La Colaborativa, the largest Latina-led community based organization in Chelsea and the greater region, is pleased to announce it has secured an unparalleled $2 million grant through the Yield Giving Open Call, in conjunction with Lever for Change and Fidelity Charitable Foundation.
“La Colaborativa is profoundly honored to receive this award from MacKenzie Scott’s Yield Giving Open Call,” announced Gladys Vega, President of La Colaborativa. “This generous grant not only validates our unwavering commitment to serving Latinx community members in the Greater Boston area but also propels us into the future with renewed energy and resources.”
Founded by MacKenzie Scott, the Yield Open Giving Call announced La Colaborativa as one of the largest awardees in a national competition, focused on organizations working with people and in places experiencing the greatest need in the United States. In total, La Colaborativa received $2 million, which will be invested in the development of a contemporary employment training center to spur economic mobility.
“Across the region, the confluence of displacement, health inequities, and inflation are acutely impacting immigrant households,” stated Alex Train, Chief Operating Officer of La Colaborativa. “As we celebrate this monumental acknowledgment, we pledge to deepen our impactful investments to catalyze a future of prosperity for all residents.”
La Colaborativa aims to leverage this unrestricted funding to enhance economic development by developing a new groundbreaking employment and training center dedicated to serving our communities. With these resources acting as seed funding, La Colaborativa is seeking donors to make matching unrestricted contributions, in order to accelerate our impact and bring this effort to fruition.
Every contribution will be directly channeled into community-empowering, educating, and elevating programs, transforming each donation into a long-term investment in a future of shared prosperity.
In March 2023, Yield Giving launched an Open Call for community-led, community-focused organizations. The Open Call received 6,353 applications and initially planned for 250 awards of $1 million each. In the Fall of 2023, organizations top-rated by their peers advanced to a second round of review by an external Evaluation Panel recruited for experience relevant to this cause, and underwent a final round of due diligence. In light of the incredible work of these organizations, as judged by their peers and external panelists, the donor team decided to expand the awardee pool and the award amount.
“We are excited that our partnership with Yield Giving has resonated with so many organizations,” said Cecilia Conrad, CEO of Lever for Change. “In a world teeming with potential and talent, the Open Call has given us an opportunity to identify, uplift, and empower transformative organizations that often remain Unseen.”
Established in 1988, La Colaborativa is a Latina-led organization that has been a consistent, reliable, and fearless ally to the Latinx community in Greater Boston, focused on gateway cities and towns like Chelsea, East Boston, Everett, Lynn, Revere, and Malden. The organization collaborates with communities to develop and implement various programs, initiatives, and community mobilization campaigns that support, protect, honor, and empower our community. Donations can be made at www.la-colaborativa.org.
More information on the Yield Giving Open Call and other initiatives can be found at www.leverforchange.org.