Grant Partners

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.

Volunteers in Medicine Berkshires (VIM) will articulate, evaluate, and promote its comprehensive healthcare approach to serve as a model in increasing access to quality care and eliminating structural racism and racial inequity in health for economically, socially, ethnically, and racially marginalized residents of the Commonwealth.  VIM believes that many elements of its care model help increase access and eliminate racism, and the Special Initiative grant will help the organization test this assumption.

Funding to conduct focus groups to better understand vaccine acceptance and non-acceptance in the African communities of Worcester.

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

The Welcome Project builds the collective power of immigrants to participate in and shape community decisions through programming for youth and adults that develops leadership skills, builds civic engagement, and strengthens immigrant voices.  It will work to develop partnerships with other immigrant and health organizations to advance efforts for equitable working conditions for immigrant workers and to ensure their health and safety to improve community health. 

Funding to hire a consultant to provide tools and expertise to expand federal housing eligibility counseling capabilities and maximize operations. This enhancement will increase its capacity to meet emergency housing and foreclosure needs for Latinx people with economic hardships that have been intensified by the pandemic.

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

The Massachusetts Organization for Addiction Recovery (MOAR) educates the public about the value of addiction recovery. The organization’s central concerns are to reduce: the social stigma of addiction; the shortage of timely treatment to promote recovery and reduce overdose risk; the lack of long-term treatment; and the disproportionate effects of addiction on populations such as veterans, pregnant women, non-English speakers, communities of color, and recently incarcerated people. MOAR will advocate for low threshold (non-abstinence) housing and for improved substance use disorder (SUD) treatment access via deaf-friendly mobile and outpatient services. MOAR will also convene information and strategy meetings with Black, Indigenous, and people of color populations to inform advocacy and policy priorities and educate policymakers about fidelity to peer principles, which is integral to the revised recovery coach licensure proposal. 

Brockton Neighborhood Health Center (BNHC) works to expand its reach to assist patients and members of the community with insurance outreach and enrollment supports. It partners with local organizations and area faith-based organizations to expand its reach to assist patients and members of the community. BNHC provides education on health insurance enrollment for immigrants, refugees, and people of color in places they gather, and reassures patients from immigrant populations who consider dropping coverage or avoiding medical care due fear of immigration, or confusion over re-enrollment changes post-COVID. BNHC will work to notify patients and clients that are due for renewal, even before policies and deadlines are re-instituted after the state of pandemic emergency is lifted, to ensure continuous coverage. During the grant year, it will also provide education, eligibility information, and application assistance for SNAP through the enrollment process or through referrals to Community Health Workers as health insurance enrollment volume increases.

Funding to hire a consultant to aid in the reopening of women's health and adult programs for in-person visits, which had been suspended due to COVID-19. The consultant will implement an electronic medical record system within the organization for easier scheduling and to better accommodate telehealth visits.

Brookview House is a Black and Latinx women-led community-based agency working for justice, equity, and systemic change for low-income families. Through a two-generation, culturally responsive approach, Brookview provides housing with on-site programs to improve health, educational achievement, and economic stability. Brookview will develop and implement a grassroots community engagement campaign that identifies the intersection of substance use and oral health and the impact on young people – including a social media component. They will also work to increase the health advocacy skills and build grassroots power of the Brookview Youth Advisory Board.   

This grant funded the development of an issue brief summarizing the key components of Chapter 102 that will affect health and health care in Massachusetts.

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.

Somali Parents Advocacy Center for Education’s (SPACE) initiative will build resilience among Somali-American families and increase their understanding of the public health and health delivery system. SPACE will host workshops and conversations, training, and hands-on experiential learning about health, wellbeing, physical fitness, nutrition, preventive health care, and natural environmental physical supports.  These events will create a foundation to deepen culturally appropriate comprehension and advance new behaviors related to living a healthy lifestyle.

Boston Medical Center will enhance the Boston Emergency Services Team (BEST) model to improve the delivery of high-quality, culturally competent care to individuals with mental health conditions, substance use disorders (SUD), and co-occurring disorders. It seeks to strengthen the rapid assessment and treatment of individuals while providing referrals and access to appropriate services in the least restrictive environment, promoting safety and recovery, and providing medical support and triage to divert people from the emergency department and inpatient psychiatric units.