Save the Harbor Awards over $250,000 to Local Organizations for a Summer Full of Free Events and Activities on the Metropolitan Beaches from Nahant to Nantasket.
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| This years award recipients include Triangle Inc.'s Beach:Ability, the Veronica Robles Cultural Center and A Trike Called Funk |
On
Saturday, June 11 at 10:00 AM. at their offices on Boston’s Fish Pier
Save the Harbor/Save the Bay awarded more than $250,000 in Better
Beaches program grants to 62 organizations and creatives to support 100
free beach events and programs in nine communities on the region's
public beaches from Nahant to Nantasket as part of their Better Beaches
Program partnership with the Department of Conservation & Recreation
(DCR).
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| This year's Better Beaches Events include concerts, festivals and performances by the Boston Circus Guild |
In
2021, the Better Beaches Program supported more than 60 organizations
in nine waterfront communities from Nahant to Nantasket with events
including festivals, movie nights, concerts, and beach parties. Save the
Harbor has invested nearly $1.75 million dollars to support free beach
events and programs since they began their partnership with DCR in 2007.
This
year’s Better Beaches Program grants will bring free movie nights, DJ
sets, circus performances, bike rides, Asian, Latin-American, and
Afro-Arabian cultural nights, physical and mental wellness workshops,
beach parties for kids and teens, beach wheelchairs, mobility mats, and
much more to the region’s waterfront neighborhoods and beachfront
communities of Lynn, Nahant, Revere, Winthrop, East Boston, South
Boston, Dorchester, Quincy, and Hull.
“The
metropolitan beaches are extraordinary assets that belong to all the
people of our region,” said Chris Mancini, Executive Director of Save
the Harbor/Save the Bay. “We’re proud to fund free community events led
by organizations that celebrate and represent our communities' cultural
and racial diversity, and what we have in common: we love our beaches."
This
year, at the recommendation of the Metropolitan Beaches Commission, the
three largest grants were given to organizations that promote racial
justice, access for people with disabilities and language accessibility,
which were the subjects of three recent MBC hearings with more than 250
participants.
“The
Better Beaches Program events are as diverse as the communities that
host them,” said Metropolitan Beaches Commission Co-Chair, Senator
Brendan Crighton of Lynn, “But one thing they all have in common is that
they bring communities together to enjoy our region’s public beaches.
Thank you to Save the Harbor/Save the Bay and DCR for working together
to strengthen our beachfront communities and waterfront neighborhoods.”
Metropolitan
Beaches Commission Co-Chair Representative Adrian Madaro of East Boston
agreed saying, “Our beaches are most active when Save the Harbor and
their partners are hosting free family-friendly and fun activities on
them. They are especially important to my constituents in East Boston
and all those people who rely on these spectacular urban natural
resources for recreation.”
Save
the Harbor/Save the Bay awarded $7,500 each to the Veronica Robles
Cultural Center, A Trike Called Funk, and Triangle, Inc. These
organizations will host Vamos a la Playa, a series of activities to
foster an appreciation for Latin American cultures, Bike to the Beach
and Boogie, a series of bike-riding events at five different beaches
with guest DJs, and Beach:Ability, a day of beach activities with sand
and floating wheelchairs available. Save the Harbor also used $7,500 to
fund free mobility mats and beach wheelchairs to ensure the beach is
accessible for everyone.
This
year, Save the Harbor also let kids and the community decide how to
invest $25,000 in Better Beaches funds in a participatory budgeting
process that generated more than 200 ideas. Over 600 people voted for
their favorites: Boston Harbor Beach Market, Diversity Matters Fest,
Beats on the Beach Block Party, Teen Beach Bash, and Wellness Fest. Each
winning idea received $5,000 in funding for the summer.
“The
metropolitan beaches belong to our communities and our young people,”
said Maya Smith, Partnerships and Program Development Director at Save
the
Harbor/Save the Bay. “Participatory budgeting lifts up their voices and
lets them be a part of the decision-making process for their
community.”
Funds
to support the program comes from the Department of Conservation and
Recreation, the Baker/Polito Administration, and the Harpoon Shamrock
Splash, which was held on March 6, 2022, at Constitution Beach in East
Boston.
“DCR
is proud of our Better Beaches Program Partnership with Save the
Harbor/Save the Bay,” said Acting DCR Commissioner Stephanie Cooper. “We
are all looking forward to another great season of free events and
programs on DCR’s beaches from Nahant to Nantasket,”
New
partners this year include Circus Up, Inc, North Shore Women of Color
Association, YMCA of Metro-North, Po Couto: Haus of Threes, City of
Revere Travel & Tourism Department, Charlestown YMCA, Caribbean
American Carnival Association of Boston, Inc, Next Level Factory, South
Boston en Acción, The Black Literacy & Arts Collaborative Project,
Fields Corner Crossroads Collaborative, Linda Wells, Daddy & Me
Literacy Program, Norfolk Sheriff's Office, Quincycles, Latifa Ziyad,
Soca Hikes, Veronica Robles Cultural Center, Carolyn Lewenberg, Soca
Fusion, and The Flavor Continues
Save
the Harbor’s success would not be possible without their program
partners and event sponsors, including Arctic Chill and Harpoon Brewery,
JetBlue, FMC Ice Sports, P&G Gillette, National Grid, Coast
Cannabis, the Daily Catch, Comcast, Mix 104.1, iZotope, Inc, The Blue
Sky Collaborative, Boston & Maine Webcams, BostonHarbor.com, The
Boston Foundation, and The Richard Saltonstall Charitable Foundation.
In
addition, Save the Harbor recognized the Metropolitan Beaches
Commission Co-Chairs Senator Brendan Crighton of Lynn, and
Representative Adrian Madaro of East Boston and the legislative and
community members of the Commission as well as Senate President Karen
Spilka and House Speaker Ron Mariano for their support for their beaches
and communities. Save the Harbor also thanked the Baker-Polito
Administration, the Massachusetts Legislature, Save the Harbor's
partners at the Department of Conservation and Recreation, the Boston
Centers for Youth & Families, the YMCA of Greater Boston, and the
hundreds of people who took part in the Shamrock Splash for their
support.
A
copy of this release, a calendar of Better Beaches events and the
complete list of this year’s grant recipients is available in more than
100 languages on Save the Harbor/Save the Bay’s blog Sea, Sand & Sky
at http://blog.savetheharbor.org
To
learn more about Save the Harbor/Save the Bay and the great work they
do to restore, protect and share Boston Harbor, the waterfront, islands,
and the region’s public beaches with all Bostonians and the region’s
residents, visit their website at www.savetheharbor.org and follow
@savetheharbor on social media.
2022 Better Beaches Program Partnership
Grant Recipients
Total 2022 Better Beaches Program Awards: $237,200
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