Thank You for Celebrating with us at the 30th Annual Awards Ceremony!


It was such a joy to be together last night to celebrate The Lenny Zakim Fund’s 30th Annual Awards Ceremony – over 30 years of building community, strengthening grassroots leadership, and standing shoulder-to-shoulder with the people doing the hardest and most necessary work for justice.

  

Lenny founded The Fund with the simple but powerful belief that extraordinary social change happens at the grassroots level, when people closest to injustice are trusted, resourced, and supported. Thirty years later, that belief continues to guide us.

 

This year, we are proud to have granted $669,000 to 42 renewal and 7 new grantee partners. The average grant was $13,653, a 7% increase over last year’s average grant.

 

And while that in and of itself is something to applaud, what’s equally, if not more deserving of recognition, is the incredible array of capacity-building support LZF is able to provide our grantee partners this and every year.



This year's Awards Ceremony kicked off with the debut of LZF's 30th Anniversary video, celebrating the past three decades of The Lenny Zakim Fund.

We were honored to feature two of our wonderful returning grantee partners and hear remarks from their wonderful leaders. Thank you to Sandra Nijjar of the East Boston Community Soup Kitchen and Octavia Nankunda of P&O Behavioral Health Initiative for sharing your leadership, passion, and stories with us. Learn more about our two featured grantee partners, and the rest of LZF's 2026 grantee partners below.


Thank you for being part of our beloved Lenny Zakim Fund community. Together, we are building bridges, strengthening communities, and changing lives.

Meet The Zakim Fund's 2026 Grantee Partners

Get to know the local leaders doing the important work needed to create meaningful change.

ACCESS TO FOOD, HOUSING

& ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITY

2Gether We Eat

Bridge Forward, Inc.

East Boston Community Soup Kitchen

Financial Education Associates, Inc.

Lamplight Women's Literacy Center

Lives Are Meant To Be Changed, Inc.

Mercy Meals and More, Inc.

New Lynn Coalition

Reclaim Roxbury

CHILD & YOUTH DEVELOPMENT

& EDUCATION

Bryce's Journey, Inc.

Cape Ann Art Haven

Circus Up

City Strings United

Cultural Exchange Through Soccer (CETS)

DEAFinitely, Inc.

JOYweavers, Inc.

Pride Productions, Inc.

Sisters Unchained

Teen Just-Us at Temple Israel of Boston

Vong Tay Cha Me Viet

CIVIL & HUMAN RIGHTS ADVOCACY

& SUPPORT

Do-It-Yourself Lowell

Neighbors United for a Better East Boston (NUBE)

Pleasant Street Neighborhood Network Center, Inc.

To learn more about each of our grantee partners, view this year's Awards Ceremony Program Booklet here.

HEALTH PROMOTION & ACCESSIBILITY

FOR ALL

DeeDee's Cry Suicide Prevention & Family Support

Gratis Healthcare

Heart of a Giant Foundation, Inc.

Neighborhood Counseling and Community Services, Inc. (NCCS)

New England Medical Association, Inc.

Think Outside the Vox, Inc.

Urban PowerHouse

LGBTQIA COMMUNITY SUPPORT & ORGANIZING

Boston LesBiGay Urban Foundation, Inc.

OutstandingLife

Pathway to Better Health

Queer History Boston

Translate Gender

ORGANZING & SUPPORT FOR

IMMIGRANTS & REFUGEES

African Community Center of Lowell (ACCL)

Brockton Workers Alliance (BWA)

Casa Mariposa

Eritrean American Civic Association

Nigerian American Multi-Service Association (NAMSA)

Open Door Immigration Services (ODIS)

P&O Behavioral Health Initiative

Potencia, Inc.

Refugees & Immigrants Cultural Empowerment Massachusetts (RICEMA)

Revive In Action, Inc.

South Boston en Accion

VIOLENCE PREVENTION, CRIMINAL JUSTICE REFORM & FAMILY OUTREACH

Love Life Now Foundation

Our Deaf Survivors Center, Inc.

The Dream Network

Learn more about this year's featured Grantee Partners:

East Boston Community Soup Kitchen

P&O Behavioral Health Initiative

Photos from our Awards Ceremony

Keep your eyes out for more photos, videos, and memories from this year's Annual Awards Ceremony on our social media! Be sure to follow LZF on Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn.