Architects and allies provide $48,000 in public-education grants

The Boston Foundation for Architecture is pleased to announce its 2009 grant awards. These grants help underwrite community-based K-12 and other educational programs across Massachusetts that focus on elevating public awareness of and participation in the planning, design, and construction of our communities. This year's recipients and the contact person in each instance are:

Berkshire South Regional Community Center (Great Barrington) -- $2,000 to support architectural design workshops for middle school students (Eliza Crescentini, 413-528-2810 x14)

Boston By Foot (Boston) -- $3,000 to support the development of supplemental classroom materials for Boston By Little Feet tours (Mary Fichtner, 617-367-2345)

Citizen Schools (Boston) -- $2,500 to support hands-on architecture and urban design apprenticeships for approximately 100 middle school students, who will work with volunteer design professionals and community residents (Lindsay Sobel, 617-695-2300 x176)

Common Boston (Boston) -- $2,000 to support a design-build competition benefiting community-based nonprofits as a central feature of the 2010 Common Boston neighborhood and design festival (Justin Crane, 617-816-3777)

Discover Roxbury (Roxbury) -- $3,500 to support the development of a walking tour of Roxbury’s Highland Park, including background material and curriculum activities (Marcia Butman, 617-427-1006)

Discovery Museum (Acton) -- $3,750 to support the development of an interactive exhibit, Thermography: Seeing Green with Infra-Red, to illustrate insulating properties of different housing materials and designs (Denise LeBlanc, 978-264-2000 x20)

Girls Inc. (Worcester) -- $1,850 to support “Material Girls”, an architectural design and construction program for girls that builds skills in math, engineering and design and introduces girls to historic and green architecture (Cathi Coridan, 508-755-6455 x11)

Hancock Shaker Village (Pittsfield) -- $3,500 to develop a K-12 curriculum program on Shaker architecture and community planning, and its links to modern eco-friendly building (Todd Burdick, 413-443-0188)

Hawthorne Youth and Community Center (Roxbury) -- $3,210 to support the creation by local youth of a three-dimensional model of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum courtyard and related community educational materials for the installation of the exhibit at two venues (Samantha Sadd, 617-427-0613)

Maria Baldwin School (Cambridge) -- $3,750 to support a six-session teacher residency refining and disseminating the Kids Design a Sustainable Future curriculum with 5th, 6th and 7th grade students  (Rebecca Vyduna, 617-349-6526)

mytown (Boston) -- $3,000 to expand the Youth Guide Development Program, which trains and employs urban teens as guides for historical tours, enhancing their skills and building engagement with their communities (Lisa Owens, 617-536-8696 x11)

North Bennet Street School (Boston) -- $3,750 to support the development of a prototype manual arts training program for 6th grade students in Boston Public Schools, introducing hand skills, tool use, construction materials and methods and their impact on design. (Miguel Gomez-Ibanez, 617-227-0155)

Preservation Worcester (Worcester) -- $3,000 to support architecture- and preservation-related programming for 3rd, 4th and 5th graders at the Worcester Arts Magnet School, including classroom activities, field trips and a community performance (Kimberly Connors-Hughes, 508-754-8760)

Stearns School (Pittsfield) -- $1,900 to support a design workshop for 4th and 5th graders, focusing on floor plans and elevations for a single-family home (Lynne Griffin, 413-499-9554)

Trinity United Methodist Church (Springfield) -- $3,750 to support the development of resource materials introducing students and community members to Gothic architecture and stained glass, using Trinity Church as an example (Vera Baker, 413-782-2224)

University of Massachusetts Architecture and Design Program (Amherst) -- $3,750 to support design workshops for at-risk high school students in Springfield (Stephen Schrieber FAIA, 413-577-1575)

For information on how to contribute to the Foundation or other questions, contact Ann Fienman 617-951-1433 x233 or afienman@architects.org.