The Hideo Sasaki Foundation announced today the finalists for its seventh annual Design Grants program. These eight teams will pitch to a jury of experts on Thursday, May 29, 5:30-8:00 p.m. at Pitch Night, a public event. The Design Grants are an annual competition to showcase projects that support and drive interdisciplinary innovation and empower our local communities.
Check out our newly released 2022-2023 Design Grants Research Report to learn more about our fourth cohort’s work, offering innovative solutions to address food resilience, access to childcare, environmental justice, community infrastructure, and gentrification, with an ongoing impact in Greater Boston and beyond.
BOSTON – Thursday, March 27, 2025 – Mayor Michelle Wu and the Office of Youth Employment and Opportunity (YEO) today announced that paid youth job applications are open for summer 2025. Boston youth and young adults ages 14 – 24 can apply now at futureBOS. The platform is a centralized hub for all youth employment opportunities in Boston, including opportunities from SuccessLink, the City’s long-standing flagship youth jobs program. This announcement builds on Mayor Wu’s work to make Boston a home for everyone and ensure Boston’s young people are connected to opportunity across neighborhoods.
The Cambridge Public Health Department (CPHD) 2024 Health Promotion Mini-Grant Program is now open for application! This program will award up to $20,000 in total funding to projects that promote healthy eating, physical activity, or youth mental health.
WP_Query Object
(
[query] => Array
(
[post_type] => Array
(
[0] => post
)
[post_status] => Array
(
[0] => publish
)
[posts_per_page] => 1
)
[query_vars] => Array
(
[post_type] => Array
(
[0] => post
)
[post_status] => Array
(
[0] => publish
)
[posts_per_page] => 1
[error] =>
[m] =>
[p] => 0
[post_parent] =>
[subpost] =>
[subpost_id] =>
[attachment] =>
[attachment_id] => 0
[name] =>
[pagename] =>
[page_id] => 0
[second] =>
[minute] =>
[hour] =>
[day] => 0
[monthnum] => 0
[year] => 0
[w] => 0
[category_name] =>
[tag] =>
[cat] =>
[tag_id] =>
[author] =>
[author_name] =>
[feed] =>
[tb] =>
[paged] => 0
[meta_key] =>
[meta_value] =>
[preview] =>
[s] =>
[sentence] =>
[title] =>
[fields] =>
[menu_order] =>
[embed] =>
[category__in] => Array
(
)
[category__not_in] => Array
(
)
[category__and] => Array
(
)
[post__in] => Array
(
)
[post__not_in] => Array
(
)
[post_name__in] => Array
(
)
[tag__in] => Array
(
)
[tag__not_in] => Array
(
)
[tag__and] => Array
(
)
[tag_slug__in] => Array
(
)
[tag_slug__and] => Array
(
)
[post_parent__in] => Array
(
)
[post_parent__not_in] => Array
(
)
[author__in] => Array
(
)
[author__not_in] => Array
(
)
[search_columns] => Array
(
)
[ignore_sticky_posts] =>
[suppress_filters] =>
[cache_results] => 1
[update_post_term_cache] => 1
[update_menu_item_cache] =>
[lazy_load_term_meta] => 1
[update_post_meta_cache] => 1
[nopaging] =>
[comments_per_page] => 50
[no_found_rows] =>
[order] => DESC
)
[tax_query] => WP_Tax_Query Object
(
[queries] => Array
(
)
[relation] => AND
[table_aliases:protected] => Array
(
)
[queried_terms] => Array
(
)
[primary_table] => wp_posts
[primary_id_column] => ID
)
[meta_query] => WP_Meta_Query Object
(
[queries] => Array
(
)
[relation] =>
[meta_table] =>
[meta_id_column] =>
[primary_table] =>
[primary_id_column] =>
[table_aliases:protected] => Array
(
)
[clauses:protected] => Array
(
)
[has_or_relation:protected] =>
)
[date_query] =>
[request] => SELECT SQL_CALC_FOUND_ROWS wp_posts.ID
FROM wp_posts
WHERE 1=1 AND wp_posts.post_type = 'post' AND ((wp_posts.post_status = 'publish'))
ORDER BY wp_posts.post_date DESC
LIMIT 0, 1
[posts] => Array
(
[0] => WP_Post Object
(
[ID] => 236724
[post_author] => 2
[post_date] => 2025-05-16 14:28:46
[post_date_gmt] => 2025-05-16 18:28:46
