Finalists were chosen by a panel of judges that included community foundation and academic leaders from across the state. The number of finalists per category is dependent upon the number of nominations received.

Nonprofit Advocacy Award

Homes For families » Roxbury, MA

In 1993, family shelter executives came together with a shared goal to increase advocacy efforts and to include the voices of consumers and service providers in the efforts to end family homelessness in Massachusetts. More than half of the board and staff of Homes for Families are formerly homeless parents, while other staff and board members represent the shelter and service provider community. Homes for Families does not advocate for homeless families, but WITH them. At the same time, they work with shelter and service providers, on the front line and in the corner offices, to ensure that staff on every level is aware of policy and budget issues and supports the involvement of the families they serve. In addition, Homes for Families knows that families and providers are the experts on homelessness. They work to ensure that their insights are heard on the administrative level and to help shape policies and programs, which will lead to more a promising and cost effective practice. Their Leadership Development Institute for homeless parents trained over 500 families and 300 providers in 2009 about public policy and advocacy.

Housing Assistance Corporation » Hyannis, MA

Hyannis-based Housing Assistance Corporation has played a key role in founding several human services and housing organizations. Clients have a high success rate in achieving self-sufficiency, and many have become HAC employees and board members. HAC builds bridges between clients, other nonprofit agencies and the government. An example is HAC’s Project Prevention, which is recognized as a model for the state. HAC research showed that emergency shelter for a family can cost $3,000 or more per month, while preventing a family from losing its housing typically costs less than $2,000 per family. Through a unique partnering of government, nonprofit organizations, and the interfaith community, HAC’s Project Prevention has served thousands of families since 1993.

Mass Mentoring Partnership » Boston, MA

During Mass Mentoring Partnership’s (MMP) strategic planning process in 2008, they identified engaging in advocacy as a priority for both the organization and the field of mentoring in Massachusetts. They worked to ensure that the local mentoring field accessed and benefitted from resources in the public sector. In 2009 MMP implemented a campaign to maintain funding for mentoring in the state budget with a focus on the Mentoring Matching Grants line item. MMP also worked to ensure that youth mentoring was recognized by the Massachusetts Executive Office of Education as a strategy to address the achievement gap and by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health as a strategy to address youth violence.

Sociedad Latina » Roxbury, MA

Sociedad Latina was founded in 1968 to create a welcoming space for Latino youth in Boston to gather and find fellowship. Advocacy work stems from two core beliefs firmly held by SL’s leadership team: 1) with the proper support and resources, youth are capable of creating meaningful change in their own lives and in the community; and 2) youth at risk need comprehensive, intensive services over the long-term in order to overcome the numerous barriers to success that they face. While the majority of the youth they serve are not of voting age, SL maintains that the youth voice is critical to the decision making processes that craft legislation, school policies, community development and more. That is why all SL youth receive training on civic engagement and how to advocate for themselves and others. All of SL’s advocacy initiatives are youth-identified and researched. The success of their initiatives supports the assertion that youth are capable of creating meaningful change.

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Capacity Building

Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program
» Boston, MA

In early 1984, a coalition of health care professionals, homeless service providers, and state and city officials came together in Boston to address the unmet medical needs of a growing homeless population. The coalition recognized that traditional health care providers were ill-equipped to respond to the special issues of people living in abject poverty without the safety of a home. Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program's Jean Yawkey Place has dramatically increased their capacity to serve their patients and solved four major challenges confronting the organization: Expanded Ambulatory Clinic, Superior Medical Respite Care, Integrated Services and Established Presence.

Common Impact » Cambridge, MA

Founded in 2000, Common Impact brings together global companies and local nonprofits to transform their communities. At the heart of this model is the idea that capacity building is critical to the long-term health of nonprofits, and therefore the health of our communities. Knowing that nonprofits rarely have the internal resources to build capacity in areas such as HR, IT, finance and marketing by themselves, they engage corporate partners to help provide expertise. Common Impact is currently engaged in a major research study of nonprofit infrastructure investments, a study which will benchmark best practices in nonprofit capacity building and provide tools for nonprofits seeking to grow their capacity. By 2017, Common Impact expects to channel an estimated $1.1 billion dollars in pro bono resources to the nonprofit sector.

