Category Archives: News

See the 20 minute video from the Lauren Dunne Astley Memorial Fund on intimate partner violence online here on our website:

For ten years now, the Lauren Dunne Astley Memorial Fund has awarded seed grants to support innovative and creative initiatives working in the three areas of its mission: Effective Teen Relationships & Violence Prevention, the Arts, and Community Service. We are proud to announce funding for a total of 19 projects this year, all of which carry Lauren Dunne Astley’s spirit and memory into their important work. Congratulations to this year’s award winners!

Arts Wayland Foundation (Robyn Gray): Musical Programming at First Parish.This grant will support Arts Wayland in expanding its live music offerings to the local area. A series featuring both classical and jazz performances will take place at the First Parish Unitarian Universalist church in 2023.

Wayland High School (Scott Parseghian): Safe Bae Partnership. This grant will help to bring a program by SafeBAE, a national leader in sexual-violence prevention work, to visit junior Wellness classes. SafeBAE works to empower teens with the tools, knowledge, and confidence they need to be effective peer leaders, upstanders, and agents of change in their own school culture, a perfect addition to the WHS curriculum.

Children’s Recovery Center (Rebeca Doherty): “Body Safety and Consent Comic”. This project will develop a comic book educating older children and younger teens on the fundamentals of body safety, consent, and knowing when it’s time to tell an adult. 

Melrose Alliance Against Violence (Crystal Johnson): “Expect Respect Support Groups”. This school-based support group curriculum, evaluated by the CDC, is intended to serve children and youth who have been exposed to violence at home or in their own teen dating experiences and aims to prevent further harm and promote healing.

Wakefield Alliance Against Violence (Amy Chiaravalloti): Violence Prevention Club. Grant to help WAAV start a violence prevention club at Wakefield High School and hire an advisor to guide its efforts.

Wayland Cultural Council (Jane Pursur and Rachel Sideman-Kurtz): Utility Box Art and Art on the Rail Trail.  Two efforts by the WCC will bring added vitality and beauty to Wayland’s outdoor public spaces. The first will add to the growing number of curbside utility boxes transformed into original works of art around town. The second, part of the “Go Out Doors – Neighbors” public art campaign, will commission works by local artists to be painted on actual wooden doors to be featured in a temporary installation along the town’s rail trail. 

Dedham School of Music (Jody Pongratz): The Harmony Fund. The Harmony Fund of the nonprofit Dedham School of Music provides funding for programs reaching the underserved and financial aid to individual students who are unable to afford music lessons or classes.

White Ribbon Group of Lincoln, Wayland, Sudbury (Colm McGarry): Presentation of Watching Dad – what we learn from our fathers about being parents and partners. Funding in support of The White Ribbon Group’s annual public presentation as part of its mission to increase awareness of violence against women and girls and to promote new ways of expressing masculinity that counter these problems in society. 

Golden Tones (Deborah Lee Marion): Intergenerational Collaboration. This project is a collaboration between two choirs from different generations, high school students and retirees, connecting with and learning from one another through a shared love of making music. 

Plymouth Schools Music Association. (Beth Lopes): Summer Camp Scholarship Fund. PSMA, a 501©3 organization, will use funding to offer scholarships to students with demonstrated financial need so they can attend the Plymouth Public Schools Summer Visual and Performing Arts Camps.          

The Second Step (Suzanne Wakefield): Student Partnerships for Violence Prevention and Awareness. This grant will support work with student-led high school clubs in the area that are focused on increasing local teens’ understanding of relationship violence, healthy teen relationships, and resources for support. It will also help The Second Step to initiate a parenting group series to raise awareness and share resources on healthy relationships and violence prevention with parents in their programs.  

Christine McKenna Lock: Growing Boys into Gentle Men. This project will host screenings of “The Mask You Live In” in September for parents and caregivers of Wayland Middle School and High School students, followed by parent panels discussing how to foster healthy masculinity in the community and in our families. September events will be followed by monthly book talks for parents/caregivers from October through May. 

