Featured News
The Community Foundation recently awarded $100,500 in workforce development and early literacy grants with funding from the Polaroid and Acushnet Foundation Funds. Nine local organizations received a total of $73,500 in grants from the Polaroid Fund for workforce development programs, with an emphasis on advocacy and capacity building, as well as English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL), Adult Basic Education (ABE), and General Education Development (GED) classes. An additional $27,000 was awarded by the two funds to four Early Literacy Programs. For the full story
Other News
- The Community Foundation has awarded $225,000 from 33 scholarship funds to 2011 high school graduates and current college students throughout the region. This represents a significant increase from the $170,000 in scholarships awarded in 2010. CFSEMA manages a total of 75 educational funds, including an Early Literacy Initiative and an adult education grant program. CFSEMA is also host to the New Bedford Education Roundtable.
- Paul S. Grogran, President & CEO of the Boston Foundation, spoke at CFSEMA's 16th Annual Meeting on June 23, encouraging the Foundation in our efforts to take a "civic leadership role" along with our traditional roles as stewards of community philanthropy and grantmaking. His comments followed remarks explaining CFSEMA's new education advocacy project, the Education Roundtable, and how its sometimes controversial call for transformative change in the New Bedford Public Schools reflects CFSEMA's new civic leadership approach. Atty. Peter C Bogle of Fall River was elected as new chair; new Board Members are Carole Fiola, Gerry Kavanaugh, Joan Menard, and Leonard Sullivan. For the full story. Click the photo at left for more Annual Meeting photos.
Updates
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SouthCoast Signals, a collaboration between UMass Dartmouth and the Community Foundation, is an indicators project that measures social, economic, educational, and environmental indicators in the SouthCoast region of Massachusetts. In all, fifty-four indicators are tracked to determine where the region is and where it is going. To read the 2010 report
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The SouthCoast Energy Challenge, a 3-year grassroots effort to mobilize thousands of SouthCoast residents to take action to reduce fossil fuel-based energy consumption, is off to a strong start and is growing in both staff and participation. Almost 900 people have signed up for the Challenge since its launch in August 2011. According to SEEAL Director Jennifer Marshall Grantham, about 90 percent of these participants have also elected to have a Mass SAVE no-cost home energy assessment. Visit our staff page for new associates.