The Sasaki Foundation announced today the finalists for its sixth annual Sasaki Foundation Design Grants program. These seven teams will pitch to a jury of experts on Thursday, June 6, 5:30-7:30 p.m. at a public event sponsored by LeMessurier. The Design Grants are an annual competition to showcase projects that support and drive interdisciplinary innovation and empower our local communities.
We recently connected with Taylor Cain and Kim Lucas from 2023 Sasaki Foundation Design Grants project EarlyEducatorSpace 2.0. The project is a unique opportunity to bring together family childcare providers, families, neighbors, and affordable housing property managers in a way that expands access to childcare, creates opportunities for economic mobility for public housing residents, and enhances affordable housing spaces.
We recently connected with Vanny Huot from the 2023 Sasaki Foundation Design Grants project Movement Training and Cultural Center. The project will focus on designing a recently acquired building in Revere to serve the Ayni Institute and Neighbors United for a Better East Boston (NUBE) as a regional movement hub.
Today, the Sasaki Foundation announces our 2024 Design Grants call for proposals. The Design Grants are an annual program that funds community experts to create design solutions for challenges in their neighborhoods in Greater Boston and the Gateway Cities. Since 2018, the Sasaki Foundation has received 91 applications, and has awarded 22 teams a total of $271,000 through the program.
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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[/et_pb_text][et_pb_text admin_label="Header big text" module_class="slide-white slide-massive-2 " _builder_version="4.27.7" custom_css_main_element="font-size:6vw;||line-height:6.2vw;" global_colors_info="{}"]REPORT: 2025 Hideo Sasaki Foundation Annual Report
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[/et_pb_text][et_pb_text admin_label="Post Title" _builder_version="4.27.7" text_font="|700|||||||" text_font_size="40px" text_line_height="48px" custom_margin="||50px|" hover_enabled="0" global_colors_info="{}" sticky_enabled="0"]REPORT: 2025 Hideo Sasaki Foundation Annual Report
[/et_pb_text][et_pb_text admin_label="Author" module_class="post-date" _builder_version="4.27.7" 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="{}"]Mary Anne Ocampo
[/et_pb_text][et_pb_text module_class="body-text" _builder_version="4.27.7" global_colors_info="{}"]In 2025, the Hideo Sasaki Foundation celebrated 25 years of advancing equity in design. We continue to create local impact through active community-based research, public programming, and design education, serving the communities of Boston and beyond. Thank you for joining us on our mission.
Investing in research, our sixth cohort of Design Grants wrapped up their projects in June 2025. The teams positively impacted the communities of Mission Hill and Roxbury, Dorchester, and Chinatown. And our seventh cohort, which will complete their projects in June 2026, is already doing incredible work. We also continued our partnership with the Cambridge Public Health Department on the Health Promotion Mini Grants. In 2025 the program funded 14 community organizations working towards a healthier Cambridge.
Our 2025 public programming sparked conversation around mobility equity and explored the past, present, and future of collaborative design. We also celebrated the power of women in the design industry. These programs brought more than 1,150 people together from Greater Boston and, thanks to virtual platforms, around the country.
Our design education efforts created space for young people to explore careers in design. Our Summer Exploratory Experience in Design (SEED) hired 45 high school interns and 10 college teaching assistants to advance design projects for local nonprofits. Our Designing Environmental and Social Impact (DESI) after-school program hired 10 high school interns and 3 college teaching assistants to use design to improve their own communities. We are grateful for the meaningful experiences, volunteer design professionals, and support we receive from state and local funders.
Wrapping up this milestone year for the foundation, we press on to set ambitious goals and generate a meaningful agenda of research, programs, and partnerships that grow our impact in communities throughout Greater Boston. In these uncertain times, we still envision a future where the power of community-based planning and design is fully realized for the benefit of the public good. We hope you will join us as we continue this important work.
Read more in our 2025 Annual Report, and subscribe to our newsletter to stay up to date in 2026.
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[/et_pb_text][et_pb_text admin_label="Post Title" _builder_version="4.27.7" text_font="|700|||||||" text_font_size="40px" text_line_height="48px" custom_margin="||50px|" hover_enabled="0" global_colors_info="{}" sticky_enabled="0"]REPORT: 2025 Hideo Sasaki Foundation Annual Report
[/et_pb_text][et_pb_text admin_label="Author" module_class="post-date" _builder_version="4.27.7" 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="{}"]Mary Anne Ocampo
[/et_pb_text][et_pb_text module_class="body-text" _builder_version="4.27.7" global_colors_info="{}"]In 2025, the Hideo Sasaki Foundation celebrated 25 years of advancing equity in design. We continue to create local impact through active community-based research, public programming, and design education, serving the communities of Boston and beyond. Thank you for joining us on our mission.
Investing in research, our sixth cohort of Design Grants wrapped up their projects in June 2025. The teams positively impacted the communities of Mission Hill and Roxbury, Dorchester, and Chinatown. And our seventh cohort, which will complete their projects in June 2026, is already doing incredible work. We also continued our partnership with the Cambridge Public Health Department on the Health Promotion Mini Grants. In 2025 the program funded 14 community organizations working towards a healthier Cambridge.
Our 2025 public programming sparked conversation around mobility equity and explored the past, present, and future of collaborative design. We also celebrated the power of women in the design industry. These programs brought more than 1,150 people together from Greater Boston and, thanks to virtual platforms, around the country.
Our design education efforts created space for young people to explore careers in design. Our Summer Exploratory Experience in Design (SEED) hired 45 high school interns and 10 college teaching assistants to advance design projects for local nonprofits. Our Designing Environmental and Social Impact (DESI) after-school program hired 10 high school interns and 3 college teaching assistants to use design to improve their own communities. We are grateful for the meaningful experiences, volunteer design professionals, and support we receive from state and local funders.
Wrapping up this milestone year for the foundation, we press on to set ambitious goals and generate a meaningful agenda of research, programs, and partnerships that grow our impact in communities throughout Greater Boston. In these uncertain times, we still envision a future where the power of community-based planning and design is fully realized for the benefit of the public good. We hope you will join us as we continue this important work.
Read more in our 2025 Annual Report, and subscribe to our newsletter to stay up to date in 2026.
[/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="4.27.7" text_font="|700|||||||" text_font_size="40px" text_line_height="48px" custom_margin="50px|||" global_colors_info="{}"]Hideo Sasaki Foundation welcomes Stacey Beuttell as Executive Director
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