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Jen White, Development of Education

Founded in 2002, Cradles to Crayons is an innovative non-profit organization that equips poor and homeless children, at no charge, with the basic essentials they need to feel safe, warm, ready to learn and valued. While meeting immediate needs of low-income children, Cradles to Crayons also sets a foundation for lasting change by providing meaningful, tangible volunteer opportunities to thousands of individuals and hundreds of organizations each year. Since opening, Cradles to Crayons are proud to have served over 80,000 children living in need.

Jane Smillie Hirschi, Founder & Executive Director

CitySprouts is an independent nonprofit school garden program with gardens in eight Cambridge Public Schools. The organization was started in 2000 by Jane Smillie and is funded by individual donations, foundation grants and service fees. CitySprouts provides public school communities with sustainable gardens that support school educational goals, and inspire urban schoolchildren to participate in the food cycle. The organization works with school communities to develop schoolyard gardens as green, open spaces where children actively learn about environmental stewardship, gardening, healthy food, nutrition and growing living things.

Deborah Weaver, Founder & Executive Director

Girls' LEAP (Lifetime Empowerment and Awareness Program) was founded to address violence against girls in Greater Boston. Since 1997 they have served over 3,000 girls and young women throughout the Boston area. The innovative curriculum combines physical and reflective skills to promote the safety and well-being of girls, women and their families in underserved communities through focused education programs. Girls' LEAP programs equip girls with skills in violence prevention, verbal and physical boundary setting, de-escalation and self-advocacy. They seek to build decision-making skills, increase personal confidence and raise personal and public awareness to create safer lives.

Matthew Kochka, Urban Farm Manager

The ReVison Urban Farm, an initiative of Victory Programs, is a community-supported farm that works to increase access to affordable, nutritious, food for the women and children living at the ReVision House shelter and local community members, while providing job readiness training for shelter residents and service learning opportunities for local youth. The farm includes greenhouses and an aquaculture project, and sells fresh produce at its farm stand and various locations in greater Boston. As part of the development of Olmsted Green, Victory Programs (VPI) has the unique opportunity to build upon the ReVision House model as it launches a New Urban Farm with expanded growing facilities, a permanent farm stand and a farm kitchen. The goal is to increase both the financial sustainability and social impact of its growing, innovative social enterprise, providing greater access to healthy foods and more training opportunities for Boston's most vulnerable populations.

Evelyn Francis, Director of Education

The Theater Offensive is New England's foremost creator of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) theater. True Colors: Out Youth Theater, a community program of The Theater Offensive, is designed to address the specific needs of Boston's at risk self-identified lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) youth and their allies. This innovative program empowers at risk youth by providing intensive training in theater, creative writing and grassroots activism. Through an in-depth process of play development and community organizing, our participants become youth leaders with a deeper sense of identity, belonging, responsibility and community.

Gregg Croteau, Executive Director

United Teen Equality Center (UTEC) is a youth-led safe-haven for youth development and grassroots organizing. Our core values are peace, positivity, and empowerment. UTEC supports young people to be leaders in their communities and in their lives. To do this, they use street outreach, strengths-based youth development in a multicultural and holistic learning setting, and a focus on social change. Serving over 1,500 youth annually, UTEC offers programming in Streetwork (outreach and gang peacemaking), Youth Development (cultural and performing arts), Education and Work Skills Training (new alternative diploma school program), and Youth Organizing (grassroots community organizing).