Cummings Foundation’s mission in supporting genocide and holocaust education and prevention programs is two-fold: to use education to help prevent future genocides and other intercultural violence and injustices, and to aid in the post-genocide recovery and rebuilding of Rwanda. Through these efforts, Cummings Foundation aims to support those who will teach the next generation of world citizens to be active in confronting societal conditions that might lead to genocide, including prejudice, hatred, racism, anti-Semitism, homophobia, social inequality, and intolerance of any kind.
In 2013, the Cummings joined the ribbon cutting at the opening of Rwanda’s first outpatient cancer center in Butaro, Rwanda. Shown (left to right) are Mayor Samuel Sembagare, Joyce Cummings, Bill Cummings, Dr. Paul Farmer of Partners In Health, and Rwanda’s Minister of Education, Dr. Agnes Binagwaho. Construction was financed through a grant to Boston-based Partners In Health.
National and International Grant Recipients
Grants focused outside the Foundation’s priority area of northeastern Massachusetts are typically directed almost exclusively toward Rwandan entities and others with which it already has relationships.
In 2014, Cummings Foundation committed $15 million to Partners In Health of Boston to help finance the building of University of Global Health Equity (UGHE) in Butaro, Rwanda. UGHE started accepting applications for its flagship degree program, the Master of Science in Global Health Delivery (MGHD), in the summer of 2015.
Through invitation-only grants, Cummings Foundation has been pleased to partner with the following national and international organizations.
Agahozo-Shalom Youth Village
Rubona, Rwanda
To support its professional skills program, designed to provide students with more of the tools they need to enter the job market after they graduate and leave the Village.
Akshaya Patra Foundation
Stoneham, MA
To help underwrite the cost of an environmentally friendly steam boiler, to be used to provide needy schoolchildren in India with healthy midday meals from a regional kitchen, often their only meal of the day.
Boston Cardiac Foundation
Melrose, MA
To provide advanced medical technologies, cardiac care, and educational and ancillary activities related to cardiac care to indigent patients in Rwanda and Ethiopia.
Butaro Hospital
Butaro, Rwanda
To collaborate with Partners In Health to construct a much-needed National Cancer Infusion Center in Burera District to address Rwanda’s rising incidence of cancer.
Clark University
Worcester, MA
To fund scholarship assistance at the Strassler Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies, the landmark Ph.D. program in the emerging field of genocide studies.
Kigali Genocide Memorial
Kigali, Rwanda
To help fund the creation of the “Peacemaking After Genocide” mobile exhibition, as well as the training for staff and teachers, and the delivery of the program in rural areas of Rwanda.
Facing History and Ourselves
Brookline, MA
To help nurture democracy and combat racism, anti-Semitism, and prejudice through educational programs, including the June 2012 Holocaust Remembrance Project.
Harvard University
Cambridge, MA
To support the research of Arlan Fuller, Jr., which explores how Roma (Gypsy) youth in Serbia, Romania, and Italy experience exclusion and identifies mechanisms for change.
Partners In Health
Boston, MA
A $15 million grant to help fund the planning and creation of University of Global Health Equity, a major new international school of health sciences located in Rwanda.
Rwinkwavu Hospital
Rwinkwavu, Rwanda
To support Partners In Health’s food security program, designed to combat chronic malnutrition, one of Rwanda’s most vexing development challenges.
Salem State University
Salem, MA
To endow and otherwise assist The Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies, which includes a program to help bring a group of Salem State University students to Rwanda each year.
San Francisco Lesbian/ Gay Freedom Band
San Francisco, CA
To increase organizational sustainability in the efforts toward fulfilling its mission to promote understanding among diverse communities through public music performance in greater San Francisco.
Tufts Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine
N. Grafton, MA
To establish an ambulatory clinic in Rwanda with on-site diagnostic capability and professional development for veterinarians and para-veterinarians.
Tufts School of Dental Medicine
Medford, MA
To create a dental clinic at Butaro Hospital in Rwanda, supporting the integration of oral health into the overall health system and addressing the oral health needs in the community.
Tufts University
Medford, MA
To support the Cummings/Hillel Program for Holocaust and Genocide Education, which hopes to teach a new generation the importance of moral action in the face of persecution.
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
Washington, D.C.
To support the Fellowship Program for the Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies, offering scholars access to more than 60 million pages of Holocaust-related archival documentation with grants totalling $300,000.
United to End Genocide
Washington, D.C.
To help fund two genocide prevention programs: the STAND student movement and the End Genocide Network, made up of diverse community leaders.
Yad Vashem
Jerusalem, Israel
To support the Eliezer Ayalon Memorial Fund, contributing to the continuing education program for guides from Yad Vashem’s International School for Holocaust Studies.
Yahad – In Unum
Paris, France
To support Father Patrick Desbois’ work to better understand the mass executions of Jews in rural areas of eastern Europe and the fate of the Roma (Gypsies) during World War II through interviewing eyewitnesses and locating mass graves.
Massachusetts Resources
Facing History and Ourselves
Brookline
Through a rigorous investigation of the events that led to the Holocaust, as well as other recent examples of genocide and mass violence, students in a Facing History class learn to combat prejudice with compassion, indifference with participation, and myth and misinformation with knowledge.
One by One
Brookline
A nonprofit organization founded by those whose lives have been deeply affected by the Holocaust, offering dialogue opportunities and support for people wishing to deal with the effects of the Holocaust together.
A faculty-led interdisciplinary academic center at Salem State University for research and scholarship in all areas of Holocaust, genocide, and human rights. SSU is one of the few New England colleges that offers Strassler's six-month certificate programs in genocide education.
Based at Clark University, the Strassler Center trains students, educators, and activists to develop a sophisticated understanding of genocide. With Ph.D. programs in Holocaust History & Genocide Studies and Psychology of Genocide, Clark is the only U.S. school offering doctorate degrees in this field.
Tufts Cummings/Hillel
Medford
This model program in Holocaust and genocide education supports visits of prominent speakers to the Medford campus and an annual nonsectarian trip of 20 Tufts students to Rwanda.