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The Sudbury Foundation

Children, Youth & Families

Brainstorming: Thinking about Kids

BrainstormingEarly Learners

How investing in Preschool Beats the Stock Market, Hands Down. Nobel laureate James Heckman, a professor of economics at the University of Chicago and the director of the Center for the Economics of Human Development, makes a strong argument to support early education programs in his paper, The Life-Cycle Benefits of an Influential Early Childhood Program.

11 Parenting Podcasts Worth Checking Out. Parenting: It’s the most important job of all and there’s no roadmap for how to do it best. Some good resources provided in this Washington Post article.

Read Aloud 15 Minutes. In an era of high-stakes testing and education reforms and revolutions, research has repeatedly proved that one simple parenting technique is among the most effective. Children who are read aloud to by parents get a head start in language and literacy skills and go to school better prepared.

The Joyful, Illiterate Kindergartners of Finland.  While American youngsters learn how to read, Kindergarten students in Finland play. Notes one researcher: “There isn’t any solid evidence that shows that children who are taught to read in kindergarten have any long-term benefit from it.” Food for thought.

Run-down schools trigger low test scores. Common sense says it’s so. (We’ve been saying it for years.) Now Cornell social scientists show why it’s true.

Teens & Young Adults

The Value of Mentoring. Whether formal or informal — mentoring is a powerful tool to keep young people on the right track, particularly kids who are disconnected from their community

Today’s College Students May Be Emotionally Unprepared. Findings confirm what we all know is happening. A survey of more than 123,000 students at 153 colleges by the American College Health Association in 2013 found that more than half experienced overwhelming anxiety and about a third felt deep depression during the academic year, as reported in the New York Times. Here’s one program that’s helping high school teens cope: Students returning to school after a serious mental health issue get the care they need thru “BRYT

The Real Reason College Tuition Costs So Much. Interesting findings reported in the New York Times. It’s not due to cuts in public funding but an increase in enrollment and administrative personnel.

The Cost of An Overdose. Facing the opiod-heroin crisis in MetroWest. In 2015 emergency personnel statewide responded to 11,884 opioid-related incidents, up from 6,315 in 2013.

Posted on July 25, 2016

In Real Life, Who Do You Turn To?

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Nine million kids in America are growing up without an answer to this question. They make everyday choices that lead up to life’s big decisions without enough guidance and support – the kind most of us count on. Every kid should have someone to turn to, a caring adult who provides a consistent, supportive and guiding hand to young people — a mentor.

At its most basic level, mentoring is successful in real life because it guarantees youth and teens that there is someone who cares about them and that they are not alone in dealing with day-to-day challenges. At a more complex level, there is a powerful mentoring effect that ultimately makes our community stronger.

Quality mentoring programs are proven to build relationships that help improve school attendance and academic achievement, promote responsible decision making, and provide skills to better navigate relationships at school, socially and at home. A report by MENTOR: The National Mentoring Partnership found that young adults who were at risk for not completing high school but who had a mentor were:

  • 55% more likely to be enrolled in college than those who did not have a mentor.
  • 81% more likely to report participating regularly in sports or extracurricular activities.
  • More than twice as likely to say they held a leadership position in a club or sports team.
  • 78% more likely to volunteer regularly in their communities.

MENTOR’s report found that one in three young people will grow up without a mentor. We need to close this mentoring gap.

January is National Mentoring Month, celebrating the benefits of quality youth mentoring across the country. The National Mentoring Month public awareness campaign, recognized by presidential and congressional proclamation, is led by MENTOR, and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

National Mentoring Month also acknowledges all those who give generously of themselves by mentoring youth “informally” as tutors, coaches, teachers, volunteers and friends.

Won’t you join us in spreading the word about the value of mentoring? Our kids deserve it.

Posted January 6, 2015

Are We Thwarting Creativity in Kids?

We recently came across this great 2006 Ted Talk by creativity expert Ink splat 150 x 150Sir Ken Robinson.

As Robinson describes it, we begin life full of creative potential, then we are “educated out” of our creative capacity. Much of this happens in school where the emphasis on being right limits our ability to think outside the box. “If you’re not prepared to be wrong,” Robinson says, “you’ll never come up with anything original.”

Worth listening to.

Posted December 7, 2015

Grant brings Lovin’ Spoonfuls to MW

A coalition of local funders – the MetroWest Health Foundation; the Sudbury Foundation; Middlesex Savings Charitable Eat Fresh Jane & TinaFoundation; and the Foundation for MetroWest – are partnering to bring more fresh fruits and vegetables, lean proteins, and whole grains to the pantries and tables of those most in need in our communities. Over the next three years, these four organizations have pledged more than a quarter of a million dollars to support the expansion of Lovin’ Spoonfuls, a nonprofit dedicated to bridging the gap between abundance and need.

