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The impact of Rappaport Fellows’ work can be felt in every facet of government, medicine and the arts.

A rich legacy of supporting emerging leaders in public policy, medicine, and the arts.

The Foundation has a long and proud history of supporting emerging leaders. Civic leaders who improve the lives of their constituents and communities. Medical researchers who have unlocked the mysteries of the brain, mental illness and Alzheimer’s disease. And artists who enrich lives, ignite imaginations, and challenge us to see the world in a new light.

2023

2023 Rappaport Institute Public Policy Fellows & Rappaport Center for Law and Public Policy Fellows  celebration held at Gasson Hall at Boston College.

McLean Hospital celebrates the Phyllis and Jerome Lyle Rappaport Center of Excellence in Basic Neuroscience Research—and the Phyllis and Jerome Lyle Rappaport Endowed Chair in Psychiatry at McLean Hospital at the Belmont Country Club.

Tomashi Jackson Named 2023 Rappaport Art Prize Winner. read more

Rappaport Foundation Hosts Virtual Panel Discussion: The Future is Female-Empowering Women to Run for Office.

The Rappaport Foundation Partners with Wily Network read more

The Rappaport Foundation Partners with Artists for Humanity read more

The Rappaport Foundation Partners with Artward Bound at MassArt read more

2022

The Phyllis and Jerome Lyle Rappaport Center of Excellence in Basic Neuroscience Research—and the Phyllis and Jerome Lyle Rappaport Endowed Chair in Psychiatry at McLean Hospital are established… read more

The Foundation Partners with the Valedictorian Project to Fund Summer Internships… read more

The Foundation Gives a $1 million challenge grant to EMPath Boston to support transformative economic mobility coaching program for Boston families… read more

Steve Locke named 2022 Rappaport Art Prize winner… read more

The Foundation hosts “Does Prison Reform or Does Prison Need Reforming?” Moderated by Jeffery Robinson, Founder of the Who We Are Project. Panelists include-Evie Litwok, Executive Director of Witness to Mass Incarceration, Kevin Ring, President, FAMM, and Chris Wilson, Author of the Master Plan, My Journey From a Life in Prison to a Life of Purpose… read more

The Rappaport Center for Law and Public Policy hosts a daylong conference on gun violence featuring CT Senator Chris Murphy… read more

2021

Katherine Bradford named 2021 Rappaport Art Prize Recipient… read more

The Foundation hosts virtual panel discussion “Aligning Psychiatry & Neuroscience to Study and Treat Mental illness” in partnership with McLean Hospital. Moderated by Dr. Bill Carlezon. Featuring Dr. Sabina Beretta, Dr. Jakob Hartmann, Dr. Kristen Javaras and Dr. Galen Missig… read more

Rappaport Fellow and Boston City Councilor Michelle Wu Elected Mayor of Boston… read more

Findings released from the Rappaport Institute for Greater Boston’s Chelsea Eats pilot program… read more

The Rappaport Center at Temple Beit Hayam in Stuart, Florida hosts its first virtual event, “Criminal Justice Reform,” exploring such subjects as mental health, substance abuse and race. Panelists include State Attorney Tom Bakkedahl, public defender Diamond Litty, Martin County Sheriff William Snyder of Florida, as well as Suffolk County (Mass.) District Attorney Rachel Rollins… read more

The Rappaport Forum at Harvard Law School hosts its first online panel discussion, “Is the Supreme Court Broken?” to share ideas regarding the need to reform of the nation’s highest court, and how to best do it… read more

2020

The Foundation endows the Harvard Law School Rappaport Forum and Harvard Law School hosts the Rappaport Forum’s inaugural event, “When is Speech Violence?”

Artwork by Titus Kaphar, deCordova Museum’s 8 Rappaport Art Prize winner’s art, is featured on the cover of Time Magazine in memory of George Floyd. Mr. Kaphar also writes the narrative accompanying the cover, “I can not sell you this painting.”… read more

The Foundation endows the Phyllis Cohen Rappaport ’68 New Century Term Professorship at Smith College, to foster the research of talented junior faculty members… read more

Celebrating 20 years, the Rappaport Institute for Greater Boston awards Summer Policy Fellowships to four Harvard Kennedy School students… read more

The Rappaport Institute for Greater Boston partners with the Shah Foundation on the Massachusetts Food Access Project, to learn about the challenges facing families during the COVID-19 crisis and motivate governments and communities to improve upon delivery of services… read more

Experts explore the complexities of racism during a Rappaport Center for Law and Public Policy panel discussion on civil rights and criminal justice. The panel is moderated by Visiting Professor Geraldine Hines, the first African-American woman appointed to the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court… read more

The Boston Globe includes a two-page feature on the 2020 Rappaport Center Law and Public Policy Fellows.

