FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Bill Kubicek, Next Step, 617.864.2921/blk@nextstepnet.org
Contact: Kerry Crisley, Cummings Foundation, 781.932.7093, kac@cummings.com
Next Step awarded $100,000
Cambridge, MA-based nonprofit receives Cummings Foundation grant
Cambridge, May 25, 2018 – Next Step is one of 100 local nonprofits to receive grants of $100,000 each through Cummings Foundation’s “100K for 100” program. The Cambridge-based organization was chosen from a total of 597 applicants, during a competitive review process.
Next Step’s mission is to shatter limitations and elevate aspirations of teens and young adults living with serious illness. They provide free year-round community, music and mentorship programs to seriously ill teens and young adults, ages 16-29, during their transition to adulthood.
Representing Next Step, Founder & Executive Director Bill Kubicek will join approximately 300 other guests at a reception at TradeCenter 128 Woburn to celebrate the $10 million infusion into Greater Boston’s nonprofit sector. With the conclusion of this grant cycle, Cummings Foundation has now awarded more than $220 million to Greater Boston nonprofits alone.
“Receiving the Cummings Foundation grant is thrilling, humbling, energizing and simply amazing. Thank you doesn’t cover it,” said Bill Kubicek. “The Cummings Foundation grant will allow us to continue our growth and serve more youth in our residential and drop-in programming. There will be more Next Step youth than ever before becoming new students, job applicants, songwriters and goal setters. These young people will then continue as mentors to the next generations following behind them.”
The 100K for 100 program supports 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, but its affiliate Cummings Properties. Founded in 1970 by Bill Cummings of Winchester, the Woburn-based commercial real estate firm leases and manages 11 million square feet of space, the majority of which exclusively benefits the Foundation.
“We are indebted to the nonprofit organizations like Next Step that have a meaningful positive impact on the local communites where our colleagues and clients live and work,” said Joel Swets, Cummings Foundation’s executive director. “We are delighted to invest in their important programs and services.”
This year’s diverse group of grant recipients represents a wide variety of causes, including homelessness prevention and affordable housing, education, violence prevention, and food insecurity. Most of the grants will be paid over two to five years.
The complete list of 100 grant winners will be available beginning June 7 at www.CummingsFoundation.org.
Cummings Foundation announced an additional $10 million in early May through its new Sustaining Grants, which extend “100K for 100” funding for previous winners for 10 more years. Beginning in 2019, the Foundation will increase its total giving through these two programs from $20 million to $25 million.
About Next Step
Next Step is a Boston-area nonprofit organization founded in 2001 with support from late actor and philanthropist, Paul Newman, to provide a safe community for young people, ages 16-29, living with cancer, HIV and rare genetic disorders. Next Step has served over 7,000 seriously ill teens and young adults through their free year-round programming that takes place at Next Step, as well as across the country in partnership with local hospitals and service organizations. At Next Step young people develop important life skills, knowledge, and the self-confidence they need to effectively manage their illness and find their sense of self, outside of their medical condition; moving beyond “Whyme?” to “What’s next?” Visit www.nextstepnet.org to learn more about our programs.
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. Bill Cummings released his self-written memoir, “Starting Small and Making it Big: An Entrepreneur’s Journey to Billion-Dollar Philanthropist,” in March 2018. Additional information is available at www.CummingsFoundation.org and Cummings.com/book.
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PHOTO: So much joy and gratitude! Thank you Cummings Foundation! Celebratory cartwheels and backflips not pictured.
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