In 2020, the Sasaki Foundation celebrated our 20th anniversary. While the year brought many unexpected challenges, the COVID-19 pandemic and the summer of racial reckoning highlighted the importance of our work in harnessing the power of design thinking to promote equity and empower local communities. Thanks to generous donors, thoughtful partners, and engaged research teams, we were able to adapt, deliver on our mission, and celebrate impact in the communities we serve.
This summer, the Sasaki Foundation held the third annual Summer Exploratory Experience in Design (SEED) program, a six-week paid internship for students from Greater Boston high schools that is structured holistically around introducing young students to the world of design. The program is an intensive deep dive into collaborative project work, with Sasaki designers leading workshops and lessons with students each week. Due to COVID-19, the program took place virtually, incorporating a few in-person site visits.
The Sasaki Foundation kicked off its annual Summer Exploratory Experience in Design (SEED) program in partnership with American Student Assistance earlier this month. SEED is a six-week paid internship structured holistically around introducing young high school students to the world of design. Through the program, we hope to collectively build a culture of equity in the design field by showing young students alternative career paths to industries they may never have known existed or were available to them.
Over the last eight months, we have been conducting our inaugural Design Mentorship Program in partnership with American Student Assistance (ASA). Students from Watertown Middle School have been meeting with mentors from Sasaki (both in person and, as of late due to the pandemic, virtually), who have been opening students’ eyes and minds to the world of design through hands-on activities, virtual reality, software programs, and more. Middle school students have been envisioning and designing what their ideal learning environment would look like through their own creativity and through a design lens.
The fight for a clean environment continues with urgency, as climate change becomes more and more apparent. For the Sasaki Foundation, we recognize this urgency and celebrate the concept of this movement, today on Earth Day’s 50th anniversary and every day, through our research initiatives, community engagement events and youth programs.
The coronavirus pandemic has completely upended our way of life. It has created a multitude of immediate needs—PPE, ventilators, hospital space. It has put pressure on our systems and essential services—medical providers, grocery stores, delivery services. And it has highlighted inequities in access to essential services, technology, and open space.
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April 2, 2025
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Sasaki Foundation Publishes 2023-2024 Design Grants Research
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April 2, 2025
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Sasaki Foundation Publishes 2023-2024 Design Grants Research
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Anna Scherling
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Check out our newly released 2023-2024 Design Grants Research Report to learn more about our fifth 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.
In June 2023, the Sasaki Foundation awarded $52,500 to five community-based research teams, who spent the next ten months advancing and implementing projects that promote equity in design. The team members also met with Sasaki designers who provided design guidance and a deep breadth of knowledge about solutions to the challenges they faced.
The Sasaki Foundation continued to focus on community, housing, transit, health and wellbeing, and climate, under the theme of Shared Voices: Charting a Course for Community Action. This theme recognizes that multiple futures are at stake, and we can make a difference by acting now. The projects are already having a significant impact in their respective communities and will remain as open source research with links to the project websites, to help communities that may be tackling similar issues. Metrics highlighting the impact of these projects are included in the report.
Through our research grants, the Sasaki Foundation seeks to harness the power of design thinking to promote equity and empower local communities, tackling global challenges through local action. Our 2024-2025 Design Grants cohort is hard at work, and we launched the 2025 Design Grants call for proposals in February, with applications due on April 24 at noon. The program will continue to provide teams with access not only to designers at Sasaki—an award-winning international design firm—but also to the Sasaki Foundation's broad network of startups, designers and planners, community groups, artists, civic leaders, and entrepreneurs.
For more information about the work of the Sasaki Foundation visit our website and subscribe to our newsletter for upcoming programs and opportunities.
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Mayor Wu announces applications for Boston's youth summer jobs program are now open
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[post_title] => Sasaki Foundation Publishes 2023 Design Grants Research
[post_excerpt] => 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.
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Sasaki Foundation Publishes 2023-2024 Design Grants Research
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April 2, 2025
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Sasaki Foundation Publishes 2023-2024 Design Grants Research
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Anna Scherling
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Check out our newly released 2023-2024 Design Grants Research Report to learn more about our fifth 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.
In June 2023, the Sasaki Foundation awarded $52,500 to five community-based research teams, who spent the next ten months advancing and implementing projects that promote equity in design. The team members also met with Sasaki designers who provided design guidance and a deep breadth of knowledge about solutions to the challenges they faced.
The Sasaki Foundation continued to focus on community, housing, transit, health and wellbeing, and climate, under the theme of Shared Voices: Charting a Course for Community Action. This theme recognizes that multiple futures are at stake, and we can make a difference by acting now. The projects are already having a significant impact in their respective communities and will remain as open source research with links to the project websites, to help communities that may be tackling similar issues. Metrics highlighting the impact of these projects are included in the report.
Through our research grants, the Sasaki Foundation seeks to harness the power of design thinking to promote equity and empower local communities, tackling global challenges through local action. Our 2024-2025 Design Grants cohort is hard at work, and we launched the 2025 Design Grants call for proposals in February, with applications due on April 24 at noon. The program will continue to provide teams with access not only to designers at Sasaki—an award-winning international design firm—but also to the Sasaki Foundation's broad network of startups, designers and planners, community groups, artists, civic leaders, and entrepreneurs.
For more information about the work of the Sasaki Foundation visit our website and subscribe to our newsletter for upcoming programs and opportunities.
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Mayor Wu announces applications for Boston's youth summer jobs program are now open
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[post_title] => Sasaki Foundation Publishes 2023 Design Grants Research
[post_excerpt] => 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.
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