Education Pioneers » Boston, MA

Education Pioneers is a national non-profit organization that is working to identify, train and support a pipeline of talented leaders to address our nation’s urban education crisis. It operates a rigorous, full-time summer Fellowship Program that recruits exceptional graduate students (Fellows) to work on mission-critical projects for local education organizations (Partners) and train with education leaders. Education Pioneers launched in Boston in 2005, with 11 Fellows working on mission-critical projects for seven Partners. Since then, the program has quadrupled in size to meet the unprecedented demand of local Partner organizations and Fellowship candidates.

Jericho Road Project » Lowell, MA

The Jericho Road Project (JRP) is a national leader in the skills-based volunteers sector and is the only organization of its kind dedicated to providing long term, wide-ranging and free capacity-building services to small and mid-sized American cities such as Lowell, Lawrence, Worcester, and Lynn, Massachusetts. JRP has increased the capabilities of local nonprofits to better serve its constituents in two distinct ways. Foremost, JRP has created communities of high-performing nonprofit organizations that can better serve their respective missions and that collectively will improve the overall quality of life in their communities. In order to attain this, JRP has built the capacity of each nonprofit client by carefully matching its needs with the free professional expertise of their volunteers. To arrive at community-wide impact, JRP, unlike all others in its field, targets smaller cities that have smaller nonprofit communities. This allows them to work with the majority of nonprofits serving a city. To help organizations develop an accurate view of their strengths and challenges, they offer their clients an organizational self-assessment. Based on the results of the assessment, they collaboratively develop an organizational improvement plan with clear capacity-building goals.

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Collaboration Award

Cradles to Crayons » Quincy, MA

Founded in 2002, Cradles to Crayons (C2C) is an innovative Quincy-based nonprofit organization that equips children living in homeless or low income situations with the basic essentials they need to feel safe, warm, ready to learn and valued. C2C actively partners with over 400 pre-qualified social service agencies across Massachusetts. In addition, C2C maintains critically important relationships with corporate, community, and faith-based organizations. The groups host community collection drives that supply their program with the essential children's products they distribute. Their collaborative model has allowed them to grow from serving less than 1,000 children in 2002 to more than 45,000 children in 2009. Since their founding, C2C has helped more than 195,000 disadvantaged children across Massachusetts. They have engaged over 35,000 volunteers in the process and have distributed over 98,000 backpacks full of new school supplies across the state. They have formulated partnerships with almost 400 social service partners to help indentify children most in-need. In 2009 alone, C2C mobilized more than 400 children’s product drives and engaged 16,000 volunteers, both in their Giving Factory warehouse and in local communities. Packages went to 45,000 children last year.

Growing Places Garden Project » Clinton, MA

Growing Places Garden Project (GPGP)’s mission is to improve the food security and nutrition education of people with limited economic means. GPGP does this primarily by providing gardens and education so that people can grow food on their own. Hunger is on the rise in Massachusetts, up 23% over the past four years, which puts a severe strain on the state’s food banks, soup kitchens, and shelters. At the same time, health concerns such as diabetes, obesity and heart disease continue to pose serious concerns for children and adults. Through new partnerships, GPGP has expanded its service beyond building gardens and introduced additional health and nutrition services to address these concerns and access families in need. Through the process of learning to care for and harvest food, people become more self confident, hopeful and more aware about their health and their lives. Despite decreases in public funding and a staff of 1, GPGP was able to advance its mission and expand services by aligning with partners who share their concerns about hunger, health, and nutrition education. By banding together with these organizations and sharing resources, the movement to end hunger and enhance health becomes stronger, and access to families in need is increased dramatically.