The Foundation partners with the Boston Foundation and others to fund The Place Leadership Network, a Boston-based pilot program to connect and strengthen leaders in the place management field… read more

The Foundation partners with the deCordova Museum and Sculpture Park and the Trustees of the Reservations to host a panel discussion, “Speaking Our Minds: Artists, Racial Divides, and Cultural Inclusion.” The event is moderated by Senior Curator Sarah Montross and the panel is comprised of four Rappaport Art Prize recipients: Sam Durant, Maria Magadalena Campos-Pons, Daniela Rivera and Sonya Clark… read more

2019

80 Rappaport medical research fellows featured in a special edition of Boston Magazine… read more

Connecticut Governor Dannel Malloy, who championed gun regulation after the Sandy Hook School massacre, is named the Jerome Lyle Rappaport Distinguished Visiting Professor for the Spring semester at Boston College Law School… read more

The 2019 Rappaport Institute of Greater Boston Public Policy and Public Finance Fellows, and Rappaport Center Law and Public Policy Fellows featured in the Boston Globe.

The Foundation hosts the first Rappaport Connects Medical Research event at Mass General Hospital, bringing together Rappaport Medical Research Scholars and Fellows to share their promise and innovation… read more

The Rappaport Center for Law and Public Policy at Boston College Law School announces its Rappaport Senior Fellows in Residence program, an initiative to connect students, Rappaport Fellows, and faculty with mid-career professionals… read more

The Rappaport Center for Law and Public Policy at Boston College Law School sponsors a panel, “After the Mueller Report: The AG, White House, and Congress – A Constitutional Crisis?”… read more

The Rappaport Institute for Great Boston publishes a policy brief, “Recommendations to Address How Trauma, Mental Health & Substance Use Disorders Contribute to Incarceration,” by Brandy F. Henry, PhD, LICSW, a clinician scientist from Columbia University… read more

2018

Adding to its commitment to public service, the Foundation expands its investment in the Rappaport institute for Greater Boston by adding the Rappaport Public Finance Summer Fellowship and the Rappaport Greater Boston Applied Field Labread more

Celebrating its four years at Boston College Law School, the Rappaport Center in Law and Public Policy is making more than a difference. “It’s shaping tomorrow’s policy leaders.”

Hannah Lash, Atlantic Classical Music’s 2018 Rappaport Prize for Music Composition award recipient premiers her piece, “Facets of Motion” a 15 minute piece that was featured in the closing seasonal performance… read more

18 years of Rappaport Art Prize award recipients are celebrated in the Boston Globe.

Martin O’Malley, the former Governor of Maryland, Mayor of Baltimore, and U.S. presidential candidate, becomes the first Jerome Lyle Rappaport Visiting Professor in Law and Public Policy at Boston College Law School… read more

The 2018 Rappaport Center in Law and Public Policy Fellows featured in Boston Globe.

The 2018 Rappaport Institute of Great Boston Public Policy and Public Finance Fellows featured in Boston Globe.

2017

Supreme Judicial Court Justice Geraldine S. Hines teaches a seminar on race and policing as the Jerome Lyle Rappaport Distinguished Visiting Professor at Boston College Law School… read more

2015

Zhou Tian, Atlantic Classical Music’s 2015 Rappaport Prize for Music Composition award recipient premiers his VIolin Concerto, which is performed by Caroline Goulding… read more

The Rappaport Center for Law and Public Policy finds a new home at Boston College Law School… read more and read more

The Rappaport Institute for Greater Boston publishes a briefing note, “The Impact of the Rappaport Public Policy Fellows Program on Career Trajectories: An Update.” It finds that the Fellows Program “seems to significantly tie people to Greater Boston and to the public sector, and fosters a long-term commitment to public service and the Boston area.”… read more

2014

Juliette Kayyem, a former Department of Homeland Security assistant secretary for intergovernmental affairs in the Obama administration, speaks at the ninth and final roundtable for gubernatorial candidates at Suffolk Law School’s Rappaport Center for Law and Public Policy.

Massachusetts State Treasurer, businessman and gubernatorial candidate Steve Grossman participates in a roundtable at Suffolk Law School’s Rappaport Center.

2013

The Foundation establishes the Rappaport Prize for Music Composition at the Atlantic Classical Orchestra, to promote and recognize some of America’s emerging and most promising composers… read more

2012

The Foundation endows the Rappaport Award in Clinical Innovation at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. The award is created in honor of Marshall A. Wolf, M.D., and focuses on health care innovation, cost-containment, and efficiency… read more

2011

Jerome Lyle Rappaport Charitable Foundation changes its name to Phyllis and Jerome Lyle Rappaport Foundation.

Rappaport Center faculty chair Alasdair Roberts publishes a paper in the Boston Law Review, “Containing the Outrage: How Police Power Tames the Occupy Movement”… read more

The Foundation strengthens its commitment to medical research by establishing the Rappaport Research Scholar Program at Massachusetts General Hospital, to provide unrestricted funding for five years to forward-thinking medical researchers… read more

2010

Jeffrey Sanchez, a senior advisor at Rasky Partners, Inc. and former State Representative is named a Rappaport Urban Scholar by the Rappaport Institute for Greater Boston.

The Foundation permanently endows the Rappaport Art Prize at the deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum, ensuring its continuation in perpetuity… read more

The Rappaport Institute for Greater Boston publishes a working paper, “Wrestling with Growth in Acton, Massachusetts,” written by Alexander von Hoffman, a senior research fellow at the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University… read more

2008

In response to the financial crisis of ’07 and ’08, the Rappaport Center for Law and Policy hosts a roundtable discussion with Massachusetts Treasurer Timothy Cahill and Rappaport Professor of Law and Public Policy Alasdair Roberts.

The Rappaport Chair in Law and Policy, the first endowed chair in the history of Suffolk University, is established as a position for a nationally recognized academic leader in law and public policy. The first recipient of the chair is Alasdair Roberts.

2006

Suffolk University announces the endowment of the Rappaport Center for Law and Public Policy Fellows Program, Suffolk University’s largest endowment to date.

The Harvard Kennedy School announces a $12 million gift to permanently endow the Rappaport Institute for Greater Boston, dedicated to building a community in which innovation, information sharing, and alliances flourish… read more

2005

Foundation Chair, Phyllis Rappaport,  expands the Foundation’s commitment to Alzheimer’s research by co-founding Cure Alzheimer’s Fund, dedicated to funding research with the highest probability of preventing, slowing, or reversing Alzheimer’s disease.

The Rappaport Institute for Greater Boston publishes a policy brief, “Creating an Effective Foundation to Prevent Youth Violence: Lessons Learned from Boston in the 1990s,” written by Anthony Braga, a lecturer in public policy at the Harvard Kennedy School… read more

The Rappaport Institute for Greater Boston publishes a policy brief, “Needed Corrections: Promising Strategies for Improving Massachusetts’ Prisons and Jails,” written by Anne Morrison Piehl, associate professor of public policy at the Harvard Kennedy School… read more

2003

State Representative Peter Koutoujian, who would later become Middlesex County Sheriff, is named a Rappaport Urban Scholar by the Rappaport Institute for Greater Boston.

2002

The Foundation establishes the Rappaport Center Lecture Series at the Temple Beit Hayam. The program’s first speaker is Elie Wiesel, a Romanian-born writer, professor, political activist, Nobel laureate, and Holocaust survivor.

The Rappaport Institute for Greater Boston publishes an advisory report, “Better management for better schools” and presents it to Cambridge Public School Superintendent Bobbie D’Alessandro. The report is a strategic analysis of staffing and organizational structures in the school system… read more

2001

The Foundation endows the Rappaport Mental Health Research Scholars Fund at McLean Hospital, to support promising researchers with bold ideas regarding the diagnosis and treatment of mental health… read more

The Rappaport Center for Law and Public Policy launches the Rappaport Law and Public Policy Fellows Program at Suffolk University Law School, designed to bring together the region’s top policy makers and thought leaders to engage in dynamic discussions on critical public policy issues.

The Rappaport Institute for Greater Boston launches the Rappaport Public Policy Fellows Program at the Harvard Kennedy School, designed to Improve the governance of Greater Boston by strengthening connections among the region’s scholars, students, and civic leaders.

2000

The Foundation announces a five-year commitment to the deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum for the Rappaport Art Prize. The prize is to be awarded annually to a contemporary artist with strong connections to New England and a proven record of achievement.

The Foundation launches the Rappaport Institute for Greater Boston, designed to train government and nonprofit leaders, inspire fresh ideas, and contribute to excellence in the public and nonprofit sectors.

1999

Massachusetts State Representative Kevin Honan, a Brighton Democrat who chaired the Joint Committee on Housing, is named a Rappaport Urban Scholar by the Rappaport Institute of Greater Boston.

1996

The Jerome Lyle Rappaport Charitable Foundation is established, to promote emerging leaders in the fields of public policy, medical research and innovation and the arts.

PAGE IMAGE & ARTWORK CREDITS
(top to bottom, left to right)

  1. Painting by Titus Kaphar
  2. Photo taken by Martha Stewart. Pictured: Dean Vincent Rougeau, Jerry and Phyllis Rappaport, President of Boston College, Father Leahy
  3. Hannah Lash
  4. Professor Alasdair Roberts and Mass. Treasurer Steve Grossman at the Rappaport Center for Law and Public Service on January 30, 2014.
  5. Jeffrey Sanchez
  6. Massachusetts Treasurer Timothy Cahill (right) and Professor Alasdair Roberts (left)