[post_content] => [et_pb_section fb_built="1" module_class="mongo-image" _builder_version="4.27.0" background_image="https://www.sasakifoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/R_241219_N147_large_blogheader.jpg" global_colors_info="{}"][et_pb_row column_structure="1_8,3_4,1_8" module_class="mongo-image-with-text" _builder_version="4.16" background_size="initial" background_position="top_left" background_repeat="repeat" global_colors_info="{}"][et_pb_column type="1_8" _builder_version="4.16" custom_padding="|||" global_colors_info="{}" custom_padding__hover="|||"][/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type="3_4" _builder_version="4.16" custom_padding="|||" global_colors_info="{}" custom_padding__hover="|||"][et_pb_text admin_label="Header small text" module_class="slide-big" _builder_version="4.27.0" global_colors_info="{}"]May 14, 2025
[/et_pb_text][et_pb_text admin_label="Header big text" module_class="slide-white slide-massive-2 " _builder_version="4.27.0" custom_css_main_element="font-size:6vw;||line-height:6.2vw;" global_colors_info="{}"]Sasaki Foundation Releases 2024 Annual Report
[/et_pb_text][/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type="1_8" _builder_version="4.16" custom_padding="|||" global_colors_info="{}" custom_padding__hover="|||"][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][/et_pb_section][et_pb_section fb_built="1" admin_label="Board of Trustees" module_class="padding-top-0" _builder_version="4.27.0" background_image="https://www.sasakifoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/blog-background.png" background_size="initial" background_position="top_left" global_colors_info="{}"][et_pb_row column_structure="1_8,3_4,1_8" _builder_version="4.16" custom_margin="50px|||" global_colors_info="{}"][et_pb_column type="1_8" _builder_version="4.16" custom_padding="|||" global_colors_info="{}" custom_padding__hover="|||"][/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type="3_4" _builder_version="4.16" custom_padding="|||" global_colors_info="{}" custom_padding__hover="|||"][et_pb_text admin_label="Post Date" module_class="post-date" _builder_version="4.27.0" text_font="|600|||||||" text_text_color="#d59999" text_font_size="20px" text_letter_spacing="2px" text_line_height="24px" custom_margin="||20px|" text_font_size_last_edited="off|" global_colors_info="{}"]May 14, 2025
[/et_pb_text][et_pb_text admin_label="Post Title" _builder_version="4.27.0" text_font="|700|||||||" text_font_size="40px" text_line_height="48px" custom_margin="||50px|" global_colors_info="{}"]Sasaki Foundation Releases 2024 Annual Report
[/et_pb_text][et_pb_text admin_label="Author" module_class="post-date" _builder_version="4.27.0" text_font="|600|||||||" text_text_color="#d59999" text_font_size="20px" text_letter_spacing="2px" text_line_height="24px" custom_margin="||20px|" text_font_size_last_edited="off|" global_colors_info="{}"]Jennifer Lawrence
[/et_pb_text][et_pb_text module_class="body-text" _builder_version="4.27.0" global_colors_info="{}"]The power of design belongs to all of us. This is the mantra of the Hideo Sasaki Foundation and a sentence I say over and over again in our work. We are honored to walk this walk every day. Thank you for joining us on our mission towards building a more equitable design industry. Together we have accomplished so much, and we still have lots of work to do!
Our fifth cohort of Design Grants teams wrapped up their projects in June 2024, positively impacting the communities of Chinatown, East Boston, Roxbury, South Boston, and Revere. And our sixth cohort, which will complete their projects in June 2025, is already doing incredible work. Accessible community engagement tools for planning processes. Spatial analyses to support equitable and community-led development. Youth-created home gardening toolkits. They are truly designing with and within the community. We also continued our partnership with the Cambridge Public Health Department on the Health Promotion Mini Grants, which in 2024 funded 15 community organizations working towards a healthier Cambridge.
