The Tierney Learning Center Awarded $75,000 Cummings Grant

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact:
Marisa Naughton
Beacon Communities Charitable Fund/Tierney Learning Center
857-998-6600

[email protected]

Alison Harding
Cummings Foundation
781-932-7093
[email protected]

The Tierney Learning Center Awarded $75,000 Cummings Grant

South Boston non-profit receives three years of funding from Cummings Foundation

South Boston, MA (June 16, 2026) The Tierney Learning Center, located at the Anne M. Lynch Homes at Old Colony, has been selected as one of 150 non-profit organizations to receive funding through Cummings Foundation's annual grant program, which awarded $35 million this year. Chosen through a competitive review process that drew a record 959 applicants, the South Boston-based organization will receive $75,000 over three years.

The Tierney Learning Center, which opened its doors in 2012, serves South Boston and the Anne M. Lynch Homes at Old Colony community residents through afterschool, summer, and teen programming. Its whole-family pipeline model targets early childhood, school-age youth, opportunity youth, and adults, with the goal of providing the resources needed to reduce poverty and build community, creativity, and achievement within the South Boston community, at no cost to residents.

"We are deeply grateful to the Cummings Foundation for this generous recognition of the impact of the Tierney Learning Center's work," said Pamela Goodman, Board Chair, Beacon Communities Charitable Fund. "This funding will help us strengthen our programs and ensure that kids and families at Old Colony and within South Boston have the support and opportunities they need to thrive."

This year, the Woburn-based Cummings Foundation increased its annual grant program from $30 million to $35 million and shifted to fully unrestricted funding, allowing recipients to direct grant dollars where they are needed most.

Foundation executive director and trustee Joyce Vyriotes noted that the changes reflect growing concerns among Greater Boston non-profits about rising costs, increased demand for services, and sustained uncertainty around public funding.

"Non-profit professionals are closest to the challenges facing their communities, making them best positioned to determine where and how new funds will drive the greatest impact," said Vyriotes. "By providing increased, flexible funding, we hope to strengthen organizations' long-term stability and help them respond to evolving community needs."

This year's grant recipients represent a wide range of causes, including housing and food insecurity, education, workforce development, healthcare, mental health services, social justice, immigrant support, and youth programming.

The annual grant program supports Massachusetts non-profits that are based in and primarily serve Middlesex, Essex, and Suffolk counties, as well as Brookline, Dedham, Milton, Needham, Quincy, and Wellesley.

Through this place-based initiative, Cummings Foundation reinvests in the areas where it owns commercial real estate. Its buildings are all managed at no cost to the Foundation by its affiliate, Cummings Properties, a Woburn-based commercial developer that leases and manages 11 million square feet of debt-free space. All rental profits support the Foundation.

Since its founding, Cummings Foundation has awarded more than $650 million to Greater Boston non-profits. The complete list of this year's grant recipients, along with additional information about the Foundation and its grant programs, is available at CummingsFoundation.org.

About The Tierney Learning Center

Founded in 2012, the Joseph M. Tierney Learning Center (TLC) serves low-income families in the Anne M. Lynch Homes at Old Colony and surrounding community with free, collaborative programming with educational interventions and supportive services across all ages. The TLC is a critical component of the phased, multi-year redevelopment of the Old Colony affordable housing property, aiming to disrupt the pattern of intergenerational poverty and foster social cohesion, creativity, and achievement. The TLC's mission is to provide collaborative programming that focuses on educational interventions and supportive services primarily, although not exclusively, to youth and teens.  All programming at the Tierney Center is trauma-informed and based on social-emotional development, recognizing that strengthening personal/social development is critical to success. This vibrant center is operated by the Beacon Communities Charitable Fund, a 501 (c)3 organization. Find out more about at www.thetierneylearningcenter.org.

About Cummings Foundation

Woburn-based Cummings Foundation, Inc. was established in 1986 by Joyce and Bill Cummings of Winchester, Mass., and has grown to become one of the largest private foundations in New England. In addition to its annual grant program, the Foundation directly operates two not-for-profit retirement communities: New Horizons at Marlborough and New Horizons at Choate, in Woburn. Additional information is available at CummingsFoundation.org.

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