“Socioeconomic diversity in schools has been shown to improve outcomes for students of all backgrounds,” says Terry DeLancey, Executive Director of Agassiz Baldwin Community (ABC). “The Cambridge community must now renew efforts to achieve and maintain diversity for our children.”

That is why ABC applied for a grant from the Cambridge-Agassiz-Harvard Fund (CAH Fund) to provide scholarships for eligible students from the Maria L. Baldwin School to attend Agassiz Baldwin Afterschool. In May, the CAH Fund awarded ABC $60,000 toward this initiative to be distributed over three years.

Since Agassiz Baldwin Afterschool is held at the Maria L. Baldwin School and at the ABC building down the street, this is an ideal arrangement to provide convenient afterschool care for children in the Agassiz neighborhood. ABC will reserve 12 slots (four each year) for scholarship students, and ABC’s Director of Children’s Programs, Maria Laine, will personally reach out to families to inform them of this opportunity.

According to CAH Fund chairperson Miriam Goldberg, “CAH thought the proposal had considerable merit in that it sought to integrate children of different socioeconomic backgrounds in a way that would benefit all concerned.”

The CAH Fund awards grants to non-profit organizations for pilot programs that serve Cambridge residents. Because the CAH Fund grew out of negotiations between Agassiz neighborhood residents and Harvard University, the fund is particularly invested in supporting proposals that come from this community. “CAH has quietly made a difference in Cambridge, supporting a wide variety of non-profit initiatives,” says DeLancey. This grant is in addition to the $20,000 that ABC already provides annually for scholarships to its programs.