Through the lens of community learning, our 2024 events sparked conversations around hosting meaningful internships, spatial justice in practice in Boston neighborhoods, the power of women in the design industry, and the role of design education in building a more representative industry. These programs brought more than 1,350 people together from Greater Boston and, thanks to virtual platforms, around the country.
Reflecting on design education, some of the most powerful work we do is creating space for young people to explore careers in design. Our Summer Exploratory Experience in Design (SEED) internship maintained 2023’s growth with 58 high school and college interns. We created the Designing Environmental and Social Impact (DESI) after-school employment program, launching with 14 high school and college interns. We are grateful for the meaningful experiences, volunteer design professionals, and support we receive from state and local funders.
Looking forward, we remain focused on issues of equity in shaping our communities, despite various efforts to dismantle this important work. We continue to engage communities equitably, to expand the pipeline so our workforce represents the communities we serve, to build a strong network of connected and empathetic practitioners, and to amplify community voices. The Hideo Sasaki Foundation is well-positioned to grow through our next strategic plan, which launches in 2025. We are hopeful for the future of this work and honored you would come along the journey with us.
Read more in our 2024 Annual Report, and subscribe to our newsletter to stay up to date in 2025.
[/et_pb_text][/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type="1_8" _builder_version="4.16" custom_padding="|||" global_colors_info="{}" custom_padding__hover="|||"][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][et_pb_row column_structure="1_8,3_4,1_8" _builder_version="4.16" use_background_color_gradient="on" background_image="http://www.sasakifoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/previous-post.png" custom_padding="100px||100px|" global_colors_info="{}"][et_pb_column type="1_8" _builder_version="4.16" custom_padding="|||" global_colors_info="{}" custom_padding__hover="|||"][/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type="3_4" _builder_version="4.16" custom_padding="|||" global_colors_info="{}" custom_padding__hover="|||"][et_pb_text admin_label="PREVIOUS POST" _builder_version="4.16" text_font="|600|||||||" text_font_size="20px" text_letter_spacing="2px" text_line_height="24px" global_colors_info="{}"]PREVIOUS POST[/et_pb_text][et_pb_text admin_label="Previous Post Link" _builder_version="4.27.0" text_font="|700|||||||" text_font_size="40px" text_line_height="48px" custom_margin="50px|||" global_colors_info="{}"]Hideo Sasaki Foundation Announces 2025 Design Grants Finalists
[/et_pb_text][/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type="1_8" _builder_version="4.16" custom_padding="|||" global_colors_info="{}" custom_padding__hover="|||"][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][/et_pb_section]
[post_title] => Sasaki Foundation Releases 2024 Annual Report
[post_excerpt] => The power of design belongs to all of us. This is the mantra of the Hideo Sasaki Foundation and a sentence I say over and over again at presentations, with funders, and to our grantees and youth interns. We believe this strongly and are honored to walk this walk every day. Thank you for joining us on our mission towards building a more equitable design industry. Together we have accomplished so much, but we still have lots of work to do!