Opera del West (Eve Budnick): A Night of Concert Arias. Opera del West will present four Solo Concert Arias at The Center for Arts in Natick. These particular short works, by composers Beethoven, Ibert, Lee Hoiby, and Samuel Barber, are usually only performed in the context of a non-staged recital, but in this case, four local opera singers will be able to present them in a real performance, with staging, costumes, and props.

Unitarian Universalist Congregation in Westport (Nathan Pawelek): Appalachia Service Project. Funding will support the high school youth group of the UUCW as they embark upon an eight-month learning journey of planning, fundraising, and preparing for a week-long service trip to northeast Tennessee. Working as part of the nonprofit Appalachia Service Project, the youth group will rebuild dilapidated houses for those in need.

Prana Yoga (Amy Williams): Dialectic Behavior Therapy Skills Group for Teens. DBT Skills Group for Teens is an in-person, 13-session group therapy curriculum designed to teach Dialectical Behavior Therapy skills, which include mindfulness, distress tolerance, emotion regulation, and interpersonal effectiveness. This grant will allow this demonstrably effective program to be offered at a reduced cost to young people seeking strategies to feel more power and control in their lives.

Jewish Family & Children’s Service (Dipanwita Bhattacharyya): TeenSafe. Through leadership, skill-building, and education, TeenSafe gives teens the language and tools they need to recognize abuse in a dating relationship and know how to respond if they see, hear about, or experience it. The goal is both to prevent domestic violence and to help young people cultivate the skills and confidence to become leaders of cultural change.

Girls’ LEAP (Lynn Carberry Masterson): Advanced Leadership Empowerment Awareness Program Curriculum Expansion. With this support, Girls’ LEAP will further refine and pilot its 10-part Advanced Leadership Empowerment Awareness Program (LEAP) which includes a focus on healthy relationships. The curriculum is designed for middle and high school girls and gender-expansive youth who are enrolled in the Advanced LEAP program.

Women of Wayland Podcast (Yamini Ranjan). The Women of Wayland Podcast strives to connect and inspire women in the community by telling remarkable stories that otherwise might never be heard or come to light. This funding will help the podcast to continue to broaden its reach and to expand its team of people helping to find and develop important stories.

This marks the ninth year that the LDAMF has awarded funding for innovative, creative initiatives working in the three areas of its mission: Effective Teen Relationships & Violence Prevention, the Arts, and Community Service. A total of 16 project proposals were funded this year, all of which carry Lauren Dunne Astley’s spirit and memory into their important work:

Melrose Alliance Against Violence (Rebecca Mooney): “Healthy Relationships: Starting Younger.” This project aims to promote healthy relationships and decisions among youth before they start dating by teaching 4th and 5th grade students how to define healthy, respectful friendships and recognize hurtful behaviors, to understand and gain tools around setting healthy boundaries in a relationship, and to understand the concept of consent and develop language for communicating consent and refusal.  

The W Gallery (Robyn Gray): “Spoken Word and Singer-Songwriter Series.” This project will provide for stipends to local singer-songwriters and writers to perform at the W Gallery.  

One Wayland (Dovie King): “One Wayland Coalition Against Racism.” Funding will help to enable a series of programs aiming to promote an inclusive and honest dialogue about racism in the Wayland schools and community. This grant will support three free community programs to combat racism.  

The Second Step (Suzanne Wakefield): “Student Partnerships for Violence Prevention and Awareness.” This grant will help to provide virtual education, awareness, and violence prevention activities for area high schools’ student-led clubs. Programs are designed to effectively encourage healthy relationships and promote community service. 

Center Stage Outreach (Tiffany Prout-Leitao): “We Can Dance Adaptive Dance Class Program.” This funding will offer We Can Dance participants the chance to perform in the community as well as compete in dance competitions and attend a National Dance Merchant conference as performance guests.          

