About Us
The Organization
Established in 2021, CommonWealth GrantWorks Foundation, Inc. was founded to assist individuals with intellectual and/or developmental disabilities realize their dreams of employment or other productive activity engagement. We believe in the power of employment for enhancing quality of life while simultaneously mitigating poverty and helping to offset labor shortages in various sectors.
We have selected this target population because empirical research and anecdotal evidence indicate that individuals with intellectual and/or developmental disabilities are often left out of the workforce.
Our foundation is funded in part by leveraging the profits of our grant-writing business which shares the same name. Our environmental scan of the area has revealed that there are few if any such wise businesses—that is, one that is a for-profit company with a nonprofit charitable foundation arm.
A graduate of the Gerontology Ph.D. Program at the University of Massachusetts, Jennifer Higgins has spent more than 25 years in the nonprofit sector, in roles ranging from direct support to executive positions. She also has extensive experience writing successful grants for nonprofits. While launching her small business, CommonWealth GrantWorks, in the fall of 2019, she was awarded several multi-million-dollar awards from state agencies for one of her clients. At present, she provides consulting and grant-writing services for nonprofits across the Commonwealth.
“My aim is to be able to provide qualified individuals with the tools necessary to realize their employment-related dreams, whether that be in the area of entrepreneurship, professional development, equipment needs, or on-the-job training.”