Inquilinos Boricuas en Accion » Boston, MA

In 1968, Inquilinos Boricuas en Acción (IBA) was born from a resident-led social justice movement that developed Villa Victoria, a 435-unit affordable housing community in Boston’s South End. The partnership with Bunker Hill Community College offers a direct pathway into higher education and careers, which distinguishes them from other community-based GED and basic education programs. IBA and BHCC have equitably shared the governance, administration and decision-making processes of the program, with each organization focused on its strengths. Given the complex needs of low-income, linguistic minority residents and multiple barriers (childcare, employment, medical issues, and negative schooling experiences) that can interfere with higher education advancement, they have made case management a program cornerstone. A college campus located in an affordable housing complex, PTC is a replicable model of a non-profit working with a community college to empower affordable housing residents through education.

Jericho Road Project » Lowell, MA

The Jericho Road Project (JRP) is a national leader in the skills-based volunteers sector and is the only organization of its kind dedicated to providing long term, wide-ranging and free capacity-building services to small and mid-sized American cities such as Lowell, Lawrence, Worcester, and Lynn, Massachusetts. They consider each of the more than 45 JR Lowell projects they managed during the year collaboration between the Jericho Road staff, their clients, and volunteers. They continue to refine their knowledge and practice about successful collaboration by paying attention to the importance of relationships, shared expectations and goals, and accountability. JR Lynn will be a new addition to the community of existing Jericho sites and is an unprecedented collaboration between General Electric (GE) Lynn's Volunteer Council, the Lynn Nonprofit Business Alliance and the Jericho Road Project. Their other strategic partner, the Lynn Nonprofit Business Alliance, is a coalition of leading Lynn NPOs that are both a terrific source of local knowledge as well as future clients of their services. JRP utilizes organizational and board capacity assessments as a baseline against which they measure nonprofit client progress. In these trying times, JRP is also increasingly helping its clients think through difficult decisions such as mergers with like organizations, buying versus renting building space, and deployment of revenue-generating social enterprises. With JR in the community (and no profit motive in the equation), nonprofits are more likely to get the right services and not waste time and money on expensive and unnecessary services.

AHA! » New Bedford, MA

AHA! (Art, History & Architecture) is New Bedford's free Downtown Cultural Night and collaborative cultural organization. These cultural nights involve downtown New Bedford’s museums, galleries, arts organizations, merchants and restaurants. Each month's event is themed so that distinctive cultural programs are presented that allow a wide range of opportunities for performers, artists and humanitarians of all disciplines and levels to engage the public. It is estimated that there were 23,000 total visitations to AHA! Thursday Nights in 2009. As the city’s collaborative cultural organization, AHA! has promoted greater cooperation among the venues, which has enhanced the quality of programs and services provided by all the participants. AHA! has also inspired other cultural activities to occur in downtown New Bedford on other evenings. In fact, AHA! began with 14 partners in 1999 and now has 61 partners in various industry sectors, including museums and attractions, galleries and studios, restaurants, retail shops and cultural organizations. In addition to active dues-paying partners, there are also sixty-nine community programming groups who work in collaboration with the AHA! mission to present public programming, but do not pay dues or contribute on a monthly basis. AHA! spent a total of $289,093 on activities in 2009, including in-kind contributions. Thus, for every dollar spent by AHA!, 2.5 dollars in economic impacts were created.

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Nonprofit Communications Award

Big Sister Association of Greater Boston » Boston, MA

The mission of Big Sister Association of Greater Boston is to help girls realize their full potential by providing them with positive mentoring relationships with women. In 2009, Big Sister Association established the goal of building and expanding their community through social and traditional media. They developed and implemented a comprehensive plan to accomplish this goal. The plan began with social media, the current best way to communicate and expand their base. The blog is a tool that allows Big Sisters and staff to dialogue online about current issues facing the girls of Greater Boston. Traditional media cannot be overlooked as a significant means of exposure. Board member and President of PGR Media, Jane Deery, helped them gain pro bono media placement in print and out of home outlets, i.e. MBTA car cards and posters in Hanover and Arsenal Malls. Members of their Diversity Council have secured radio spots specifically targeted to women of color, including Touch 106.1 and Hot 97.7. In addition, they utilize PR to promote their message and have garnered a diverse range of media attention from NECN and the Bay State Banner to the Boston Business Journal and Color magazine. Both the pro bono advertising and PR have generated increases in volunteer applications.