The three-year grant of nearly $275,000 will allow Lovin’ Spoonfuls to bring their proven food rescue model to food pantries and shelters in the MetroWest region.

“Each of the funders participating in this project has a long history of providing support for hunger programs in the region. This grant will further those efforts by working to make fresh fruits, vegetables, and other products available in a more organized and responsive way,” said Martin Cohen, president of the MetroWest Health Foundation.

In communities known for great affluence and beauty, it may come as a surprise to many that organizations like Lovin’ Spoonfuls are necessary. But suburban hunger is real, and it must be addressed. Together, we are working towards a future where neighbors in need have safe, supportive, and well-stocked places to go when consistently putting healthy food on the table becomes challenging.

While there are 700,000 food insecure residents in Massachusetts, and 20,000 MetroWest kids who rely on free or reduced school lunches,  there is no lack of food—in fact, there is abundance.

“Picture the Rose Bowl, fill it up with fresh produce and set it on fire. That’s the rate that we waste food in this country every day,” Lovin’ Spoonfuls Founder Ashley Stanley said last week at a Panel Talk: “Hunger in MetroWest, ” hosted by the Foundation for MetroWest. “And yet, local food pantries are struggling to stock their shelves. The divide between abundance and need is great, but we can change that.”

Efforts like those of Lovin’ Spoonfuls help bridge the divide by connecting people in need to the bounty of unused food that exists in our communities.

Food programs are ready to take in more fresh food. Joanne Barry, executive director of A Place to Turn in Natick said, “A Place to Turn is thrilled to hear that local foundations will be funding Lovin’ Spoonfuls in our area as they have a proven record of encouraging businesses and other food establishments to donate food that is currently going to waste. This new collaboration will absolutely result in more food delivered to organizations like ours that can then distribute it immediately to people in need in our community.”

Read the MetroWest Daily News article here.

Photo courtesy of A Place to Turn
Posted October 15, 2015

Getting Kids “Ready to Read”

Version 2We’re big proponents of early learning…getting those young brain cells fired up even before children are walking or talking. The more inspired young minds are, the more their cognitive potential increases.

That’s why reading to young children is so important and why we were happy to support the thinking behind the United Way of Tri-County’s (UWTC) Ready to Read program with a 2012 capacity building planning grant.Ready to read 1

The program, which celebrated its first anniversary yesterday at the Pusan Road Community Center, provides Framingham children with three new books every four months from birth until they enter kindergarten, for a total of 60 new, age appropriate books.

UWTC hosts the quarterly get together in partnership with the Framingham Housing Authority. Families stop by to pick up their latest trio of books, engage in a craft project, get their face painted or lounge on the sofa and read a story. Yesterday’s birthday event included pizza and cake. In its first year, 63 children participated. Parents report that they are reading with their children more often and for a longer time period and that their children are increasingly interested in and excited about reading. A good start to a worthwhile program.

Related Blog Posts:

Catch the Read Aloud Habit

Early Childhood Brain Building

Posted on July 31, 2015

Becoming a Philanthropist

The Sudbury Foundation is pleased to once again support the Foundation for MetroWest’s Youth in Philanthropy program – also known as “YIP,” and even doubly pleased to be able to offer two sessions of the semester-long program in Sudbury in the coming academic year.

The program meets from 7 pm to 8:30 pm in our meeting room at The Grange Hall in Sudbury and is open to high school students in the MetroWest area. CLICK HERE for details and to download the application and here for the complete schedule.

YIP teaches teens how philanthropy can create positive change in their community by giving them the opportunity to take the lead on all phases of grant making – from assessing community need to reading and vetting proposals to conducting site visits to making grant recommendations.

Students learn about the importance of the nonprofit sector and giving back to their own community. Participants form their own Board of Trustees and have the opportunity to run for leadership positions, fundraise for the program, visit local organizations, and distribute grants.

Participants will:

  • Learn leadership skills
  • Assess community needs
  • Understand nonprofit operations and impacts
  • Raise funds to support their efforts
  • Evaluate and prioritize funding requests
  • Make grantmaking and charitable gift decisions
  • Positively affect their communities

It’s also a wonderful opportunity to meet and work with a new group of friends doing important and meaningful work. Many past recipients describe the program as a life-changing experience.  Click here to learn about the grants awarded by YIP students.

For questions, please email Jennifer Ubaldino at the Foundation for MetroWest.

Posted July 20, 2015