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City's Partners with Non-Profits program awards funding to two South Boston non-profits

Print | Comments () Posted by Patrick Rosso February 9, 2012 05:03 PM

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By Patrick D. Rosso, Town Correspondent

Mayor Thomas Menino was in Dorchester to celebrate the city’s Partners with Non-Profits program. Menino awarded 32 non-profit groups, including two in South Boston, a total of $400,000 in grant funding for public facility upgrades and on-site improvements.

“For almost 25 years, Partners with Non-Profits has directly invested in organizations that offer so much to the people of Boston," Menino said in a statement Thursday. "Their commitment to our neighborhoods helps make our city so strong. “This program is a small but important tool we use to ensure that these organizations can provide their services in our city for years to come.”

The two South Boston non-profits receiving funding were the Paraclete Foundation and South Boston Neighborhood House.

"I can't tell you how helpful a grant like this is," said Benjamin J. Klooster, principal of the Paraclete, whose mission is to enrich the lives of young people and their communities through education. "It's so hard for us to put money toward capital improvements. We plan on redoing the plumbing of the building, which we couldn't do with out this grant."

Partners with Non-Profits program is operated by the city’s Department of Neighborhood Development and has awarded according to the city over $10 million in grants to neighborhood non-profits since its inception in 1995.

Funds were made available through the city’s Community Development Block Grant funding from the US Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Email Patrick D. Rosso, patrick.d.rosso@gmail.com. Follow him @PDRosso, or friend him on Facebook.