The Boston Foundation has announced almost $11 million in grants, including $4.2 million in discretionary grants, $5.7 million through donor-advised funds, and $966,000 in designated-fund grants.

A number of grants, including $50,000 to the Boston Public Health Commission, focused on substance abuse services and advocacy. The issue is a priority for the foundation because many Boston neighborhoods are experiencing high rates of heroin use and abuse of the prescription drug Oxycontin; in addition, drug-related hospital admissions, particularly among youth, are running double or triple the city's average rate in troubled neighborhoods such as South Boston and Charlestown.

"This alarming situation is occurring at the same time that state budget cuts have had a significant impact on the service capacity for detox and post-detox programs," said foundation president Paul S. Grogan. "The Boston Public Health Department has responded with a new initiative to develop eleven neighborhood coalitions of residents, service providers, police, court personnel, and parents to implement neighborhood-specific strategies to prevent substance abuse and promote access to treatment. We see this as an important partnership with the public sector to develop the ground-breaking models that will have a significant impact on expanded prevention and treatment programs."

Education reform also remained a priority for the foundation, which gave $100,000 to the Massachusetts Charter School Association; $200,000 to the Greater Boston YMCA for an outreach program to encourage families to consider the Boston public schools as an option and improve the schools' ability to communicate what they offer to parents; and $100,000 to Jumpstart, which places college students in one-year paid residencies in early education programs working with children who are at highest risk for school failure.

For a complete list of this quarter's grant recipients, see: http://www.tbf.org/About/about-L2.asp?id=2031.