Starlight Square Capital Improvements

Central Square Business Improvement District (CSB)

Starlight Square is a temporary community space in Central Square. Created by the Central Square BID and partners, it builds greater capacity. This includes capacity for outdoor performance, learning, dining, and dialogue during COVID-19. A $50,000 Capital Improvement grant helped provide outdoor performance and pop-up retail space.

Dance Studio Floor Replacement

     The Dance Complex (TDC)

The Dance Complex occupies a historic 137 year old building in need of renovation. The organization cited renovations for improved safety in its Capital Strategic Plan. A much needed $50,000 Capital Improvement grant upgraded three of its dance studio floors. The upgrade allows users to utilize upgraded soundproof floors safely.

LED Stage Light System Improvement

     Multicultural Art Center (MAC)

The Multicultural Art Center’s mission is to support emerging, under-resourced, and underrepresented artists. A $24,000 Capital Improvement grant allowed MAC to provide the highest quality and most efficient system in LED stage lighting. The grant allowed MAC to continue to offer an economic option for artists looking for low-cost performance space.

De Novo Center for Justice and Healing

The De Novo Center gives client-driven legal and mental health centered on poverty, inequity, and trauma. The $10,000 Technical Assistance grant supplied new network hardware, a security system, and office equipment. The grant allows the organization to continue providing critical services to a growing clientele.

Third Sector New England (TSNE)

Third Sector New England is a non-profit organization that supports other non profits with needed resources. The organization obtained a $25,000 grant to create a safe co-working space for tenants at 255 Main Street after the pandemic. Office renovation additions include plexiglass dividers, phone booths, and air purifiers.

Dance Complex ADA Improvements

The Dance Complex

The Dance Complex engages those who have physical or societal barriers to dance or who might not think of movement as a ready option. This has included immigrant families, LGBTA+, elders, those with mobility issues, as well as the disabled. A $10,000 grant allowed TDC to install a new ADA-compliant lift.

Connecting Children with Growing

Nurtury, Inc.

Nurtury Early Education provides child care to Greater Boston’s youngest children in need, birth to age five. They provide tools to help kids reach their full potential. Help includes supporting families, readiness, and healthy development. A capital grant helped construct a garden space at a facility entrance in Cambridge.

Food Pantry Renovation Planning

Cambridge Economic Opportunity Committee (CEOC)

Cambridge Economic Opportunity Committee provides services to approximately 1,200 individuals and families each month. The $10,000 Technical Assistance grant helped CEOC redesign its food pantry space to accept more clients, create space to store extra nutritious food, and improve the client experience at the food pantry.

950 Cambridge St. Façade Improvement

Vinfen

Vinfen provides community-based services to individuals with mental health conditions, intellectual and developmental disabilities, brain injuries, and behavioral health challenges. The Infrastructure grant of $5,000 facilitated façade enhancements to Vinfen’s building and included new decals and banners to enliven and animate their building’s exterior.

CWKendall

CommonWealth Kitchen (CWK)

CommonWealth Kitchen utilized a $18,000 Capital Improvement grant to support the development of a take-out restaurant incubator in Kendall Square. The space allowed members to test operating their own restaurant. Members use the incubator for four to six months, test new recipes, build their customer base, and experience running a retail location.

O’Connell Library Park

East Cambridge Open Space Trust (ECOST)

East Cambridge Open Space Trust used a $25,000 Capital Improvement grant to transform an underutilized outdoor space at the O' Connell Library. The new park functions as both a new park and educational landscape. The new park includes a charging station, new seating, native plants, and space for outdoor study hours.

Central Square Mural Project

Central Square Business Association (CSBA)

To celebrate art and the rich culture of Central Square, the Central Square Business Association completed a successful mural campaign. CSBA's $25,000 Capital Improvement grant created murals that paid homage to the square's past, present, and future and helped spread the message of equity and inclusion. Murals are set on eight buildings in the Central Square area.

MathScapes: Activating Public Spaces for Early Math Learning

Math Talk

Math Talk received a $20,000 grant that transformed everyday public places. These spaces, parks and buses, became resources for fun early math-learning opportunities. The project supported community health, economic development, and civic participation allowing parents and their children to use their environment to explore key early math concepts.

