Boston, MA—January 19,2018—Playworks New England has been awarded a two-year grant in the amount of $200,000 to increase physical activity for high-need elementary schools in the Metro Boston area. During the 2017-18 school year, Playworks New England will place full-time staff members in 38 Boston Public Schools to improve the health and well-being of 19,450 students through daily physical activity and safe, meaningful play.
“The Boston Foundation has been a partner from the beginning, and has played a crucial role in helping Boston’s young students get active and stay fit,” says Playworks New England executive director Jonathan Gay. “We look forward to building upon our record of proven, evaluated results in schools over the last eleven years to serve young students throughout Metro Boston”.
Playworks New England was founded in 2006 serving seven Boston Public Schools. Today, Playworks New England serves 65,000 students in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island.
About Playworks New England
Playworks New England is a regional branch of a national nonprofit working to bring play and physical activity into elementary schools as a means to improve the health and well-being of children and to enhance learning. Through onsite direct-service coaching and training school faculty and staff, Playworks integrates physical activity and social and emotional learning skill-building into organized activities during recess to create a space where students feel included, are active, and build valuable social and emotional skills needed to thrive in the classroom and beyond. Entering its 12th year, Playworks New England serves more than 75,000 students in 140 elementary schools across Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and New Hampshire. To date, the nonprofit has served 210,000 youth.
About The Boston Foundation
The Boston Foundation, Greater Boston’s community foundation, is one of the largest community foundations in the nation, with net assets of some $1 billion. In 2016, the Foundation and its donors paid $100 million in grants to nonprofit organizations and received gifts of more than $107 million. The Foundation is proud to be a partner in philanthropy, with more than 1,000 separate charitable funds established by donors either for the general benefit of the community or for special purposes. The Boston Foundation also serves as a major civic leader, think tank, and advocacy organization, commissioning research into the most critical issues of our time and helping to shape public policy designed to advance opportunity for everyone in Greater Boston. The Philanthropic Initiative (TPI), a distinct operating unit of the Foundation, designs and implements customized philanthropic strategies for families, foundations, and corporations both here and around the globe. For more information about the Boston Foundation or TPI, visit tbf.org or call 617.338.1700.
