Harvard Allston Partnership Fund

The Harvard Allston Partnership Fund was created by Harvard and the City of Boston, in collaboration with the Allston community, to support neighborhood improvement projects, cultural enrichment, and educational programming.  The program will award a total of $100,000 in grants each year for five years beginning in June 2009. 

Grant recipients for the first round of funding were announced on June 26, 2009 in a ceremony at the Harvard Allston Education Portal on North Harvard Street.  The Harvard Allston Partnership Fund Advisory Committee, made up of Allston-Brighton residents, chose the grant recipients after a detailed review process. 

Request For Proposal

The second round of Harvard Allston Partnership Fund grant funding is now available for groups serving the North Allston-Brighton neighborhood in the areas of cultural enrichment, education, neighborhood improvements and public health. Two Technical Assistance Sessions have been scheduled for September 23, 2009 from 11:00 a.m.- 1:00 p.m. and October 9, 2009 from 4:00 p.m.- 6:00 p.m. at the Harvard Allston Education Portal, 175 North Harvard Street. See the Request for Proposal for more details about how to apply. Applications are due October 15, 2009 by 4:00 p.m.  

The June 2009 Grant Recipients are:

Allston Brighton Arts Bridge is a new project that will teach young people in Allston-Brighton how to tell cogent and compelling stories about their community through traditional artistic expression as well as new technology. Created by a filmmaker, a director, an actress, and a musician — all graduates of Harvard’s Graduate School of Education Arts in Education program — this new program will use its $20,000 HAPF grant to host a workshop called “My Allston/Brighton” for 15 local teens. During the 18-session workshop which will be held at Brighton High School and the Honan Allston Library, the teens will learn how to find their own voice to create an artistic project about their community that, ultimately, will be publicly screened. Allston Brighton Arts Bridge hopes to further expand its arts programming and local partnerships in the neighborhood.

Allston/Brighton Baby is a volunteer-run program that distributes diapers and coordinates a free exchange of baby clothing and toys for families in Allston-Brighton. The program is run out of St. Luke’s and St. Margaret’s Episcopal Church in Allston.  It will use its $5,000 grant to offset the cost of diapers for the approximately 90 families who use this service each month. In addition to providing diapers, the Allston/Brighton Baby program also aims to foster a sense of community by creating a space where the families served can come together in support of one another.

The Charles River Watershed Association (CRWA) will use the $20,000 grant from the Harvard Allston Partnership Fund to help implement the Everett Street Greening Demonstration Project, a project to "green" the section of Everett Street between Holton and Brentwood streets in North Allston.  The project will create a lush, green streetscape by retrofitting a part of St Anthony's site along the building occupied by the German School International School of Boston that will benefit the entire community, and is the first phase of an effort to convert all of Everett Street to a green street.

Approximately 2,500 square feet of asphalt next to the school building will be replaced by an attractive green landscape that includes 6-8 new trees, a rain garden and a stormwater tree trench. The new vegetation will help beautify the area, while providing shade and reducing summer temperatures, improving air quality, and aiding the management of storm water runoff. CRWA is dedicated to protecting the health, beauty, and accessibility of the Charles River and its tributaries. For more information, please visit www.crwa.org

The Fishing Academy (TFA) was awarded a $20,000 Harvard Allston Partnership Fund grant to be used to increase the number of Allston-Brighton youth in TFA programs through funding scholarships to the 2009 Summer Camp and offering group and weekend trips to Allston-Brighton youth organizations. TFA is an Allston-Brighton based non-profit organization founded in 2004 by John Hoffman, a lifelong Brighton resident. Its goal is to keep children off the streets and away from drugs and violence through recreational fishing instruction and mentoring. This grant will provide outdoor opportunities to more than 400 youth from Allston-Brighton this year, including summer, school-based an after-school fishing and educational programs.  For more information, please visit www.thefishingacademy.org or call 617-782-2614

Using a $20,000 grant, the Joseph M. Smith Community Health Center (JMSCHC) at 287 Western Avenue will initiate a Healthy Lifestyles program of health workshops and one-on-one patient education to assist existing patients and vulnerable populations in North Allston-North Brighton. The program will increase awareness of the importance of primary care in reducing chronic health conditions. Health workshops for approximately 200 residents will include instruction about common illnesses and screenings for blood glucose levels, blood pressure, and cholesterol levels. Screening results may lead to health center referrals or to continued one-on-one patient education. JMSCHC will also distribute educational materials to 1,000 people and provide personal case management to 40 patients.

Massachusetts Poetry Outreach Project is hosting a new North Allston-Brighton poet residency program that puts local poets in the classroom at the Gardner Pilot Academy (GPA) and makes poetry more accessible to the community. Funded by a $15,000 HAPF grant, the yearlong program will bring two poets into 4th and 5th grade writing classes at the GPA, allowing children to learn directly from practicing artists. A reading series at the Allston Honan Branch library will showcase the work of the poets and the students and promote poetry in the community. A partnership between the poetry project and the local letterpress studio of Firefly Press will involve students in the printing process and the production of a commemorative printed product for students and the community.

Harvard Allston Partnership Fund Advisory Committee Members

Paul Berkeley

John Bruno

Daniel Daly

John Eskew

Wayne MacKenzie

Ray Mellone

Karen Smith