Grant Partners

Funding to purchase two defibrillators for Greater Worcester Housing Connection homeless shelters.

Funding to build a sensory room and expand the Sherill House Expressive Therapy program to meet the complex healthcare needs of residents and patients, especially those with Alzheimer’s or dementia.

This grant funded outreach to individuals who have experienced gaps in insurance coverage due to barriers identified through our policy and research work.  This outreach supported the inclusion of a qualitative component to a policy and research project, elevating the lived experience of members of our community in our work.

The Massachusetts Public Health Association (MPHA) promotes a healthy Massachusetts through advocacy, community organizing, and coalition building. MPHA works with community groups, state policy organizations, health care institutions, state agencies, and others to identify community health challenges, design policy solutions, and advocate for action.  It will advocate to improve and invest in our local public health system so that local public health departments can meet the challenges of today and tomorrow.   It will organize to win inclusion of Alliance for Community Health Integration recommendations in the next 1115 waiver and advance a suite of housing and transportation policy reforms, including protections for renters and working-class homeowners, investments in public transit, and stronger accountability for air quality improvements. 

Asian Women for Health (AWFH) is a peer-led, community-based network dedicated to advancing Asian women’s health and wellbeing through education, advocacy, and support. Asian Women for Health will work to strengthen its internal capacity to promote and sustain systematic solutions towards accessible, affordable, and equitable healthcare practice. The organization will work to implement the new Data Equity law by organizing community events and working with stakeholders. In addition, AWFH will advocate for language access and inclusion policies that address language barriers for residents with limited English proficiency from accessing state services, programs and information.   

Volunteers in Medicine Berkshires 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. 

This project has been developed by two Associate professors at UMASS Amherst and will be implemented in collaboration with the Ascentria Care Alliance, based in West Springfield.

This project will implement an evidence-based intervention to reduce stress, anxiety, and depressive symptoms and improve coping skills, self-efficacy, social support, and family well-being among Ukrainian and Afghan refugees resettled in Hampden County. Reducing their mental health burden by promoting community strengths and utilizing culturally tailored support will help these refugees to adjust to their new environment and actively engage in the community and employment.

Greater Lawrence Action Council (GLCAC) is a social service agency rooted in the community. GLCAC will concentrate its efforts in Lawrence, and expand services to Lowell and Haverhill, which are all areas with high uninsurance. During the grant period, they will conduct community-based outreach and enrollment using data to help focus and reach specific communities with Community Action, Inc. and Community Teamwork, Inc. to reach clients using print and digital media. They will focus on communities with the most barriers to accessing and maintaining health coverage by using data and mapping to guide their outreach and enrollment efforts.

Stavros' mission is to help persons with disabilities and Deaf people develop the tools and skills they need to take charge of their own lives. They accomplish this through programs and services designed to meet the needs of persons of any age or disability as they work to achieve the life goals that are important to them. Stavros provides services to persons that identify as having a disability and who live in Hampden, Hampshire, and Franklin counties of western Massachusetts. Stavros will work with the BCBSMA Foundation and its technical assistance partners to support community members in addressing mild mental health distress and practical problems of daily living. Stavros will implement the PM+ model to support people with disabilities who live in western Massachusetts and have difficulty getting services due to limited access to the internet and transportation.

Funding requested to pilot a program to recruit and train more people of color to be lactation specialists in Western MA.

Community Action Committee of Cape Cod & Islands (CACCI) serves a vital region of the state and its partnerships with organizations across the Cape and Islands will expand its presence in areas of the region that experience higher uninsurance rates. The organization will also build their relationships with local businesses and develop a toolkit of health insurance outreach materials in Brazilian, Portuguese, Spanish, and Haitian Creole.  

Centro Presente 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. 

Funding for technology needs to facilitate applications for MassHealth and ongoing contact with patients seeking mental health services.

Disability Policy Consortium (DPC) promotes health justice and ending health disparities for people with disabilities.  DPC will work with people of color-led organizations for more equitable distribution of health resources and better data collection on marginalized communities.  DPC will advocate for regulatory overhaul focused on changing MassHealth policies around absorbency products and wheelchair repair.  In addition, it will continue its work with the Dignity Alliance Massachusetts to fight for fundamental long-term care reform, from banning double-occupancy rooms to diverting significant funding to home-based care.

Cambridge Economic Opportunity Committee’s (CEOC) one-stop bundled services model allows them to serve the whole person or family and not just one need. This approach results in wider access to an array of benefits, including health insurance. CEOC has ongoing relationships with their clients and strong community partnerships allowing them to support clients through the federal COVID-19 Public Health Emergency and life changes that may impact their coverage status. During the grant period, CEOC will provide multi-lingual outreach to the remaining uninsured by going where they receive services, conducting community and education events, and advertising on local and ethnic social media in English, Haitian Creole, Amharic, Portuguese, and Spanish. They will also expand outreach to neighborhoods that experience high rates of uninsurance with a focus on the Latino, Haitian, African American, and Brazilian communities; individuals and families under 300% of the Federal Poverty Level; single, younger, and people of color; and employment sectors with a high rate of uninsurance