Bikes Not Bombs (BNB) uses the bicycle as a vehicle for social change to achieve economic mobility and racial equity for Black and other marginalized people in Boston and the Global South. BNB’s $625,000, three-year grant supports growing staff capacity to double the number of youth served by 2025 and increase annual fundraising. BNB is on track to increase their fundraising revenue by 100%. BNB increased the number of annual Bike School graduates by 49 participants. BNB also launched a new Bike School Hub in Roxbury in partnership with Children’s Services of Roxbury and ran Bike School programming at new locations in Boston. Last year, Boston’s Mayor Wu announced BNB as a recipient for the City’s Catalyst Grants.

The mission of the Louis D. Brown Peace Institute (LDBPI) is to serve as a center of Healing, Teaching and Learning for families and communities impacted by murder, trauma, grief and loss. The LDBPI’s three-year, $600,000 grant supports increasing its board capacity, increasing staff sustainability, developing and monetizing its products and increasing earned income. In the past year, the LDBPI completed packaging their Homicide Response Toolkit which is available for purchase. Through these materials and trainings, the LDBPI increased their earned income by $90,000. This past January, LDBPI launched a podcast called, “The Peace Principle.”

WBUR’s $484,714, three-year grant supports building the reporting capacity of WBUR's local environment journalism and increasing its audience engagement. WBUR’s environmental team has covered topics including: the Massachusetts climate law, early efforts to spur building decarbonization, climate change’s existing and predicted impacts on drought and flooding in the state, and environmental justice issues. The team also reported a number of solutions-focused stories such as how mussels may help protect salt marshes and the planting of 1,000 wildflowers to restore sandplain grasslands in Martha’s Vineyard. Last year, WBUR launched the newsletter “Cooked: The Search for Sustainable Eats.”

Chica project’s mission is to close the opportunity divide for Latinas and Women of Color by empowering them with the skills, confidence, and networks needed to thrive personally and professionally. chica project's three-year, $355,000 grant supports increasing the staff capacity needed to increase the number of young, underserved Latinas and other young Women of Color and expand the program to other communities. Chica project recently brought on a new Executive Director, Zaida Ismatul Oliva, started a strategic planning process and successfully secured their second biggest grant to date. Programmatically, chica project hired a Director of Programs, Clauder Aspilaire, launched a pilot programs in Framingham and Lawrence.

Fathers' UpLift provides mental health counseling, coaching, and advocacy to assist fathers with overcoming barriers that prevent them from remaining engaged in their children's lives. Fathers’ Uplift’s three-year, $530,000 grant helped its facilities, services, and clinicians to become CARF certified and supports the costs of new hires and the documentation of its approach, with an overall focus on increasing earned revenue and bringing operations to scale. In addition to becoming CARF certified, Fathers' UpLift launched its renovated website. Last year, Dr. Charles Daniels gave a TED talk, “A Second Chance for Fathers to Connect with Their Kids.”

Philanthropy Massachusetts (Philanthropy MA) promotes the practice and expansion of effective and responsible philanthropy to improve the health and vitality of its region. Philanthropy’s MA's two-year, $75,000 grant supported adding capacity for program expansion regionally, the hiring of a Network Vibrancy Director, and adding technology for virtual programming capabilities to reach more constituents. As a result, Philanthropy MA advanced its work on diversity and held over 120 virtual programs last year. Additionally, Philanthropy MA leveraged our funding through a matching grant, achieving a 166% fundraising return.