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Dear Brookline Community,
When I look back on our most recently completed fiscal year, I couldn’t be more proud of the many “firsts” we helped to make happen. From facilitating a community-wide engagement process to get your input into where the Town of Brookline could invest American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding to launching participatory grantmaking led by the Racial Equity Grant Committee for the Racial Equity Grant Program, we’ve accomplished so much through partnership.
These partnerships are also part of a larger effort to build a better Brookline for all. For us, that vision means many things. It means everyone in our community has access to the essentials we all need to succeed. It means everyone in the community feels safe and welcome. It means everyone who lives, learns, works, and plays in Brookline is thriving.
While making this vision a reality will require collective efforts from across our community, we recognize that considerable barriers still exist at this moment in time. The pandemic continues to impact both physical and mental health, especially for our most vulnerable residents. Many of the federal and state-level economic protections implemented in 2020 that helped lift families out of crisis and poverty have now expired. The loss of these supports coincides with rising inflation and greater economic instability at this time in our country. Combined, this is putting an intense strain on our friends, neighbors, and partners.
But this is the exact moment for which community foundations in general and BCF in particular were built. Through our grantmaking, we can provide flexible, sustainable support to our partners working across Brookline to meet urgent and emergent community needs. By continuing to engage with our community we can help surface shared challenges and uplift community-led solutions. And through trusted partnerships with generous donors, we can direct our shared investments back into the community where our community tells us they are needed most.
Today, as we welcome our new Executive Director Aba Taylor to BCF, I invite you to see what your support, partnership, and commitment has already made possible. This annual report celebrates the collective efforts and partnerships that are creating enduring, positive change for the Brookline community. None of it would be possible without you, our community of nonprofit partners, donors, community leaders, Town officials, and more.
Thank you for your continuing support of BCF and your investment in Brookline. Together, we are one step closer to making our vision of a better Brookline for all a reality.
Gioia Perugini
President, Board of Trustees