Addiction Recovery (CASPAR) last year used its $500 grant to purchase linen for their emergency services shelter in Cambridge. Boudreau explained that this particular shelter houses homeless people recovering from substance abuse and basic supplies such as linens are vital to the shelter’s ability to function. 

Jenny Lecoq, development director at the Friday Night Supper Program, told the Daily that its TCG helped to increase the availability of fresh produce at their programming.

"Every Friday night we serve meals at the Arlington Street Church for about 125 individuals, most of them are homeless or living in extreme poverty," Lecoq said. "We have a mission to provide very high quality meals, so it’s a three-course meal served with soup and then a hot main course and a dessert, and we have been working very hard to improve the nutrition quality."

Peer Health Exchange and Strong Women Strong Girls, were two Tufts student organizations that also received TCG grants to assist their work with students in Boston Public Schools, according to Tufts Now.

The grants are awarded to organizations working on a variety of different causes, including environmental preservation efforts, art programming and youth services, according to Director of Government and Community Relations Rocco DiRico. He added that over 135 nonprofit organizations have benefitted from a grant from TCG in the 25 years since the program's beginning.

TCG board member Matthew Hast reflected on his experience serving on the body of volunteers, which reviews TCG applications and selects the recipients each cycle.

“I appreciate serving on the TCG Board since it gives me a window to learn more about the community where I live and work," Hast wrote in an email. "Reading about the mission of these non-profits and the people who benefit has also motivated me to increase my giving."