May Institute/National Autism Center » Boston, MA

May Institute is an organization that provides educational, rehabilitative, and behavioral healthcare services to individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and other developmental disabilities, brain injuries, mental illness, and behavioral health needs. They began with a largely unknown Center launched by May Institute that had at the time received modest press, with a small constituent list of less than 1,000 and modest name recognition in the field of autism. In less than six months, the organization successfully crafted and launched the announcement of the National Standards Report the mission of the May Institute and NAC and the results of the National Standards Project onto the national (and international) autism stage. As a result, tens of thousands of individuals and families impacted by autism now have reliable, research-based information to help guide them in their journey.

United Way of Massachusetts Bay » Boston, MA

United Way of Massachusetts Bay and Merrimack Valley has been leveraging social media as part of an online communications strategy to increase public awareness and engagement in their mission for the last three years. This strategy has led to a number of successes and a more conversational relationship with their audiences. The organization has successfully used Twitter, comment capacities, and Google alerts to listen to their audience and respond to questions/issues that arise. UWMB has also used the organization’s blog to engage people in conversations about the issues they are trying to address. The most well-read and reacted-to post involved advice to Section 8 tenants whose buildings have been foreclosed. In December 2009, United Way launched an online action center called Choose Your Impact for people looking to make a difference in the communities of Massachusetts. The microsite leverages choice, lowers price points, and increases social motivators to illustrate the impact donors have in the community and to empower users to champion the cause in their own networks. United Way’s work in social media and online engagement is unique in that it demonstrates innovation as a way to evolve an established business model. By integrating emerging communications strategies into the context of an organization with scale and a long history of driving progress in the region, the organization is positioned to generate an even greater impact.

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Nonprofit Governance Award

Family Health Center of Worcester » Worcester, MA

Family Health Center of Worcester (FHCW) is a federally qualified Community Health Center whose mission is to improve the health and well-being of traditionally underserved and culturally diverse populations in the greater Worcester area by providing accessible, high-quality, comprehensive primary care, dental care and social services to individuals and families regardless of their ability to pay. The Board is comprised of community leaders, grassroots advocates, health care professionals, and 57% consumers (patients) who have served from 1 to 30 years as leaders and passionate advocates for Family Health Center of Worcester (FHCW). The Board is ever mindful of its oversight responsibilities to establish strategic goals and to ensure that resources are prudently employed to meet their goals and advance the mission. Board members receive training during orientation and at training sessions held throughout the year. The Programs and Policies Committee of the Board coordinates an annual Board self-evaluation and reviews the results of the evaluations during a full board meeting to stimulate problem solving and commit to ongoing improvements in board functioning. The Board meetings are structured so that the agenda prioritizes the issues in order of importance. This ensures that the critical issues are discussed and acted upon first and allows for dynamic meetings and deliberations. Three years ago, when the National Panel on the Nonprofit Sector released its report “The Principles for Good Governance and Ethical Practice” with recommendations for nonprofit organizations to voluntarily raise their standards of practice, the Board of FHCW headed the call.

Girl Scouts of Eastern Massachusetts » Boston, MA

The Girl Scouts of Eastern Massachusetts (GSEM) was formed on February 1, 2008, as a result of the merger between three regional Girl Scout Councils. To ensure that the GSEM Board of Directors embraces and exemplifies the mission of Girl Scouting, the bylaws of the council call for unique composition of the Board, designating up to four seats for current Girl Scout members. While a powerful one, this is not only a symbolic gesture - these board members are actively involved in the meetings of the board, as well as the board orientations and retreat. The Girl Scout Board members are looked to for their advice and opinions on every issue facing the Board and are frequently some of the most vocal contributors during board meetings.

