Overview Community activist Carmen A. Pola was born Carmen A. Villanueva Garcia in Rio Piedras, Puerto Rico, in 1939. In 1955 she moved to the continental United States with her family, settling briefly in the Bronx, New York, before moving to Oakland, California, where the family worked in agriculture. In 1960 she married Juan Pola, and they have five children. While in California, Pola became involved in community activism, participating in a number of grassroots organizations concerned with education...

Overview The Boston Foundation was created in 1915 as the Permanent Charity Fund by brothers Charles E. and Charles M. Rogerson to relieve hardship in Boston brought on by World War I. After the war, the Fund expanded its scope of activity to include community activism and involvement on a wider scale. In 1964, Albert Stone, Jr., left the Fund $20 million in his will, allowing the Fund to support special projects in Boston neighborhoods in addition to its other grant-making activities. In 1985, the...