In fiscal year 2024, the Museum continued to increase access to Museum exhibits, programs, initiatives, and resources for Greater Boston and Gateway City under resourced communities. During the year, the Museum’s community engagement team supported and leveraged notable Museum activities and initiatives to strengthen community outreach and access. Key area of engagement included STEAM programming, Money Matters programs sponsored by Citizens Bank, Fenway Farms rooftop garden food system programming, high-tide climate related programs, the Explore It Summer Camp, community created content to the You, Me, We exhibit, scholarship support through the Casagrande Fund, and increased language access to Museum resources.
Fiscal year 2024 marked an increase in community led programs and events, due in large part to a significant grant from the Yawkey Foundation. Through this grant, the Museum added a new Community & Family Engagement Coordinator position, increased sponsored group visits by 67%, and launched the Gateway to Play program series, welcoming 1,386 children and 232 chaperones (parents, educators, and other caregivers) from Brockton, Chelsea, Everett, Haverhill, Lawrence, and Quincy. The signature Haverhill Gateway to Play Day welcomed over 650 K–4 student and chaperones from seven elementary schools on a day that the Museum would usually be closed to the public, hosting Haverhill schools as the only visitors in the Museum.
In addition, during the year, the Museum re-imagined and re-launched the Family Ambassador program, recruiting eight Family Ambassadors for a seven-month pilot program. These trusted community representatives help families from their neighborhoods overcome obstacles to visiting the Museum such as language barriers, financial constraints, and transportation challenges. In FY24, Family Ambassadors brought 284 first-time visitors from their communities to the Museum. Finally, a Yawkey Foundation sponsored collaboration with Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution brought an exciting exploration of the Ocean Twilight Zone, a mysterious world teeming with bizarre creatures and magical wonders to the Museum.