Prana Recovery Centers (Amy Williams): “Trauma-Sensitive Yoga” is a weekly one hour class, offered virtually and in-person, that empowers trauma survivors to maximize experiences of empowerment and to cultivate a more positive relationship to one’s body. This grant will fund a 12-week, 12-session Trauma Sensitive Yoga class that will be free of charge and available for drop-in participation.  

Women of Wayland Podcast (Yamini Ranjan): “W.O.W. Podcast, Season IV.” We strive to connect and inspire women in our community by telling remarkable stories that otherwise might never be heard or come to light. This grant will help make possible the production of season IV of the Women of Wayland podcast and fund efforts to scale listenership to new levels and to regions beyond Massachusetts. 

Dedham School of Music (Jody Pongrantz): “The Harmony Fund for Financial Aid.” Grant will support The Harmony Fund, which provides financial aid for music instruction and classes to low income students in Dedham and the surrounding communities.

Jewish Family & Children’s Service (Nancy Schachter): “TeenSafe.” Through leadership, skill-building, and education, TeenSafe gives teens the language and tools they need to recognize abuse in a dating relationship and know how to respond if they see, hear about, or experience it. This project aims to engage teens in education and awareness-raising activities through virtual and in-person workshops, events and social media campaigns during the school year. 

Jeff’s Place (Jenny Kaplan): “Grief and Loss School-based Support.” This project will provide psychoeducational support to schools on issues of childhood bereavement. We plan to offer to all Montessori Schools of Massachusetts 1-2 overarching trainings (via Zoom) on how best to support grieving students, encapsulating pre-k through high school. The MSM membership includes approximately 90 schools across MA. We also plan to offer in-person training and consultation to at least five local MSM members.   

The Advot Project (Naomi Ackerman): “Workbook of Possibility.” The Advot Project creates possibility by using art-based curriculums to teach communication and relationship skills. This grant will fund the creation of the Workbook of Possibility, a writing workbook for our participants.

Brookline Police Department (Casey Hatchett): “AWARE After School Training for Youth.” This mini-grant will fund an afterschool program for middle schoolers taught by AWARE/Youth Resource Officers that will teach Cyber-Awareness, Substance Use & Addiction, and Healthy Dating Relationships.  

Wayland High School Music Department (Joseph Oneschuk): “Tune Up and Turn It Up!” Grant will allow repair of WHS electric guitars, electric basses, guitar amplifiers, keyboard amp and bass amp, all in dire need of a tune-up and repair.  

LEAP Self-Defense, Inc. (Lynn Carberry Masterman): “Girls’ LEAP.”  Grant will help to fund development, piloting, and implementation of an expanded Healthy Relationships curriculum that will include a particular focus on teaching practical strategies for preventing violence after break-ups. This new curriculum will aim to equip young people to understand intimate partner violence and to prevent breakup violence by building skills to keep themselves safe emotionally and physically, in-person and online. 

Dana Hall School (Margie Bailey): “Senior Forum Self-Defense Programming.” Dana Hall School dedicates the entire Senior year of our social-emotional learning class (what we call “Forum”) to preparing for college and life after Dana. During Senior Forum, our students will engage in self-defense classes with IMPACT Boston for two weeks where they learn age-appropriate safety skills. 

Wayland Human Rights, Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Committee (Jane Sciacca): “HRDEIC Promotional Campaign.” Project aims to create written materials, including a handout for distribution at public buildings (Town building, Library, schools) and promotional signs for events/festivals. The aim is to bring greater visibility to the HRDEIC, a newly-created town body that is not yet funded.

Recent coverage on the Lauren Dunne Astley Memorial Fund’s impact on awareness about teen dating violence:

Wayland Student Press Network 11/11/21: Wayland football fans honor and remember Lauren Astley

Wayland Student Press Network 11/10/21: Ten years later, the Lauren Dunne Astley Memorial Fund keeps Lauren’s legacy alive.