Melanoma Foundation New England » Concord, MA

The Melanoma Foundation New England was founded in 1999 to combat the rising rate of skin cancer and melanoma, the most deadly form of the disease. The MFNE board has been forward thinking about board development. Identifying young donors will be important to secure future success. Traditionally, MFNE identifies board members based on their networks or ability to give. Today, the MFNE board members range in age 26-75. Most are either melanoma survivors or have some connection with the disease. Board members include Red Sox wife Kelli Pedoira, a young melanoma survivor and spokesperson for the Your Skin Is In campaign, Meghan Rothschild, also a young melanoma survivor, and Emily Wise, MD. These three women focus their board energies on meeting the Melanoma Foundation’s mission and raising funds for programs targeting young people. As a result, the Foundation has young donors interested in MFNE. In 2010, MFNE’s fundraising strategy includes 3 young donors events that will continue to build their base by stewarding the next generation of donors

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Nonprofit Innovation Award

Common Impact » Cambridge, MA

Founded in 2000, Common Impact brings together global companies and local nonprofits to transform communities. They do this through skills-based volunteering programs that engage corporate employee teams in capacity building at nonprofits in the cities and towns in which the employees live and work. The organization’s mission is two-fold: to help high-potential nonprofit organizations better meet their missions by connecting them to a community of skilled professionals; and to return business value to companies seeking unconventional solutions to engaging and developing tomorrow's leaders.

New England Business Associates » Springfield, MA

New England Business Associates has been providing individualized employment support services to people with developmental disabilities since 1983. Since its inception, NEBA has consistently achieved an 85-92% placement rate and is considered one of the top employment providers in the state of Massachusetts. NEBA also operates an innovative program at Springfield College, which allows individuals with developmental disabilities to enhance their academic skills, while spending time in a college setting. All students are paired with interns from the colleges which provide a mentor, a friend and a wonderful learning opportunity for both the student and the intern.

Pioneer Valley Rebuilders CDC » Feeding Hills, MA

Pioneer Valley Rebuilders is a nonprofit construction company. The Learn to Earn program prepares non-violent ex-offenders from the Hampden County Sheriff’s Department for work in the building trades. People emerging from incarceration have little formal education, minimal employment experience, and very few job skills. These citizens have a dire need for relevant skills training and employment experience.

Project HEALTH » Boston, MA

Founded in the Boston Medical Center Pediatrics Department in 1996, Project HEALTH envisions a health care system in which all clinics serving substantial low-income patient populations screen patients for key unmet resource needs and refer patients with such needs to these required resources. Their approach is simple, but effective: Project HEALTH enables doctors to prescribe food, fuel assistance, housing, or other resources for patients, just as they do medication. Patients take these prescriptions to Family Help Desks in clinic waiting rooms, where college volunteers fill the prescriptions by connecting patients with these key resources. Last year, Project HEALTH’s corps of 590 tenacious, energetic, well-trained volunteers assisted almost 5,000 low-income patients and their families in Boston, Chicago, Providence, New York, Baltimore, and Washington, D.C. in accessing the resources they need to be healthy.

Victory Programs, Inc » Boston, MA

Victory Programs was established in 1975 when the original founders opened the doors of their flagship program, Victory House. The simple, yet powerful, purpose of Victory House was to reach out to individuals who were not being served elsewhere, primarily Vietnam veterans, the deinstitutionalized and the homeless dealing with substance use disorder, as well as mental illness and other disabilities. Victory Programs have continually pioneered programs that are the first to accept and offer effective treatment and housing to emerging populations that may not be served elsewhere. In the early days of the AIDS epidemic, Victory Programs was instrumental in defining residential treatment for people who were living with HIV/AIDS and addiction. At that time, most alcohol and drug treatment programs were not serving people with other stigmatizing conditions, such as HIV/AIDS. Victory Programs became the first to open its doors to these individuals.

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Nonprofit Leadership Award

Wendy Everett, New England Healthcare Institute
» Cambridge, MA

The New England Healthcare Institute (NEHI) was founded in 2002 by a group of influential health care leaders who were concerned that the diverse and competing sectors within health care were not talking to one another about how to fix the broken system. Wendy Everett, ScD, is the first (and only) president of NEHI. As such, she has guided the development of the independent nonprofit organization from an idealistic start-up in 2002 into an influential research and policy organization dedicated to enabling the kinds of innovations that will improve the quality and lower the costs of health care.

