Project Place Receives $10,000 Targeted Grant To Advance Women
Grant From Eastern Bank Charitable Foundation Will Fund Working Opportunities for Women Social Enterprise Program
BOSTON, August 8, 2018—Project Place announces today that it has received a $10,000 Targeted Grant from Eastern Bank, America’s oldest and largest mutual bank. The grant will support its social enterprise program Working Opportunities for Women (WOW), which provides opportunities for Boston-based women with children―particularly women who are homeless―to gain meaningful employment experience while navigating the transition from relying solely on public assistance to becoming more financially independent.
Each year, the Eastern Bank Charitable Foundation’s Targeted Grant program supports hundreds of community-based organizations working for progress on a specific issue in Eastern’s New England footprint. In 2018, in celebration of the Bank’s 200th anniversary and to honor its first depositor, Rebecca Sutton, Targeted Grants have been designated to support organizations addressing a range of issues that disproportionately impact women, such as sexual assault, domestic violence, human trafficking, health care, pay equity, and senior management and board representation. Project Place is among 170 nonprofits each receiving a $10,000 grant. In total, Eastern is granting $1.7 million in Targeted Grants this year to nonprofits in communities from New Hampshire to Cape Cod and throughout the South Shore, North Shore, Metro West, Merrimack Valley and Greater Boston.
“Women with children experiencing homelessness face multiple barriers to entering the workforce―including a lack of child care and a terrible fear of losing critical public assistance once employed,” said Project Place Executive Director Suzanne Kenney. “WOW engages women in an enterprise that provides them with real work for real pay and supportive on-the-job supervision. Our program puts women on a career trajectory that will eventually see them landing jobs with family-sustaining incomes. We’re incredibly grateful for Eastern Bank for supporting this important work.”
Eastern’s Targeted Grant program this year creates new opportunities and resources for women in areas
where assistance is needed the most. The facts are staggering:
- A woman is assaulted every nine seconds in the U.S. and one in three women has been a victim
of physical brutality by an intimate partner, making intimate partner violence the single greatest
cause of injury to women. - In Massachusetts, women earn 83 cents for every dollar paid to men. In New Hampshire, they
earn 76 cents. African-American women nationwide earn 64 cents for every dollar earned by
white men, and Latinas—only 56 cents. - In the sciences, women represent less than 25% of those employed in computer and
mathematical occupations and only 15% in architecture and engineering. For women of color,
this gap is even wider. Asian women, African-American women, and Latinas make up less than
10% of working scientists and engineers in the U.S. - Women receive more graduate degrees and they hold more faculty positions in colleges and
universities, and yet, men hold the highest number of tenured university positions. - Only 32 women run Fortune 500 companies and only two are women of color. Less than 20% of
all board seats in Fortune 1,000 companies are held by women.
“We believe in breaking down the barriers that stand between people and prosperity. That’s why Eastern is a strong advocate for the advancement of women,” said Bob Rivers, Chair and CEO of Eastern Bank. “With each Targeted Grant, we aim to enhance the lives of our neighbors and contribute to real progress around the advancement of women in our local communities. On behalf of everyone at Eastern, we congratulate this year’s Targeted Grant recipients and thank them for working to level the playing field.”
For a complete list of the 2018 Targeted Grant recipients, click here.
About Project Place
Founded in 1967, Project Place has provided hope and opportunity to homeless and low-income individuals in the Greater Boston Area for 48 years. The nonprofit is a supportive community that provides the education and resources needed to obtain stable employment and housing. The agency manages social enterprises (small businesses with a social mission) that offer employment opportunities and job training programs, career services, transitional and permanent housing, and case management support to help those experiencing homelessness reestablish themselves in society with dignity. For more information on these and other programs, visit projectplace.org, or follow us on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram.
About Eastern Bank
Founded in 1818 and celebrating its 200th anniversary in 2018, Boston-based Eastern Bank is America’s oldest and largest mutual bank, with $11 billion in assets and over 120 locations serving communities in eastern Massachusetts, southern and coastal New Hampshire and Rhode Island. Eastern provides exceptional access to fairly priced banking, investment and insurance products and services for consumers and businesses of all sizes, and for the eighth consecutive year is the #1 U.S. Small Business Administration lender in New England. Eastern Bank, which includes Eastern Wealth Management and Eastern Insurance, is known for its outspoken advocacy and community support that has exceeded more than $110 million in charitable giving since 1999. The Eastern Bank Charitable Foundation is a leader in corporate philanthropy and serves as the charitable arm of Eastern Bank. An inclusive company, Eastern employs 1,900+ deeply committed professionals who value relationships with their customers, colleagues and communities. Join us for good at www.easternbank.com and follow Eastern on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram.