Cambridge College Receives "Community Quarterback" Recognition from Eastern Bank for "Ladder to Language" Program

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., May 11, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Eastern Bank Charitable Foundation presented more than $1.1 million in grants to 98 Massachusetts non-profit organizations during its 8th Annual "Community Quarterback" award ceremony. Cambridge College, which received a $10,000 grant toward its Ladder to Language program, hosted the event on April 30th, 2012 at its main campus at 1000 Massachusetts Avenue in Cambridge, MA.

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Former National Football League and Boston College quarterback Doug Flutie, along with Eastern Bank Chairman and CEO Richard Holbrook, presented the awards. Cambridge College President Deborah Jackson accepted on behalf of the College.

"Eastern Bank is proud to honor 98 organizations that work tirelessly to improve the lives of the underserved and neediest members of our community," Holbrook said in a statement. "We call these organizations 'Community Quarterbacks,' and we are committed to working with them – through our grants and employee volunteer efforts – to strengthen the cities and towns in eastern Massachusetts."

Ladder to Language, an English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) initiative at the Cambridge College Merrimack Valley Regional Center, provides critical educational outreach to adults striving to develop greater proficiency in English.

"The Foundation is pleased to support Cambridge College's Ladder to Language Program," said Laura Kurzrok, Executive Director of the Eastern Bank Charitable Foundation.  "The program falls directly within our mission by providing the participants with the skills necessary to further their education or advance in their current career.

The Eastern Bank Charitable Foundation's award was joined by a $10,000 award from the Abbot and Dorothy H. Stevens Foundation, which emphasizes its giving on the Greater Lawrence/Merrimack Valley area and is a past supporter of the Ladder to Language program.  The United Way of Massachusetts Bay and Merrimack Valley, a longtime supporter of the program, continues its support, providing its second year of funding of a three year award. 

"We are so grateful to the Eastern Bank Charitable Foundation, the Abbot and Dorothy H. Stevens Foundation, and the United Way of Massachusetts Bay and Merrimack Valley for helping us bring this program to the Lawrence area," said Linda Richelson, Director of the Cambridge College Merrimack Valley Regional Center.  "Providing this language ladder to help adults advance professionally, personally and educationally through increasing their English skills, as well as their confidence, has been a central focus of our regional center from its start."

About Cambridge College:
Cambridge College (www.cambridgecollege.edu) is dedicated to providing academically excellent, time-efficient, and cost-effective higher education for a diverse population of adult learners for whom those opportunities may have been limited or denied.  Founded in 1971, Cambridge College is a private non-profit institution of higher education accredited by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges Commission on Institutions of Higher Education, (NEASC CIHE). Comprised of four schools –Undergraduate Studies, Education, Psychology and Counseling, and Management – Cambridge College enrolls more than 8,000 students each year in professional education and undergraduate, graduate and doctorate-level degree programs at the main campus in Cambridge, Massachusetts and across seven regional centers nationwide in Springfield and Merrimack Valley, MA; Chesapeake, VA; Memphis, TN; Augusta, GA; San Juan, PR; and Inland Empire, CA. The College accepts selected transfer credits for both graduate and undergraduate programs, and schedules evening and weekend classes designed for adult learners. 

SOURCE Cambridge College