Along the way, Everett has solidified NEHI’s role as a unique convener of the diverse, and often competing, sectors of health care. Representing payers, providers and patients; biotechnology, pharmaceutical and medical device companies; and hospitals, academic research organizations, employers and health IT companies, NEHI itself has become an innovative model for organized collaboration in a field previously marked by disparate opinions and efforts.

Vincent Perrone, Veterans Inc » Worcester, MA

Veterans Inc. is proud to be the largest provider of supportive housing for veterans in New England, offering safe quarters, rehabilitative services and transitional support to over 200 homeless veterans each day. Vincent Perrone established the organizational structure, which facilitates effective management control processes, ensuring proper management of direct services, fiscal accountability, and clinical reporting. In the past nineteen years, Perrone has fought for more funding opportunities at the local, state, and national level, which has increased the service capacity of the organization, and has led to a tremendous degree of successful initiatives. He has provided strong leadership on a statewide level through his activities on the Governors Homeless Task Force and city-wide through his role as an organizer of resources to address the needs of homeless veterans.

However, Perrone’s quiet and discrete activities are, in many ways, the best and most profound example of his excellence. Perrone has touched the core of hope for many, many veterans on a very personal level. For example, he can often be seen speaking one-on-one with a homeless veteran, listening intently to their problem or issue. He gives singular, private advice and encouragement and helps the homeless to feel less despair, less distrust and more hope. He developed the mission of the organization, “They were there when we needed them & We must be there now that they need us”, which became the driving force for developing a true strategic plan.

Dorcas Grigg-Saito, Lowell Community Health Center
» Lowell, MA

Since 1970, Lowell Community Health Center (LCHC) has been providing quality health care services to individuals and families, targeting those who are medically underserved, uninsured, and low income. Leading LCHC since 1997, Dorcas Grigg-Saito has fostered tremendous agency growth, encouraged individual staff development, and improved our community’s health. Grigg-Saito is firmly committed to the grassroots mission of community health centers: to cultivate local resources, to grow partnerships and build trust among community stakeholders, and to eliminate barriers to care for the medically underserved. Thanks to her leadership, the volume of patients accessing health care services at LCHC has grown threefold over the past decade, with more than 32,000 individuals now served each year. In addition, Grigg-Saito has led a strategic fundraising effort that has resulted in a $22 million annual operating budget that includes close to $7.5 million in grant funding. LCHC’s commitment to culturally competent care makes them a model for other nonprofits. LCHC has discovered that cultural competency is much more than speaking a client’s language; you must make a client feel comfortable in the service environment at every stage of their visit.

Nancy Watterson-Diorio, Boston VA Research Center
» Boston, MA

The Boston VA Research Institute, Inc. (BVARI) supports and conducts extramural research and educational activities at the VA Boston Healthcare System (VABHS). Since coming to BVARI, Nancy Watterson-Diorio has taken the company from a $250,000/year organization to a $10,000,000/year organization, making it one of the largest National Association of Veterans' Research and Education Foundations in the country. Watterson-Diorio plays a mentor-role for many individuals, both inside and outside of the BVARI organization, including helping new researchers, as well as mentor staff interested in taking on more responsibilities. In the face of constrained resources and significantly increased constituent needs (i.e. the large numbers of veterans returning from overseas to the Boston area), she has managed to both shape a cutting-edge research agenda and to support all of her staff in learning and constantly improving the work of the organization.

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Nonprofit Management Award

Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program
» Boston, MA

Since its founding in 1985, Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program has been guided by a simple but compelling mission: to provide and ensure access to the highest quality health care for Boston's homeless men, women and children. Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program is one of the largest and most comprehensive health care for the homeless programs in the country, caring for more than 11,000 of our community’s most vulnerable citizens each year. Controlling the spread of the communicable diseases within the homeless community is a huge challenge. Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program met these challenges through the efforts of their Emergency Preparedness Task Force. The Emergency Preparedness Task Force worked closely with shelters throughout Boston, providing guidance about how to prepare for the seasonal flu and a potential H1N1 outbreak. The fact that there has not been a flu outbreak in the homeless shelters this season is a testament to the hard work of Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program's Emergency Preparedness Task Force

