Eastern Bank Foundation Recognizes Sandra M. McCroom, President & CEO of Children’s Services of Roxbury, with 2024 Community Advocacy Award
Regional leader and advocate in providing equitable, culturally-rich child care, education and community services participates with fellow honorees in dynamic regional roundtable to exchange ideas, solutions, and challenges in the Early Childhood Development ecosystem in Massachusetts and New Hampshire
Boston, MA, May 2024 – Eastern Bank Foundation (EBF) announced that it has recognized Sandra M. McCroom, President & CEO of Children’s Services of Roxbury (CSR) with a 2024 Community Advocacy Award and award grant. This award recognizes McCroom for her visionary leadership that has led to the growth of CSR’s participation and support in the community and her impactful, hands-on role in helping children and families in Greater Boston build equity and Egain trusted access to resources, opportunities and services. Fourteen honorees in total from across Massachusetts and Southern New Hampshire came together for a dynamic afternoon of celebration and a roundtable.
Celebrating its 30th Anniversary, the Foundation gives its annual Community Advocacy Awards to spotlight outstanding nonprofit leaders and organizations that focus on the most critical needs of our communities. This year’s focus, enriching early childhood development, is one of the core strategy areas of the Foundation’s commitment to advancing economic inclusion and mobility. See full honoree information here.
CSR is celebrating 50 years of providing peace of mind for children and families through wraparound programs that include early education and child care, family shelter, behavioral health services, foster care and family support services, and youth development. CSR is one of the state’s largest Black-run nonprofit organizations and the organization is led by a Board and staff that represent the diverse communities it serves. CSR’s programs and services demonstrate practices that break the cycle of systemic racism for future generations and empower families and young adults on their journey from poverty to stability and wealth-building.
This year’s dynamic roundtable discussion covered many aspects of the ECD ecosystem, focusing on its role as critical infrastructure to support the healthy development of children, economic mobility for families, strong communities, and statewide economic and workforce competitiveness—especially in our region’s historically underserved communities.
Commenting on the transformative role of early childhood development and their Community Advocacy Award honor, McCroom said, “We cannot start too early in a child’s life to help them create a positive future … pouring into them hope, confidence, opportunities for positive exposure, and the belief that they are worthy to create a good life that they define. A future designed with their power—not predetermined by socio-economic status or institutional racism. In fact, many of the children who go through our ECD programs come back and work for CSR. We are a family. Eastern Bank Foundation is also a part of our family and the regional early education and child care ecosystem. They get it … listening to what our neighbors and nonprofits need right now, but also understanding and supporting what needs to change systematically at the root causes of inequity and racism. CSR and I are honored to be honored by them.”
Commenting on the valued contribution of McCroom and CSR to our communities, and their importance in our present and future success as a region, Nancy Huntington Stager, President & CEO of Eastern Bank Foundation, said, “Sandra and CSR are making a critically important, culturally-rich impact–bringing caring, innovative and multigenerational services to children, parents and families. They start at the earliest ages of our communities providing thoughtful programs not “babysitting” that feed children’s minds and confidence levels with math, science, literacy and black history. They then scale through young adulthood and help parents and families build more mobile and stronger economic futures –that’s what true systems change takes.”
About Eastern Bank Foundation
Celebrating 30 years in 2024 as the philanthropic arm of Eastern Bank, Eastern Bank Foundation actively listens to and partners with our neighbors and fellow change-makers across nonprofit, for-profit, and government sectors to further community vibrancy and promote systems change. We invest with community-led organizations working to build economic inclusion, mobility and social justice in four strategy areas–advancing equity in the small business ecosystem, enriching early childhood development, securing safe and affordable housing, and promoting workforce development for adults facing barriers to employment. Knowing the roots of social and economic injustice are as stubborn as they are old, we employ a variety of levers–Philanthropy, Employee Volunteerism, Advocacy and Collaboration–to lift up and rise with our communities, especially in our region’s Gateway Cities. Learn more here.
Media Contacts:
Jennifer McNeil
Eastern Bank Foundation
[email protected]
508-380-2902
Dalinda Ifill-Pressat
Children’s Services of Roxbury, Director of Marketing & Communications
[email protected]
617-749-7260