Celebrating Our Community Heroes
Recognizing the outstanding work of community leaders and partner organizations who give their time and talent to improve communities is part of our annual celebration of good.
Celebration of Social Justice
Deval Patrick, the 71st Governor of Massachusetts, is our 2026 Social Justice Award Honoree and 37th recipient of the award, for his dedication to social equity, education, and economic development. He served as the first African American governor of Massachusetts from 2006 to 2015. During his tenure, Patrick led the expansion of affordable health care coverage to over 98% of state residents and championed public school funding. As Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights under President Bill Clinton, he tackled enforcement of fair housing, employment discrimination, and hate crime laws, and coordinated a federal investigation into the arsons of predominantly Black churches. Patrick now serves as a Senior Partner at Vistria Group and as a Hauser Leader at Harvard’s Center for Public Leadership.
Previous Social Justice Award Honorees
Join us in recognizing Eastern Bank Foundation’s past honorees—leaders and their teams who have made an immense impact on the pursuit of social justice and improving our local communities.
Collaborative Impact Award
Cambridge-based nonprofit Just A Start received the inaugural Nancy Huntington Stager Collaborative Impact Award in 2026. Just A Start expands opportunity and economic mobility for individuals and families across Cambridge, MA and Greater Boston’s Metro North region through programs that build homes, careers, and futures. Housing instability, limited access to workforce opportunities, and a lack of affordable early childhood education are interconnected barriers to economic mobility. Just A Start convened a cross-sector coalition to address them together, resulting in the Economic Mobility Hub: a 70,000-square-foot mixed-use development that integrates affordable housing, workforce training, and early childhood education under one roof.
The award is named for former Eastern Bank Foundation leader Nancy Huntington Stager. She redefined the foundation’s mission to advance grassroots impact alongside economic inclusion and mobility. The award recognizes an organization whose well-deserving, collaborative approach creates positive social and systemic change in the communities it serves.
2026 Community Advocacy Awards
Each year our Community Advocacy Awards celebrate passionate nonprofit leaders and organizations focusing on the most critical needs in the communities Eastern serves.
This year, we honored leaders and organizations expanding civic education and strengthening democracy.
Learn more about this year's Community Advocacy Award recipients.
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