[post_status] => publish
[comment_status] => open
[ping_status] => open
[post_password] =>
[post_name] => sasaki-foundation-releases-2024-annual-report
[to_ping] =>
[pinged] =>
[post_modified] => 2025-05-16 14:28:51
[post_modified_gmt] => 2025-05-16 18:28:51
[post_content_filtered] =>
[post_parent] => 0
[guid] => https://www.sasakifoundation.org/?p=236724
[menu_order] => 0
[post_type] => post
[post_mime_type] =>
[comment_count] => 0
[filter] => raw
)
)
[post_count] => 1
[current_post] => -1
[before_loop] =>
[in_the_loop] =>
[post] => WP_Post Object
(
[ID] => 236724
[post_author] => 2
[post_date] => 2025-05-16 14:28:46
[post_date_gmt] => 2025-05-16 18:28:46
[post_content] => [et_pb_section fb_built="1" module_class="mongo-image" _builder_version="4.27.0" background_image="https://www.sasakifoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/R_241219_N147_large_blogheader.jpg" global_colors_info="{}"][et_pb_row column_structure="1_8,3_4,1_8" module_class="mongo-image-with-text" _builder_version="4.16" background_size="initial" background_position="top_left" background_repeat="repeat" global_colors_info="{}"][et_pb_column type="1_8" _builder_version="4.16" custom_padding="|||" global_colors_info="{}" custom_padding__hover="|||"][/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type="3_4" _builder_version="4.16" custom_padding="|||" global_colors_info="{}" custom_padding__hover="|||"][et_pb_text admin_label="Header small text" module_class="slide-big" _builder_version="4.27.0" global_colors_info="{}"]May 14, 2025
[/et_pb_text][et_pb_text admin_label="Header big text" module_class="slide-white slide-massive-2 " _builder_version="4.27.0" custom_css_main_element="font-size:6vw;||line-height:6.2vw;" global_colors_info="{}"]Sasaki Foundation Releases 2024 Annual Report
[/et_pb_text][/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type="1_8" _builder_version="4.16" custom_padding="|||" global_colors_info="{}" custom_padding__hover="|||"][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][/et_pb_section][et_pb_section fb_built="1" admin_label="Board of Trustees" module_class="padding-top-0" _builder_version="4.27.0" background_image="https://www.sasakifoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/blog-background.png" background_size="initial" background_position="top_left" global_colors_info="{}"][et_pb_row column_structure="1_8,3_4,1_8" _builder_version="4.16" custom_margin="50px|||" global_colors_info="{}"][et_pb_column type="1_8" _builder_version="4.16" custom_padding="|||" global_colors_info="{}" custom_padding__hover="|||"][/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type="3_4" _builder_version="4.16" custom_padding="|||" global_colors_info="{}" custom_padding__hover="|||"][et_pb_text admin_label="Post Date" module_class="post-date" _builder_version="4.27.0" text_font="|600|||||||" text_text_color="#d59999" text_font_size="20px" text_letter_spacing="2px" text_line_height="24px" custom_margin="||20px|" text_font_size_last_edited="off|" global_colors_info="{}"]May 14, 2025
[/et_pb_text][et_pb_text admin_label="Post Title" _builder_version="4.27.0" text_font="|700|||||||" text_font_size="40px" text_line_height="48px" custom_margin="||50px|" global_colors_info="{}"]Sasaki Foundation Releases 2024 Annual Report
[/et_pb_text][et_pb_text admin_label="Author" module_class="post-date" _builder_version="4.27.0" text_font="|600|||||||" text_text_color="#d59999" text_font_size="20px" text_letter_spacing="2px" text_line_height="24px" custom_margin="||20px|" text_font_size_last_edited="off|" global_colors_info="{}"]Jennifer Lawrence
[/et_pb_text][et_pb_text module_class="body-text" _builder_version="4.27.0" global_colors_info="{}"]The power of design belongs to all of us. This is the mantra of the Hideo Sasaki Foundation and a sentence I say over and over again in our work. We are honored to walk this walk every day. Thank you for joining us on our mission towards building a more equitable design industry. Together we have accomplished so much, and we still have lots of work to do!
Our fifth cohort of Design Grants teams wrapped up their projects in June 2024, positively impacting the communities of Chinatown, East Boston, Roxbury, South Boston, and Revere. And our sixth cohort, which will complete their projects in June 2025, is already doing incredible work. Accessible community engagement tools for planning processes. Spatial analyses to support equitable and community-led development. Youth-created home gardening toolkits. They are truly designing with and within the community. We also continued our partnership with the Cambridge Public Health Department on the Health Promotion Mini Grants, which in 2024 funded 15 community organizations working towards a healthier Cambridge.
Through the lens of community learning, our 2024 events sparked conversations around hosting meaningful internships, spatial justice in practice in Boston neighborhoods, the power of women in the design industry, and the role of design education in building a more representative industry. These programs brought more than 1,350 people together from Greater Boston and, thanks to virtual platforms, around the country.
Reflecting on design education, some of the most powerful work we do is creating space for young people to explore careers in design. Our Summer Exploratory Experience in Design (SEED) internship maintained 2023’s growth with 58 high school and college interns. We created the Designing Environmental and Social Impact (DESI) after-school employment program, launching with 14 high school and college interns. We are grateful for the meaningful experiences, volunteer design professionals, and support we receive from state and local funders.
