Announcing Barr’s First Grants of 2015

Our trustees meet on a quarterly basis to review and award grants to support our partners working in the field. We are excited to highlight some of that work here and invite you to explore all of the grants awarded this quarter through our new online grants database.

In Arts & Culture, Barr awarded 11 grants totaling $1.8 million. Of this amount, $1.75 million will support ten mid-sized organizations in the Barr-Klarman Arts Capacity Building Initiative. These two-year grants extend the Initiative to a five-year effort, providing multi-year operating support and capitalization, training, and technical assistance.

In Climate, Barr awarded 12 grants totaling $5 million. Two grants made within our Clean Energy portfolio will support Community Labor United and New World Foundation in their efforts to help build a strong community base of support for climate action through the Green Justice Coalition. The Coalition engages working-class communities of color in developing and implementing an energy vision and action plan. Three grants made within our Transportation and Smart Growth portfolio will support an array of complementary transit-oriented initiatives, research, and technical assistance at the local, state, and national levels by Transportation for Massachusetts (T4MA), Smart Growth America, and the State Smart Transportation Initiative.

In Education, Barr awarded five grants totaling $600,000. These include a $200,000 grant to Raising A Reader Massachusetts to support its expansion in high-need Boston neighborhoods, focusing on low-income families and English language learners, as well as a $130,000 grant to the Rennie Center for Education Research & Policy to support the continuation and expansion of the Condition of Education in the Commonwealth research project through printed materials, digital media, and convenings.

In Global, Barr awarded eight grants totaling $2.3 million. These include a $500,000 grant to Living Goods to provide operating support and help scale its work in Uganda, as well as a $400,000 grant to Root Capital, Inc., to strengthen and expand its capacity to plan, implement, and measure its efforts to increase smallholder farmer resilience to climate change and related environmental shocks.

Explore Our Grants Database