Boston CBS 10/23/21: Lauren Astley’s Father Works With Students To Raise Awareness About Teen Dating Violence

Boston NBC 10/22/21: Wayland High School Football Team Honors Lauren Astley

The Lauren Dunne Astley Memorial Fund is pleased to announce its 2021 mini-grant recipients! 

This marks the eighth year that the LDAMF has awarded funding for innovative, creative initiatives working in the three areas of its mission: Effective Teen Relationships & Violence Prevention, the Arts, and Community Service. Applicants this year had the unusual burden of planning around the significant challenges presented by COVID-19, but this still turned out to be our most competitive application season ever. After difficult choices, a total of 15 project proposals were funded this year, all of which carry Lauren Dunne Astley’s spirit and memory into their important work. They are:

• Arts|Learning (Charles Combs & Nancy Moses): “Champions of Arts Education Awards” This awards presentation recognizes exemplary Arts programs and practitioners in Massachusetts schools and encourages expanded access to the Arts for all students as a means to personal, social, emotional, and intellectual development, as well as the development of arts/crafts skills and “artistic literacy.”

• Women of Wayland Podcast (Yamini Ranjan): Women of Wayland Seasons II and III . This podcast series strives to connect and inspire by giving voice to the remarkable stories of women in and around Wayland, stories that otherwise might never be heard or come to light.

• Opera del West (Eve Budnick): The Importance of Being Earnest, an opera by Castelnuovo-Tedesco. Opera del West will give a performance of the opera version of The Importance of Being Earnest by Contemporary composer Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco at the Boston Center for Arts and The Center for Arts in Natick. 

• Melrose Alliance Against Violence (Rebecca Mooney): “Voices for Healing” This virtual Community Coffee House will feature performances of music and spoken word by children, teens, and adults. “Voices for Healing” aims to encourage self-expression, to give voice to marginalized communities, and to create an intergenerational culture of healthy relationships.

• Jewish Family & Children’s Service (Nancy Schachter): TeenSafe. This leadership-development program trains teens to recognize the signs of domestic and dating abuse and empowers them with the knowledge, tools, and personal confidence they will need in order to help.

• Surviving in Numbers (Alison Safran). The initiative will create and distribute training tools for parents and teens on safe dating and the prevention of sexual violence. It will also produce and distribute a guidebook on self-care for survivors. 

• LEAP Self-Defense, Inc. (Lynn Carberry Masterman): Anti-racist and Gender-inclusive Violence Prevention Training. LEAP Self-Defense will develop and pilot trainings to equip teaching staff with anti-racist, culturally responsive, and gender-inclusive teaching methods for self-defense programs that will reach approximately 300 young people in Boston this year.

• Teen Health Comics (Sarah Mausner): Suicide Prevention Initiative. This initiative is a collaborative effort in partnership with Teen Heath Comics, Minding Your Mind, and The Society for the Prevention of Teen Suicide. Project will include the completion of “Promise Me,” a depression- and suicide-prevention comic, and also the presentation of an online program for youth and families via Zoom during the spring of 2021.

• The Second Step (Suzanne Wakefield): Student Partnerships for Violence Prevention and Awareness. This program will support the development and growth of new student-led clubs at area high schools to increase local teens’ understanding of relationship violence, healthy teen relationships, and resources for support. 

• Brandeis University (Mei-Ling Ellerman): Coercive Control Research. This project will conduct interviews and a literature review about amending the legal definition of abuse to include coercive control, the challenges and benefits of passing this legislation, and suggestions for community participation. The report will aim to generate discussion about coercive control legislation in Massachusetts and also prove useful for lawmakers in other states.

• Prana Recovery Centers (Amy Williams): Embodied Healing Therapy. Grant will support the creation of a website and video to explain Embodied Healing Therapy, a transformative mode of treatment particularly valuable to survivors of trauma, and to develop a sliding-scale for community members who may need financial assistance in order to participate in treatment.