Looking forward, we remain focused on issues of equity in shaping our communities, despite various efforts to dismantle this important work. We continue to engage communities equitably, to expand the pipeline so our workforce represents the communities we serve, to build a strong network of connected and empathetic practitioners, and to amplify community voices. The Hideo Sasaki Foundation is well-positioned to grow through our next strategic plan, which launches in 2025. We are hopeful for the future of this work and honored you would come along the journey with us.
Read more in our 2024 Annual Report, and subscribe to our newsletter to stay up to date in 2025.
[/et_pb_text][/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type="1_8" _builder_version="4.16" custom_padding="|||" global_colors_info="{}" custom_padding__hover="|||"][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][et_pb_row column_structure="1_8,3_4,1_8" _builder_version="4.16" use_background_color_gradient="on" background_image="http://www.sasakifoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/previous-post.png" custom_padding="100px||100px|" global_colors_info="{}"][et_pb_column type="1_8" _builder_version="4.16" custom_padding="|||" global_colors_info="{}" custom_padding__hover="|||"][/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type="3_4" _builder_version="4.16" custom_padding="|||" global_colors_info="{}" custom_padding__hover="|||"][et_pb_text admin_label="PREVIOUS POST" _builder_version="4.16" text_font="|600|||||||" text_font_size="20px" text_letter_spacing="2px" text_line_height="24px" global_colors_info="{}"]PREVIOUS POST[/et_pb_text][et_pb_text admin_label="Previous Post Link" _builder_version="4.27.0" text_font="|700|||||||" text_font_size="40px" text_line_height="48px" custom_margin="50px|||" global_colors_info="{}"]Hideo Sasaki Foundation Announces 2025 Design Grants Finalists
[/et_pb_text][/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type="1_8" _builder_version="4.16" custom_padding="|||" global_colors_info="{}" custom_padding__hover="|||"][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][/et_pb_section]
[post_title] => Sasaki Foundation Releases 2024 Annual Report
[post_excerpt] => The power of design belongs to all of us. This is the mantra of the Hideo Sasaki Foundation and a sentence I say over and over again at presentations, with funders, and to our grantees and youth interns. We believe this strongly and are honored to walk this walk every day. Thank you for joining us on our mission towards building a more equitable design industry. Together we have accomplished so much, but we still have lots of work to do!
[post_status] => publish
[comment_status] => open
[ping_status] => open
[post_password] =>
[post_name] => sasaki-foundation-releases-2024-annual-report
[to_ping] =>
[pinged] =>
[post_modified] => 2025-05-16 14:28:51
[post_modified_gmt] => 2025-05-16 18:28:51
[post_content_filtered] =>
[post_parent] => 0
[guid] => https://www.sasakifoundation.org/?p=236724
[menu_order] => 0
[post_type] => post
[post_mime_type] =>
[comment_count] => 0
[filter] => raw
)
[comment_count] => 0
[current_comment] => -1
[found_posts] => 98
[max_num_pages] => 98
[max_num_comment_pages] => 0
[is_single] =>
[is_preview] =>
[is_page] =>
[is_archive] =>
[is_date] =>
[is_year] =>
[is_month] =>
[is_day] =>
[is_time] =>
[is_author] =>
[is_category] =>
[is_tag] =>
[is_tax] =>
[is_search] =>
[is_feed] =>
[is_comment_feed] =>
[is_trackback] =>
[is_home] => 1
[is_privacy_policy] =>
[is_404] =>
[is_embed] =>
[is_paged] =>
[is_admin] =>
[is_attachment] =>
[is_singular] =>
[is_robots] =>
[is_favicon] =>
[is_posts_page] =>
[is_post_type_archive] =>
[query_vars_hash:WP_Query:private] => 2f41fbf7381527b29021df633e096c63
[query_vars_changed:WP_Query:private] =>
[thumbnails_cached] =>
[allow_query_attachment_by_filename:protected] =>
[stopwords:WP_Query:private] =>
[compat_fields:WP_Query:private] => Array
(
[0] => query_vars_hash
[1] => query_vars_changed
)
[compat_methods:WP_Query:private] => Array
(
[0] => init_query_flags
[1] => parse_tax_query
)
)
