BHCA Board Awards First Round of Community Fund Grants

The Beacon Hill Civic Association board of directors awarded its first round of Community Grant funds totaling $22,500 during their monthly meeting Monday, Dec. 9, at the Boston Athenæum.

The board voted unanimously in April to distribute at least $20,000 each year for an initial period of three years “to community-based Beacon Hill, Cambridge Street, and adjacent neighborhood non-profit organizations, community development corporations, and other civic groups dedicated to promoting and enhancing quality of life in the community through projects and programs for residents involving the arts and education, youth sports and recreation, day care centers, playgrounds, activities for seniors and persons with special needs and disabilities, community gardens and spaces, affordable housing, social services, and whatever [it]…deems appropriate.”

Of the 20 applications the Civic Association requesting funds were initially reviewed by its Executive Committee, Rob Whitney, president of the group’s board of directors, said six recipients were selected.

Rev. Dr. Sarah Garrard and Montez Haywood received a $10,000 grant on behalf of Old West Church to support its “two-pronged mission” to provide healthy and nutritious meals through its Monday Night Community Dinner and Food Forest programs.

Nils Klinkenberg, executive director of the Beacon Hill Friends House, was awarded $5,000 to contribute to the nonprofit’s Financial Inclusion Fund, which intends to increase access to affordable housing in the neighborhood to prospective residents.

Sandy Steele, president of the Nichols House Museum board of directors, received $2,500 on behalf of Linda Marshall, executive director, for the creation of a Visitor Learning Center to help enhance the experience of visitors to the museum.

Likewise, Michael Nichols, executive director of the Esplanade Association, was awarded $2,500 to work together with the Civic Association to design two cleanup days focusing on the intersection of the Frances Appleton Pedestrian and Longfellow bridges on the Charles River Esplanade.

Jen Matson received $2,000 to help underwrite promotional and advertising costs for the Beacon Hill Art Walk, which since 1990, has opened up neighborhood residents’ private gardens, alleyways and courtyards for one day each year to view offerings from myriad visual artists and to hear a selection of live music.

Jack Burton, a 16-year-old Chestnut Street resident, was also awarded $500 grant that to create a story-telling project using video and audio recordings aiming to unite generations throughout the neighborhood that will be shared with the community upon its completion.

Anyone interested in contributing stories and ideas to Burton’s project are encouraged to contact him via email at [email protected].

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