Tunnel of Light

Friends of the Greenway, Inc.

Friends of the Greenway, Inc received a $10,000 capital improvement grant. The grant supported the enhancement of an abandoned rail tunnel. The tunnel is along the future Cambridge-Watertown Greenway Path. The tunnel is a space for outdoor performances with sound, lighting, and staging base.

Wayfinders - The Looking Glass

Innovators for Purpose (IFP)

Innovators for Purpose used a $25,000 capital improvement grant to design a walking tour marker in Galaxy Park, "The Looking Glass". The Longfellow Bridge is on one side and Kendall Square on the other. The sculpture allows visitors to see the past and future of the area.

Moses Youth Center Vertical Garden

Carolyn L. Arts

The Boys II Men program at the Moses Youth Center constructed a vertical garden with a $6,000 grant . The garden provides social, aesthetic, and ecological benefits to the neighborhood. The garden composes recycled material and plants ingredients for cooking classes.

Cambridge Street Beautification

East Cambridge Business Association (ECBA)

The East Cambridge Business Association came to the Forward Fund with a vision to beautify the Cambridge Street Corridor. Receiving a $5,000 capital improvement grant the ECBA decorated the streetscape. New adornments included hanging flower baskets, seasonal hanging flags, and hand woven evergreen baskets.

Fort Agassiz Annex

Agassiz Baldwin Community (ABC)

A $5,000 Capital Improvement grant helped Marie Baldwin Community repair and expand its play structure. Many families use the playground, and the expansion allowed ABC to meet user needs. ABC youth worked with peers, younger students, staff, architects, and carpenters to complete the final product. The expanded structure has become an inviting gathering and play space for the community.

Building Pillar 1: Child & Teen Services

Margaret Fuller Neighborhood House (MFNH)

Margaret Fuller Neighborhood House used their $25,000 capital improvement grant for part one of their agency-wide upgrade. The project aimed to better serve their neighbors and the public. The award helped in design upgrades for their child care program. These upgrades included plumbing, electrical, and life safety repairs.

Building Modernization Project Cambridge

Community Center (CCC)

Outdated computer equipment limited the Cambridge Community Center from advancing their STEAM program for children. In partnership with Capital One and Heart of America, the center received a $10,000 project grant. The CCC renovated and modernized their lab, as well as adding new computers and audio visual equipment.

Magazine Beach Public Boat Dock

Cambridgeport Neighborhood Association

The Cambridge Neighborhood Association used a $16,000 capital improvement grant to create a public ADA-accessible canoe/kayak launch at Magazine Beach. As the only public canoe/kayak launch on the Charles River in Cambridge and Boston, outside of Community Rowing, this has been a great draw for all.

MBTA Single Stream Recycling Kiosks

MassRecycle

MassRecycle received a $10,000 capital improvement grant to build kiosks to keep recyclables out of the waste stream. The Kiosk helped to curb the presence of litter inside and outside of the MBTA stations. They also helped generate revenue to expand sustainable practice throughout the MBTA system.

East End House Kitchen Renovation

East End House

East End House needed new equipment to prepare healthy meals for their program’s participants. The $10,000 Capital grant renovation has allowed EEH to provide a broader, healthier menu. Students now take part in hands-on cooking projects. Additionally, parents and seniors enjoy nutrition education and community meals.

Port Stories Art Project Mosaic Mural

The Community Art Center (CAC)

Cambridge Arts Center received a Capital Improvement grant of $10,000 to create a mosaic tile mural. The mural uses public art and creative arts events to connect past and present stories of Cambridge's Port and Area IV neighborhoods. The installation lives on the exterior of the Art Center on Windsor Street.

Social Umbrella

Green Cambridge, Inc

Green Cambridge, Inc utilized a $2,500 Technical Assistance grant to develop a concept to encourage spontaneous public engagement. "Social Umbrella", a concept for a circular public bench shaded by an umbrella. The more people sit on the public bench, the more the umbrella opens.