Linda Cavaioli has made a career of empowering individuals on the margins.  As Executive Director of the YWCA of Central Massachusetts for the past 26 years, she’s made it her business to support women fleeing domestic violence (DV); deliver essential early care and education to young children so that parents can work or pursue education; and empower homeless women by p...

In June, the Children’s Investment Fund (CIF) received some welcome news – the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) Fund had certified CIF as a CDFI. This certification enables us to apply for federal funding to increase low-cost lending capital for early childhood education (ECE) and out-of-school time (OST) facility ...

On June 14th, 23 participants from 14 non-profit early education and care (ECE) and out of school time (OST) organizations across Massachusetts gathered at the Mass Audubon Boston Nature Center and Wildlife Sanctuary in Mattapan for 2018’s Let’s Take It Outside: Developing Natural Play Spaces (LTIO), a one-day training offered through the Children’s Investment Fund (...

The Children’s Investment Fund (“the Fund”) offers technical assistance, training and financial support to non-profit early education and care (ECE) and out of school time (OST) programs across Massachusetts. In late May, the Fund administered the tenth Building Stronger Centers Training Institute (BSC), a comprehensive four-day program for ECE and OST providers. ...

Massachusetts is fortunate in that over the last several decades, the Commonwealth has repeatedly demonstrated its commitment to community development in a bipartisan way. On Thursday, May 31st, we saw the most recent example of this support when Governor Charlie Baker signed the $1.8 billion Housing Bond Bill into law. The bill will allow for new capital spending on affor...

It’s no surprise that as the weather turns warmer and sunnier, we get a chance to join our non-profit community development partners to celebrate milestone events in the project development process.  But it is always gratifying to attend groundbreaking and ribbon-cutting ceremonies and see these affordable housing, supportive housing, and child care projects go from ide...

Over a decade ago, a college professor and her students routinely observed how children interacted with teachers in an early childhood education program in Connecticut. They found that only 3 percent of each child’s time was spent interacting with an educator. This low percentage was notable, considering that research shows that engagement with a caregiver is essential t...

On Friday, November 17th, the Massachusetts Association of Community Development Corporations (MACDC) will celebrate its 35th anniversary at an event in Boston. MACDC represents the Commonwealth’s mission-driven non-profit community development organizations, who are “dedicated to working together and with others to create places of opportunity where people of diverse ...