East End House » Cambridge, MA

Originally established in 1875, East End House is one of Greater Boston's first social service centers. The Management Team has developed a written strategy to create powerful change in systems of evaluation and accountability that will greatly improve program quality. These systems will increase their capacity to measure program impact, make improvements in a timely manner, and identify staff professional development needs. Over the past year, the Management Team has engaged all staff in the development of specific desired outcomes for each program. The leadership is engaging staff at all levels over the next six months in a process that will create greater staff accountability to program outcomes, develop tools to measure benchmarks, operationalize best practices research and use evaluation data to make continuous program improvements. A staff leadership committee has been formed, composed of one or two staff members from each program who display leadership potential. East End House places high value on developing the leadership potential of staff as well as cultivating their interests. In terms of Management, this means that there are leaders throughout the agency who can create and sustain change.

WORK Inc. » Dorchester, MA

It is the mission of WORK Inc. to ensure that all individuals with disabilities have the ability to grow, the right to make choices, access to education, and the opportunity to participate in community life via meaningful work. In the past year, WORK Inc. has relocated from a facility the agency occupied for over 40 years to a state-of the art headquarters in Dorchester, MA. WORK Inc’s CEO Mr. James Cassetta’s leadership has been stellar during this difficult year. He has been integral in securing financing, raising funds, overseeing the building’s renovations and making a myriad of decisions daily that accompany such an endeavor. Further, when dealing with the state 9c budget cuts in October 2008 that wiped out the agency’s most successful vocational program for individuals that experience mental illness, Mr. Cassetta demonstrated the kind of leadership, advocacy and drive for which Work Inc employees know him. Recently, the agency launched a Careers Ladders project in which clients train for positions in the health care field. Not only do these efforts provide good jobs for training program graduates, but they lessen the agency’s reliance on increasingly diminished state and federal funding.

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Nonprofit Young Professional Award

Nina Dudnick, Seeding Labs » Cambridge, MA

Nina Dudnick - Seeding Labs. Seeding Labs' mission is to support and expand scientific research in developing countries by providing affordable reclaimed laboratory equipment and facilitating connections with the global scientific research community. Nina Dudnick is a molecular biologist, and her goal has always been to use that training for the good of Seeding Labs. Scientists are trained to identify solvable problems and address them with techniques, the outcomes of which can be empirically measured, evaluated, and improved over time. Volunteerism is not an inherent part of the scientific culture, and it has been part of her mission to motivate busy researchers to take an interest in their counterparts across the ocean and to use their expertise outside the lab to provide tangible help. Nina has recruited students on six campuses and staff at an equal (but growing) number of biotechnology companies to do just that. Their involvement, during the process of donating their surplus materials and long after they are sent, will make the assistance they provide more durable and the impact more lasting. Seeding labs has equipped labs in 14 countries, providing over $800,000 in research equipment and supplies. This has allowed the scientists receiving assistance to stretch their meager budgets to train over 3500 students, publish over 60 papers, obtain 2 patents and increase their funding by an average of 216%.

Abigail C. Furey, United Way of Mass Bay » Boston, MA

Abigail C. Furey - United Way of Massachusetts Bay, Inc. (UWMB). United Way was built on the belief that, together, we can accomplish more than any individual or organization can alone. United Way’s Emerging Leaders program provides a comprehensive set of engagement opportunities for young professionals throughout the greater Boston Area. With its three key focus areas being social networking, volunteerism and leadership, the program addresses the needs and interests of this dynamic demographic. Their Emerging Leaders, with leadership provided by Ms. Furey, support the Youth Venture program by volunteering to mentor the youth in the program, serving on the selection panels, and also by raising funds for the program. The Youth Venture program inspires and invests in teams of young people, ages 12-18, to start social projects that create positive, lasting change in their communities. Youth participate in a “Dream It. Do It.” training workshop where they work in teams to develop ideas and learn how to write business plans. Their model is unique in the sense that it truly is a volunteer driven initiative and a sustainable pipeline for leadership (Ms. Furey and several other volunteers currently serve on the United Way Board of Directors and other governing committees), as well as for broader community initiatives.

