games and physical activity into a positive school environment, offering
“We’ve been able to fully engage the Foundation as thought partners and that has created a relationship where our growth has informed each other’s work.” Max Fripp
opportunities for healthy play during recess and throughout the school day. With childhood obesity and Type 2 diabetes on the rise, Playworks not only helps kids get the recommended 60 minutes of daily physical activity, it makes them better able to concentrate on their academics, promotes positive behaviors and less bullying, and facilitates up to 36 extra hours of learning time through less classroom conflict and shorter transitions after recess, says Max Fripp, Executive Director of Playworks in Massachusetts. “It can be easy to have philanthropy feel like a transaction, but we’ve been able to fully engage the Foundation as thought partners and that has created a relationship where our growth has informed each other’s work. That is a really lucky position to be in.”
Mass in Motion
M
ass in Motion is a statewide effort to promote wellness and to prevent
obesity in Massachusetts by promoting the importance of healthy eating and active living. A public-private partnership administered by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, Mass in Motion works with towns and cities, schools, child-care centers and businesses to create changes that make it easy for people to eat better and move more. Philanthropic support from the Boston Foundation helped Mass in Motion make $60,000 grants to 10 municipalities in 2009 for “community-based interventions to encourage healthy eating and active living,” says Lea Susan Ojamaa, Director of the Division of Prevention and Wellness at the Department of Public Health. Since then, the Foundation has invested more than $400,000 in Mass in
With guidance from a Mass in Motion initiative, this couple added more healthy options to the grocery store they manage in Dorchester.
Motion and the state has leveraged these philanthropic dollars to obtain additional state funding and federal dollars. In 2014, there were 27 Mass in Motion programs covering more than 60 municipalities across the Commonwealth. Initiatives include community-level changes such as bike lanes, keeping school gyms open at night for residents and “complete streets” planning that incorporates the needs of pedestrians and bikers into road projects. Thanks to Mass in Motion, many SNAP (food stamp) recipients can use their benefits at farmers’ markets and are seeing healthier food choices available at restaurants and grocery stores.
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THE B OSTON F O U N DAT I O N
1915-2015