Fellow Gifts

As the culmination of two years together, Kuehn Fellows have an unusual opportunity to make an impact collectively, directing a gift from the Foundation to a nonprofit they select.

2019 Fellows

The 2019 Fellows selected Small Business Development, Entrepreneurship, and Retail Incubation for Entrepreneurs of Color and Immigrant-Owned Businesses in the Boston Area as the focus for their grant.  The Fellows were pleased to support the Center for Cooperative Development and Solidarity (CCDS) as their focus gift.  CCDS is a non-profit organization that serves as an umbrella for worker-owned cooperatives in the East Boston community.  During the pandemic, CCDS was highly responsive, serving more participants and even growing its programs in a community disproportionately affected by COVID and job loss.

2017 Fellows

The 2017 Fellows chose “housing the hardest to house” as their topic.  More specifically, the Fellows sought to address the gap between what most affordable housing developments can offer and what’s needed by populations which can be legally excluded from housing–like individuals with criminal backgrounds, households with bad credit, and undocumented residents.

Since 1988, Chelsea-based ROCA has had the mission to disrupt the cycle of incarceration and poverty by helping young people transform their lives. Link here.  KCF was pleased to make a donation of $25,000 at the direction of the 2017 Fellows to ROCA.

2015 Fellows

The 2015 Fellows prioritized the issue area of financial readiness and asset-building for low-income households.  After a several-month process collaborating to identify and screen potential grantees, the Fellows chose Family Independence Initiative. FII asks “Why make poverty tolerable, when we can make it escapable?” and seeks to change the resource gap for low-income families by partnering with, learning from, and investing directly in families. www.fii.org.  KCF was pleased to make a donation of $20,000 at the direction of the 2015 Fellows to FII.