Wilmington Police Department Receives $300K Grant

WILMINGTON, MA—The Wilmington Police Department recently received a $300,000 grant from the Cummings Foundation's $20 Million Grant Program. The department was chosen from a total of 738 applicants during a competitive review process. Police Chief Joseph Desmond said his department is grateful for the funding.

“State Funds for community policing are very limited these days. This grant is going to not only allow us to continue some of our community based programs, but will enable us to develop new programs," said Chief Desmond.

According to the police chief, the grant will be used to help fund existing community-based programs, such as National Night Out, the Citizen Police Academy, Citizen CPR Class, and the RAD Women’s Self Defense Program as well as help develop new programs.

“We are looking to build relationships with both our senior citizen population and our younger citizens,” Deputy Chief Brian Pupa said. “Last year we held our first ‘Mental Health First Aid for Seniors’ class and by all accounts it was a success. We want to expand the program to have crime-prevention programs as well as social events to generate a relationships between our officers and the senior residents of our community.”

Pupa said the grant will also allow the department to continue developing its Police Explorer program which was launched last fall.

"We had 18 young adults between the ages of 14-20 join the Police Explorers last September as a way to learn about a career in policing and as an opportunity to serve the community," Pupa said. "We are looking forward to growing the program once the current health crisis subsides.”

The Cummings $20 Million Grant Program supports Massachusetts nonprofits that are based in and primarily serve Middlesex, Essex, and Suffolk counties. Through this place-based initiative, Cummings Foundation aims to give back in the area where it owns commercial buildings, all of which are managed, at no cost to the foundation, by its affiliate, Cummings Properties.

Founded in 1970 by Bill Cummings, the Woburn-based commercial real estate firm leases and manages 10 million square feet of debt-free space, the majority of which exclusively benefits the foundation, which has awarded more than $280 million to greater Boston nonprofits.