Grant Partners

Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition (MIRA) is the largest coalition organization in New England advocating for the rights and integration of the over 1.2 million foreign-born residents of Massachusetts. MIRA will secure funding for services and outreach to immigrants, state housing assistance programs, and other crucial programs for immigrant health and wellbeing.   Additionally, it will seek to end deep racial disparities in the COVID-19 vaccination rollout in MA. MIRA provides the Vaccine Equity Now! Coalition with ongoing communications services, including the regular release of up-to-date developments in six languages for dissemination to the Commonwealth's immigrant communities and beyond.

The Somali Development Center helps to develop the capacity of individuals and families to be self-sufficient through educational and social services. The program will equip the Somali Development Center to catalyze a new stage of growth by enhancing capacity to build campaigns and advocacy tools to advance racial justice in health. It will focus on the importance of oral health for refugees – working towards cross-cultural and patient centered health care.   

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.

Funding to translate outreach materials into languages other than English for women at risk of inequities in access to cancer care, including: women of color, women with language and cultural barriers, older women living alone, and women hesitant to seek help due to immigration status.

Lowell Community Health Center (LCHC) provides culturally relevant health insurance enrollment assistance for people applying for new health insurance coverage and those who seek to reestablishing coverage. It also works with patients and clients to select primary care physicians and schedule visits. During the grant year, LCHC will conduct outreach and education at community partner sites, including those that serve immigrants, people experiencing unemployment, reentry populations, as well as faith and transitional living communities. LCHC will also assist clients and patients with online SNAP applications and will refer to community health workers for further assistance as needed.

The Immigrants’ Assistance Center (IAC) will outreach to members of immigrant communities in order to support increased testing and vaccination at places of employment and community health centers, provide direct personalized education to Black and Brown immigrants in their native language, and broaden awareness in the immigrant community about how to stay safe and slow the spread of the disease. Through this initiative, IAC aims to serve as a trusted source of information to immigrant communities about the importance of vaccination and provide guidance and direct services for every step along the way, from testing to vaccine follow-up.  

The Massachusetts COVID-19 Maternal Equity Coalition will conduct a strategic planning process that aims to create and sustain a multi-sectoral, interdisciplinary, community-driven group devoted to improving the health outcomes of Black birthing people. The resulting report will provide recommendations for opportunities and best practices on how stakeholders can collaborate to build bridges across the silos in maternal health.

Funding to update its seven-year-old strategic plan to better serve the complex medical and socioeconomic needs of its clients in a changing public health landscape.

Funding for iPads to ease outdoor patient registration at its mobile health unit and to provide hygiene items (including masks, sanitizer, and COVID education materials) to ensure safe access to care.

This grant was made in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Funding for an online food delivery system and fulfillment center that will enhance capacity to meet increased need due to the pandemic. This effort will connect more people to healthy foods of their choosing through safe, socially distanced curbside pick-up or home delivery.

This grant was made in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition (MIRA) is the largest coalition organization in New England advocating for the rights and integration of the over 1.2 million foreign-born residents of Massachusetts. MIRA will secure funding for services and outreach to immigrants, state housing assistance programs, and other crucial programs for immigrant health and wellbeing.   Additionally, it will seek to end deep racial disparities in the COVID-19 vaccination rollout in MA. MIRA provides the Vaccine Equity Now! Coalition with ongoing communications services, including the regular release of up-to-date developments in six languages for dissemination to the Commonwealth's immigrant communities and beyond.

The Community Action Committee of Cape Cod & Islands (CACCI) will assist individuals and families who are uninsured to apply, select, and enroll in Health Connector and MassHealth plans. CACCI provides individualized educational information so consumers may better understand notices, clarify next steps, and understand redetermination and renewal processes. During the grant year, it will coordinate with community organizations, including those on the Cape and Nantucket, to increase access to health insurance across the region. It also provides consumers with access to its SNAP Outreach Program staff.

Funding for an electric examination table for the health clinic, which serves women experiencing homelessness.

Legendary Legacies provides case management, mentoring and skills development, and re-entry services for young men of color, particularly fathers, previously incarcerated or gang-affiliated individuals, to help them to develop the necessary skills to succeed in life and become productive citizens. Legendary Legacies will enhance its organizational capacity for health care advocacy to give voice to the inequitable outcomes of the current healthcare system it sees every day to create real and lasting change. It will also identify and purchase a donor management platform to build capacity to communicate with a variety of stakeholders as it takes on this enhanced role in health advocacy.

Community Healthlink will continue the integration of its substance use disorder program with its mental health services. The program will: implement its medication-assisted treatment (MAT) program for both long and short term use; provide case management and follow-up services with clients who come to Behavioral Health and Addiction Urgent Care for either mental health or substance use disorder treatment; and continue to strengthen its collaboration with local police departments and health and human services providers.