Over 40 years ago a generous member of our congregation made a donation to First Parish in Lincoln to provide support for charitable causes both she and First Parish believed in.  To qualify the core mission of the organization must be to provide services or advocacy consistent with the original gift, for example; affordable housing, enrichment programs for youth, health and human services, social justice, disaster relief, protecting our natural environment.  Since it’s inception the original bequest has provided support to dozens of worthy organizations.

The Outreach Committee is pleased to announce the 2024 recipients:

Thrive – $25,000
https://www.icanthrive.org/

Thrive Support & Advocacy has empowered children and adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities and their families to lead rich, active, and self-directed lives. Thrive has grown from serving 11 MetroWest communities to 47 communities across five Massachusetts counties. They now serve more than 800 participants and their families annually, including 250 children, teens, and adults ages 5 to 25.  Thrive opened the Flourish at Thrive Food Pantry, the only food pantry in New England specific to individuals with disabilities.

Thrive received a grant to support the creation of a wheelchair accessible greenhouse where participants and residents will learn to grow their own fresh foods. The greenhouse will employ Thrive residents and participants from their community day support services programs in Marlborough and Worcester and will be overseen by Thrive and Overlook Farm staff. Thrivers will not only be enjoying these fresh foods at the residences and facilities, but they will also grow the food.

WATCH – $10,000
https://watchcdc.org/

Watch works towards a more just community in the Waltham area by advancing and promoting affordable housing, providing adult education and leadership development, and empowering under-represented residents through civic engagement. They seek to create a community in which all residents of Waltham, including low-income families, immigrants, and others who may be left out, have a voice and can influence the way their community grows and functions.

They received a transformative innovation grant to provide legal assistance for housing eviction court. The needs and challenges that this grant will address stem from the devastating economic impact of COVID-19 on low and moderate income tenants in Waltham. The state eviction moratorium for tenants expired on October 17, 2020. It is estimated that up to 1/3 of Massachusetts tenants have not been able to pay their full rent. Watch is already experiencing the initial surge of unexpected avalanche of referrals for eviction matters.

The Watch Housing Clinic assists tenants who face the threat of eviction. The grant will provide funding to support training and supervision of certified law students from Boston College Legal Services Lab who will represent tenants on housing matters for Watch. Legal assistance will include explanation of housing laws and tenant rights, assistance with filing forms, discussion of legal options, and accompaniment with tenants before the judge and mediation sessions. Partnering with Boston College for this program will provide Watch with vital legal assistance as the legal protections for tenants expire and full past rent becomes due.

Mothers’ Milk Bank – $9,160
http://milkbankne.org/

Mothers’ Milk Bank is a nonprofit, community-supported entity, driven by the belief that every baby deserves the chance to thrive. They support family and community health through equitable access to safe, life-saving pasteurized human donor milk.

Out of the 38 high-income counties globally, the United States has the highest rates of infant and maternal mortality. All but 10 US states have received either a D or F grade on a number of key measures of maternal mental health risk policies and access to care.

Mothers’ Milk Bank received a transformative innovation grant for their program entitled Inclusive Maternal and Family Support. The funds will be used to obtain a membership with Postpartum Support International, which includes access to resources such as training on perinatal mental health, and culturally-informed approaches to screening, assessment, and treatment. Staff members will electively enroll in and complete lactation counselor certification. This certification is extremely valuable for all members of the team who speak with lactating donors daily. The grant will also pilot an on demand translation service for phone calls with families who want to donate or receive milk. This will help to translate educational materials into priority languages, preliminarily identified as Brazilian Portuguese, Haitian, Creole, Vietnamese, and Mandarin.

The Right to Immigration Institute – $24,800
https://www.therighttoimmigration.org/

The Right to Immigration Institute was conceived in November 2016 in response to anticipated crackdowns on immigrant communities in Greater Boston. After a year and a half of community outreach and organizing around community needs and organic priorities, TRII open doors in 2017 as an undergraduate student-initiated, clinical legal education program with an all volunteer staff and board.

They received a transformative innovation grant for a project titled Project Dignidad. This project provides a new platform for the immigrant communities of Greater Boston, increasing capacity to effectively advocate for immigrants in detention. The majority of individuals who go to US immigration court do so without representation. The project seeks to meet this need by training members of the immigrant and refugee community of Greater Boston to become fully accredited Department of Justice Immigration Representatives. This program will allow members of these communities to take full advantage of their skills in order to advocate for themselves and others, affecting change based on their communities’ desires and needs. Most importantly, this project‘s potential not only lies in the fact that it would provide a platform that prioritizes the voice of the communities that it serves, but in its capacity to be replicated anywhere.

Total Preston Grants 2024: $68,960