FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Deputy Chief Brian Pupa, Wilmington Police Department, 978-658-5071, bpupa@wpd.org
Contact: Alison Harding, Cummings Foundation, 781-932-7093, aeh@cummings.com
Wilmington Police Department awarded Cummings Grant
Wilmington Police Department receives Cummings Foundation grant
Wilmington, May 20, 2020 – The Wilmington Police Department is one of 130 local nonprofits to receive grants of $100,000 to $500,000 each through Cummings Foundation’s $20 Million Grant Program. The Department was chosen from a total of 738 applicants during a competitive review process. The Wilmington Police Department was among a limited group of recipients to receive a 10 year sustaining grant totaling $300,000.
“We are beyond excited to receive this honor,” stated Chief Joseph Desmond, “State Funds for community policing are very limited these days. This grant is going to not only allow us to continue some of our community based programs, but will enable us to develop new programs.”
Grant monies will be used to not only to help fund existing community based programs such as National Night Out, the Citizen Police Academy, Citizen CPR Class, and the RAD Women’s Self Defense Program, but to help develop new programs as well. “We are looking to build relationships with both our senior citizen population and our younger citizens,” said Deputy Chief Brian Pupa, “Last year we held our first ‘Mental Health First Aid for Seniors’ class and by all accounts it was a success. We want to expand the program to have crime-prevention programs as well as social events to generate a relationships between our officers and the senior residents of our community.” Deputy Chief Pupa went on to say, “This grant will also allow us to continue develop our Police Explorer program which was launched last fall. We had 18 young adults between the ages of 14-20 join the Police Explorers last September as a way to learn about a career in policing and as an opportunity to serve the community. We are looking forward to growing the program once the current health crisis subsides.”
The Cummings $20 Million Grant Program supports Massachusetts nonprofits that are based in and primarily serve Middlesex, Essex, and Suffolk counties. Through this place-based initiative, Cummings Foundation aims to give back in the area where it owns commercial buildings, all of which are managed, at no cost to the Foundation, by its affiliate, Cummings Properties. Founded in 1970 by Bill Cummings, the Woburn-based commercial real estate firm leases and manages 10 million square feet of debt-free space, the majority of which exclusively benefits the Foundation.
“We have been impressed, but not surprised, by the myriad ways in which these 130 grant winners are serving their communities, despite the challenges presented by COVID-19,” said Joel Swets, Cummings Foundation’s executive director. “Their ability to adapt and work with their constituents in new and meaningful ways has an enormous impact in the communities where our colleagues and leasing clients live and work.”
Cummings Foundation has now awarded more than $280 million to greater Boston nonprofits.
Social distancing requirements will prevent Foundation and grant winner representatives from convening for a reception at TradeCenter 128 in Woburn, as planned, to celebrate the $20 million infusion into greater Boston’s nonprofit sector. Instead, Cummings Foundation expects hundreds of individuals to gather virtually for a modified celebration in mid-June.
The Cummings $20 Million Grant Program resulted from a merger of the Foundation’s two flagship grant programs, $100K for 100 and Sustaining Grants.
The Foundation and its volunteers first identified 130 organizations to receive grants of at least $100,000 each. Among the winners are first-time recipients as well as nonprofits that have previously received Cummings Foundation grants. A limited number of this latter group of repeat recipients will be invited to make in-person presentations in the fall, when public health related circumstances allow, proposing that their grants be elevated to long-term awards. Thirty such requests will be granted in the form of 10-year awards ranging from $200,000 to $500,000 each.
This year’s diverse group of grant recipients represents a wide variety of causes, including homelessness prevention, affordable housing, education, violence prevention, and food insecurity. The nonprofits are spread across 40 different cities and towns, and most will receive their grants over two to five years.
The complete list of 130 grant winners is available at www.CummingsFoundation.org.
A great deal more information about Cummings Foundation is detailed in Bill Cummings’ self-written business book, “Starting Small and Making It Big: Hands-On Lessons in Entrepreneurship and Philanthropy.” The brand-new, and significantly updated, 6th edition is available on Amazon or cummings.com/book.
About Cummings Foundation
Woburn-based Cummings Foundation, Inc. was established in 1986 by Joyce and Bill Cummings. The Foundation directly operates its own charitable subsidiaries, including New Horizons retirement communities in Marlborough and Woburn, and Veterinary School at Tufts, LLC in North Grafton. Additional information is available at www.CummingsFoundation.org.
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