Grant Partners

This project is a collaboration between UMass Amherst Elaine Marieb College of Nursing (EMCON) and the Bay Area Neighborhood Council (BANC) in Springfield. 

The two organizations will work together to address racial disparities in maternal health by launching health education services and bringing resources to pregnant people and new mothers in the Bay neighborhood in Springfield. The project will build BANC’s capacity to sustain the maternal health program in their community.

YWCA Malden will support Malden High School students to understand their mental health needs and provide them with tools to access appropriate mental health services. The Quest for Life program will also help students to engage with the outside environment to create meaningful experiences or “quests” for themselves and the wider student community.

Vital CxNs (VC) will address the factors that impact health outcomes (e.g., food access, exercise, stress management, housing, etc.) related to elevated rates of diabetes and cardiovascular disease (CVD) by working with BIPOC communities to redesign diabetes and CVD prevention for their communities. VC will strengthen communication between communities, key stakeholders, and clinical partners to develop a roadmap that will center communities' voices and needs in prevention efforts related to CVD and diabetes.

The Maternal Wellness Support Program intends to “Pave a Path to Wellness'' for expecting mothers and mothers within the first year of birth. The Cape and Islands Maternal Depression Task Force (CIMDTF) will address the critical need for nonclinical emotional support for new mothers while building the capacity to create a sustainable, evidence-based peer network of trained moms. The project expands upon (1) training expecting parents on the realities and possibilities of new motherhood; (2) training parents to be peer mentors to new and expecting parents; and (3) supporting new parents after birth with free home visiting by a doula.

Worcester RISE Health Clinic will provide cross-cultural and trauma-informed training for behavioral health services and staff of community-based organizations with the specific lens of how to better serve new migrant arrivals to area service providers. Specifically, Worcester RISE will develop a model for mental health training of frontline workers to scale up the local capacity to build a network of trauma-informed and culturally sensitive behavioral health providers in Worcester to increase access to culturally sensitive services.

Neighborhood Villages (NV) seeks to build a multi-layered, centrally coordinated behavioral health support model to meet the acute behavioral health needs in early childhood education settings. NV will pilot and evaluate the onsite delivery of early childhood mental health services, beginning with placing an Early Childhood Mental Health consultant in early childhood classrooms at the East Boston Social Centers.

Girls Inc. of the Valley will advance health and health equity by creating a new mental health program that provides low-barrier, no-cost mental health services to low-income BIPOC youth who participate in Girls Inc. programs. They can reach youth in a trusted setting by embedding new mental health services into their programs.

Recovery from Stress and Trauma through Outpatient Services, Research, and Education Center at Boston Medical Center will pilot a behavioral health support program, the Race-Based Stress/Trauma and Empowerment group (RBSTE). RBSTE utilizes education about racism and wellness and teaches mindfulness and behavioral skills to bolster resistance to race-based stress. The program will be culturally adapted and piloted in faith organizations.

Immigrant Family Services Institute, Inc. will meet with individuals and families to help determine their health needs and connect them with resources and services that meet those needs. Its population of focus will be immigrants, refugees, and asylum seekers in communities across the Commonwealth. It will also coordinate closely with other community-based organizations and local and state agencies to ensure that its services are additive and not duplicative. 

We Are Better Together Warren Daniel Hairston Project will provide comprehensive emotional and mental health services in a leadership development framework designed specifically for women who are the relatives and caregivers of perpetrators of community violence. This program will help support these women to contend with the realities of their grief and anger while providing support to their relatives - who are victims or incarcerated or about to re-enter society.

Massachusetts Health Quality Partners (MHQP) will partner with community leaders from the Chinese, Indian, and Vietnamese communities in Massachusetts to better understand factors related to Asian patients reporting lower patient experience scores compared to other populations. MHPQ will develop a report and propose recommendations to improve Asian subpopulation patient care experiences. Recommendations will include ways to improve access to quality care or mitigate/eliminate healthcare disparities.

International Institute of New England will meet with individuals and families to help determine their health needs and connect them with resources and services that meet those needs. Its population of focus will be immigrants, refugees, and asylum seekers in communities across the Commonwealth. It will also coordinate closely with other community-based organizations and local and state agencies to ensure that its services are additive and not duplicative. 

Central Massachusetts Agency on Aging will provide coordinated behavioral health services to older adults of color and their families by linking them to clinicians of the same race and ethnicity, focusing on families in which grandparents are raising grandchildren.

The Public Health Institute of Western Massachusetts (PHIWM) will plan and assess the Massachusetts State Behavioral Health Roadmap through an equity lens for Hampden County. This project will involve engaging diverse stakeholders: families, youth, care providers, health care staff, and leadership. The findings will inform local, regional and statewide action through potential organizational policies and practices, state regulations, and legislation.

Rian Immigrant Center will meet with individuals and families to help determine their health needs and connect them with resources and services that meet those needs. Its population of focus will be immigrants, refugees, and asylum seekers in communities across the Commonwealth. It will also coordinate closely with other community-based organizations and local and state agencies to ensure that its services are additive and not duplicative.