Beneficiaries
2011 Beneficiaries
SCA is proud to support the following youth organizations through the 25th Anniversary SnowBall.
Intel Computer Clubhouse Network
The Intel Computer Clubhouse Network is an international community of 100 Computer Clubhouses located in 20 different countries around the world. The Computer Clubhouse provides a creative and safe out-of-school learning environment where young people from underserved communities work with adult mentors to explore their own ideas, develop skills, and build confidence in themselves through the use of technology.
The grant from SCA will support the “Express Yourself!” program by allowing the Clubhouse to upgrade the hardware in their music and video production studios. In addition, SCA funds will be used to replace the ten oldest computers in the Clubhouse so that young people can make use of 21st century technology tools that currently are unavailable to them.
Read about Steve Osemwenkhae’s experience as a member of the Computer Clubhouse.
Girls’ LEAP
Girls’ LEAP (Lifetime Empowerment & Awareness Program) began as a community response to a wave of sexual assaults against women and girls in Cambridge in 1995. LEAP co-founders Deborah Weaver and Peggy Barrett were outraged by the lack of public warnings from police about the assaults, and committed themselves to helping protect others. Discovering that girls ages 10-14 were most at risk for sexual assault and exploitation, and that there was no programming available to teach young girls how to protect themselves, the two women founded Girls’ LEAP.
Girls’ LEAP delivered its first programs in 1997 and incorporated as a 501(c)(3) non-profit in 2000. Since then, the overarching goal has been to provide girls and young women with the tools to protect and advocate for themselves in a variety of contexts by developing their self-confidence and courage. To date, Girls’ LEAP has served over 7,000 girls and young women in Greater Boston neighborhoods, including some of the most violent and crime ridden areas. Girls’ LEAP programs are hosted at community based organizations, after-school programs and community centers, and serve a diverse population.
The grant from SCA will expand Girls’ LEAP’s programming and training in Dorchester Center and Codman Square communities.
The City School
The mission of The City School, located in Dorchester, is to develop and strengthen the power of youth to work toward building a just society. They do this through creative education and critical thinking, leadership development, action and service, and promoting understanding and relationships across difference.
The City School (TCS) was founded in 1995 by a visionary high school teacher who was asked by a student, “Why don’t we learn about homelessness? What can I do?” The City School was born from a young person’s interest in learning about communities different from her own and a passion for social justice. The City School’s vision is to bring youth from different race, neighborhood, economic and cultural backgrounds together to create a learning community where they develop the knowledge, insight and skills to become leaders for social justice.
Now reaching over 1,000 young people annually, TCS’s teens reflect the rich diversity of Boston’s neighborhoods. While the majority of the students are from low-income, minority and immigrant communities as well as from the city’s burgeoning middle-class families of color, they also serve a small cadre of suburban teens. Regardless of their background, the teens who walk through their doors seek to understand, navigate and work to change the disparities and injustices they see in the world around them. The City School remains one of only a few organizations in Boston dedicated to bringing young people together across difference to explore issues of racism, classism, sexism and heterosexism.
SCA funding will support The City School’s “Pathways to Change” academic program, which provides social justice education and leadership development programming.
Interested in being a beneficiary for 2012? Check out the 2011 application here (for informational purposes only).
2010 Beneficiaries
Healthworks at Codman
Healthworks at Codman (HWC) is the only nonprofit fitness center for women and children in Dorchester. The mission of Healthworks at Codman is to provide high-quality fitness opportunities for women and children in Boston’s low-income communities to prevent and treat life-style related chronic illness and promote overall health and well-being. Established through a partnership between the Healthworks Foundation and the Codman Square Health Center, HWC works directly with area health centers to expand positive health outcomes.
Project Funding: HWC is requesting $6,000 to support their Physi-kids program aimed at helping 50 children in the urban community of Dorcester. This funding will be used to purchase snacks that will teach the children, ages 7-12, about how to make healthy and sustaining food and lifestyle choices.
Stand Up for Kids
Stand Up for Kids is a national organization. The Boston Chapter, seeking funding from SCA, is an all-volunteer run non-profit. The mission of StandUp For Kids is to help homeless and street kids and their target population is homeless children and youth in Boston either living alone or with young single mothers.
Project Funding: Stand Up for Kids is requesting $19,540 to support two projects: the Transitional Housing initiative, and Street Outreach to supply winter survival items to homeless children. The Transitional Housing initiative will allow homeless children a place to live, while providing food and teaching critical life skills. The Street Outreach program will provide winter supplies to children and youths living on the street during winter such as hats, gloves, coats, and sleeping bags.
ZUMIX
ZUMIX is a non-profit cultural organization based in East Boston dedicated to building community through the arts. Our mission is empowered youth who use music to make strong, positive change in their lives, their communities, and the world. Their target population are inner city youths ages 7-18.
Project Funding: Zumix is requesting $6,000 to support their HANDS-ON Youth Development Program. The program is a multi-faceted program designed to involve young people over multiple years, in sequentially challenging in-depth arts experiences. Emphasizing personal guidance, self-assessment and leadership development, the core HANDSON programs focus on four distinct areas: songwriting and performance, instrumental music, creative technology, and radio.
Past Beneficiaries
2009
Kids Clothes Club
Breakthrough Cambridge
The Children’s Room
2008
Adoption and Foster Care (AFC) Mentoring
Boston Scholars Program
The Family Nurturing Center
1987-2008
Countless other youth programs throughout the city!
