Boston Private is pleased to contribute $10,000 to the City of Boston’s Racial Equity Fund. Launched earlier this year amidst local and national calls for greater efforts to address racial injustice in our communities, the Boston Racial Equity Fund aims to coordinate efforts on behalf of the people and organizations of Boston to improve racial justice and equity in the City.
Part of the Boston Charitable Trust, the fund will be managed by the City of Boston’s Treasury Department. Mayor Martin J. Walsh has assembled a 16-member steering committee of civic leaders, led by Emerson College president Lee Pelton, to advise city officials on raising and allocating money.
Boston Private has a long history of partnering with the City of Boston and local organizations to invest in low- and moderate-income people and in neighborhoods in which a majority of residents are people of color.
“In our years of doing this work, we have found that local nonprofits and development agencies have the deepest understanding of their communities and are best equipped to meet the needs of their neighborhoods. We’re proud to support this Fund, which leverages the resources and fundraising power of the City to put more money in the hands of local community organizations who know how best to deploy it to achieve a more equitable Boston,” said Esther Schlorholtz, Boston Private’s Director of Community Investment. “We will continue to identify ways to enhance our engagement with partners committed to the goals of racial and social justice in Boston and in all of the communities we serve.”
“We thank Boston Private for this generous and timely donation,” said Dr. Karilyn Crockett, Chief of Equity for the City of Boston. “As one of our first institutional donors, you occupy an important leadership position in the launch of this Fund and are helping to build the type of justice-informed future that we know is possible for the City of Boston.”
“Boston Private has always been a staunch partner in increasing and maintaining homeownership opportunities for low- and moderate-income families and people of color – from your work providing financing for affordable housing developments and supporting Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative's work, to your work on Mayor Walsh's Working Group to End Barriers to Homeownership, to your help in creating the ONE+Boston first-time homebuyer program and then being the first to sign on to the Mayor's Foreclosure Prevention Program in April – not to mention the way that you have cooperated with us when an individual homeowner is at risk of foreclosure,” shared Maureen Flynn, Deputy Director of Boston’s Department of Neighborhood Development. “Thank you for continuing your tradition of partnership and support – we couldn't do our work without partners like Boston Private.”
We are proud to partner with the City of Boston on this and other community investment initiatives. Learn more about the Boston Racial Equity Fund and donate here.