• Wayland Public Schools (Arthur Unobskey): Supporting Healthy Relationships at Wayland High School. Mini-grant will join the Wayland Public Schools Fund in support of WPS efforts to create and refine curriculum, provide professional development for teachers, and clarify a district-wide plan for creating and maintaining a safe, affirming, and harassment-free environment in schools.

• Wayland High School Choral Groups (Rachel Carroll): Masterclass Series. Funding will support a series of inspiring masterclasses featuring musicians and artists who advocate for diversity in the arts.

• Wayland High School Theater Ensemble (Aidan O’Hara): Musical Revue Accompanist/Music Director Support. Grant will help fund the unusual music support and personnel needed to produce a musical production during a pandemic. Specifically, funds will help to bring in guest artist and music educator Allie Lutkevich to help teach and prepare students for a unique performance plan in 2021.

• The Lived Experiences Project (Nichole Argo):  The Lived Experiences Project is an anonymous storytelling platform that aims to amplify the voices of people who have experienced identity-based bias or discrimination in Needham, MA, to provide data on the type of bias and discrimination that is experienced locally, and to instigate local dialogue around belonging and inclusion. This mini-grant will allow for the hiring of a part-time program associate, support crucial to these goals.

This marks the seventh year that the LDAMF has awarded grants in support of innovative, creative initiatives in the three areas of its mission: Effective Teen Relationships & Violence Prevention, the Arts, and Community Service. These grant recipients carry Lauren’s spirit and memory into their important work.

A total of 15 project proposals were funded this year. They are:

• Deborah Marion of Golden Tones Chorus: “Collaborative Intergenerational Music-Making.” High school students and retirees will build a bridge across generations as they rehearse and perform loved songs together.
• Joe Oneschuck of Wayland High School Band and Jazz: “A Masterclass of Music and Spirit.” Professional trumpeter Ashley Hall will visit WHS to perform and to work with students on their craft and also to discuss risk taking and vulnerability in the life of an artist.
• Rachel Carrol of Wayland High School: “Lauren Dunne Astley Anniversary Project.” Planning for and bringing to light a meaningful remembrance on the tenth anniversary of Lauren’s death (spring 2021).
• Charlotte Salitsky, for TEDxYouth@Wayland. The student-led TEDxYouth@Wayland event on May 17, 2020 will bring powerful young voices to the stage and will include speakers whose topics aim to deepen empathy, build understanding, and empower young people to act.
• Luisa Barros of Atlant Music: “Unity Peace Festival.” The goal of this annual afternoon celebration of music, arts, and community is “to bring the community together to celebrate our neighborhoods, spread a message of peace, and help young people and families connect with organizations and programs that provide services to youth.” The Unity Peace Festival will take place on June 13, 2020 in Dorchester.
• Aidan O’Hara of Wayland High School Theater Ensemble: “WHS Theater Arts Lobby Display/Gallery.” This semi-permanent display of framed photographs will celebrate the rich history of theater and the performing arts at Wayland High School.
• Eve Budnick of Opera del West: “A Night of Divas and Doggies.” This performance of two one-act comedic operas at The Center for Arts in Natick on March 22, 2020 will have something for everyone — humor, pathos, and excellent music in an intimate local venue (and a chance for young professionals to gain experience
• Yamini Ranjan: “Women of Wayland – The Podcast.” An exciting, creative initiative that aims “to connect and inspire women in our community by telling remarkable stories of women around us.” This will be the second season of the Women of Wayland podcast.
• Rafaela Carlisle-Swedberg of the Brookline Police Department. Support to allow officer Carlisle-Swedberg to attend The National Conference on Health and Domestic Violence for training in recognizing, identifying, and effectively intervening in cases of domestic violence and teen-dating violence.
• Nancy Schacter of Jewish Family and Children’s Service. “TeenSafe” is a leadership development program that trains teens to recognize the signs of domestic and dating

Boston Globe 4/4/19: A play about grief is called ‘The Five Stages.’ Lauren Astley’s parents know them all. When the actors take their places on stage inside a tiny theater in New York City this weekend, the emotions — instantly fresh again — will wash over Lauren Astley’s mom and dad once more.