Matthew Stone, Youth Villages
» Worcester, Woburn, Lawrence, MA

Matthew Stone - Youth Villages. Youth Villages' mission is simply to help children and families live successfully. Since arriving in the Bay State in 2007, Youth Villages has taken over 170 of the state's most vulnerable and challenging children and worked with them in their homes to help strengthen their families and solve their problems along with their families, rather than away from them. When Youth Villages arrived in the Commonwealth, Matthew Stone was forced to wear many hats. As state manager, he had to tend to the day-to-day affairs of the organization, including advising his counselors and meeting with families. At the same time, Mr. Stone had to learn about the web of service providers already present in the state and how Youth Villages would best fit in. His most difficult challenge, however, may have been convincing people to believe. A lot of doubt was cast regarding the potential for troubled children and their families to have their various issues mended in the home. Never discouraged, Mr. Stone sought out some of the most challenging children and families in the state in order to prove Youth Villages' method would work. The success rates of these families were overwhelmingly positive, and the extensive outcome data backed it up. Thanks in large part to Mr. Stone, many of those who doubted intensive in-home care could be effective, became believers.

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Social Entrepreneurship Award

Abundant Table (at Pine Street Inn) » Boston, MA

Launched in 2000, Abundant Table is a social enterprise of Pine Street Inn’s food services department. From the beginning, Abundant Table’s success was based on three variables: revenue, an enhanced and expanded job training experience and new partnerships with other nonprofits and social purpose organizations. At present, over 1,000 meals per day are sold to area organizations through Abundant Table. Since its launch, the program has prepared and delivered over 1.3 million meals to our customers in the Boston area. In the year ending June 30, 2009, Abundant Table generated approximately $1 million in gross revenue. With an enrollment of over 100 students this past fiscal year, Abundant Table has become the primary revenue stream to support student training. Abundant Table has a mission-based model, serving concurrent bottom lines of social service and fiscal responsibility, with a blend of business and partnership.

Artists for Humanity » Boston, MA

Artists For Humanity’s mission is to provide underserved urban youth with the keys to self-sufficiency through paid employment in the arts. AFH’s mission is built on the philosophy that exposure to the arts is a powerful force for social change and creative entrepreneurship through the arts is a productive and life-changing opportunity for young people. Bridging economic, racial, and social divisions, AFH works to restore urban neighborhoods by introducing young people’s creativity to the business community. In 1991, Susan Rodgerson - artist, teacher, and entrepreneur - felt the need to address the lack of arts experiences within the Boston Public School system. Artists For Humanity’s central program, the Arts Micro-Enterprise, is a paid apprenticeship and leadership program employing urban teens. Youth are partnered in small groups with professional artist mentors to design and create fine art, industrial design and digital graphic services. With fully equipped, staffed studios in Painting/Murals, Sculpture/Industrial Design, Screen-Printing, Graphic Design, Motion Graphics, Photography, Web Design and Video, youth and mentors are able to collaborate on creative projects, many specifically commissioned by clients.

SuAsCo Watershed Community Council
» Stow, MA

The SuAsCo Watershed Community Council is an innovative community-based alliance that promotes the sustainable economic and environmental well-being of the Sudbury-Assabet-Concord River (SuAsCo) Watershed. The SuAsCo Council is a unique non-profit organization in that it brings together diverse interest groups: 1) businesses, 2) municipal officials, 3) environmental organizations, and 4) state/federal/regional government to collaborate and find common ground on environmental issues in the watershed. The idea for the SWCAP program emerged while doing strategic planning back in 2001 and 2002 as municipalities readied for compliance with the new federally-mandated Stormwater Phase II permit that took effect in 2003. The Council is able to assist municipalities with the educational components of the permit, an area for which local government is not typically staffed and for which the Council, as a collaborative coalition, could draw on the expertise and skills of its diverse representatives. SWCAP provides municipalities with an annual subscription service that provides storm water education and outreach materials. The municipality can implement these in their community to fulfill the education and public participation requirement of their federal Stormwater Phase II permit.

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