Several themes run through the portfolio of the Dolphin Trust grants to Boston area organizations. Most of the organizations supported by the Trust deal with middle and elementary-aged youth, incorporate experiential education, and outdoor learning. Several focus on science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education. Continue Reading »

EVENTS OF NOTE

If we want to really make strides in bridging the achievement gap, we must start thinking outside the walls of school buildings and work with those who have the most at stake in the future of their children: their parents. — Sarah Walzer

The Parent-Child Home Program hosted a funder briefing at GMA Foundations that highlighted the impact of early intervention programs for children.

The program is an intensive, evidence-based early childhood literacy, parenting, and school readiness initiative serving 8000 low-income families in 16 states. Continue Reading »

In calendar 2011, The Parker Foundation awarded a total of $978,519 in grants in fields of interest including the arts, education, community and economic development, and human services, all for the benefit of Lowell, Massachusetts, the fourth largest city in Massachusetts.

In the arts, the Foundation followed up on a 2010 grant to the Lowell National Historical Park for a major exhibition commemorating the 200th anniversary of the birth of Charles Dickens. Dickens visited the new city of Lowell in 1841 and reported, in a special chapter of his American Notes, on the high value placed on the arts by the Lowell “factory girls,” who enjoyed music-making, subscribed to lending libraries, and contributed to the Lowell Offering, a local literary publication. Continue Reading »