The Lauren Dunne Astley Memorial Fund is pleased to announce the results of its sixth annual mini-grant program to promote dynamic projects in the three arenas of its mission: Effective Teen Relationships & Violence Prevention, the Arts, and Community Service.

In Lauren’s spirit and memory, small grants have recently been awarded to individuals and groups with innovative project ideas in the above areas. Lauren’s mother Mary Dunne commented “Awarding mini-grants is such positive work honoring Lauren and her memory. I’m ever grateful to those who honor her in so many ways.”

“We are delighted by the creativity and energy inherent in the proposed initiatives and the hope stirred in the potential of their positive, meaningful impacts. What a nice link to Lauren!” commented Lauren’s father, Malcolm Astley.

A total of 10 project proposals were funded this year. They are:

• Luisa Barros for Think Peace Unity Festival. An afternoon festival with music, dance, speakers and resource tables focused on bringing the community together to promote peace and violence prevention.
• Mei-Ling Ellerman.  A research project exploring the complex factors that prevent or enable domestic violence, survivors’ self-advocacy, and studying what happens when they engage with the justice system; data will be used to raise awareness, support improved services, and generate social and legal change.
• Lauren Millette of Fairhaven High School.  Empowering our Youth from Within. Education of teens at risk through the development and implementation of a group counseling curriculum, including a focus on skills in coping with at risk affects such as shame and hate, and training of peer break up advisors, and training for students in coping with at risk emotions such as shame and hate.
• Cynthia Maltbie of Girls’ LEAP.  Updated curriculum for their Mother-Daughter Workshop to better align with best practices in the fields of violence prevention and girl development.
• Deborah Marion of The Golden Tones, “Young or Old, Singing Lifts You, Heart & Soul.” A collaboration between two choirs from different generations, connecting through a shared love of music.
• Nazda Alam Foundation for Muslim Women Civic Engagement & Leadership.  Production of a documentary addressing the future of some 30,000 babies born in a refugee camp in Bangladesh (mass rape of Muslim women by the Myanmar military), as part of its work on human rights and social justice.
• Eve Budnick of Opera Del West, A performance of “Freedom Ride,” an opera by local composer Dan Shore, combining traditional opera with themes of African-American history, American history and gospel singing.
• Matthew Swoveland of The Second Step.  To support the resiliency of young people in the aftermath of domestic violence while developing their capacity to be change-makers for peace in their homes and communities.
• Danielle Barrett of the Second Voice Theatre Company. “The Five Stages: An Exploration of Grief.” The production of an original play, “The Five Stages" written by Danielle Barrett, focuses on the five stages of grief as experienced by a friend of a domestic violence victim, whose story is inspired by Lauren Astley, and whose mission is to raise awareness about the importance of healthy grieving.
• Alison Safran of Surviving in Numbers. Development of an online training course for teens on preventing dating violence and sexual violence; bystander intervention; and better supporting teen survivors of violence.

Keep On Sparkling! Please visit www.laurendunneastleymemorialfund.org for more information on the organization’s activities.

NBC 10 News Rhode Island 2/14/18: RI students learn dangers of domestic violence through woman’s murder. Valentine’s Day focuses on the positive side of love. But too often, relationships turn violent. Central Falls High School students on Wednesday learned the dangers of domestic violence through the story of 18-year old Lauren Dunne Astley, who was killed by an ex-boyfriend in 2011.

WPRI.com 2/14/18: Man who lost daughter to dating violence shares important message with Central Falls teens.