Grant Partners

MLCHC submitted this proposal on behalf of the Health Equity Compact. The Health Equity Compact is a group of Black and Latinx healthcare leaders with lived experience who seek to dismantle systemic barriers to equitable health outcomes by transforming care delivery and influencing health policy.

The Health Equity Compact will conduct 20-24 stakeholder interviews with leaders from state and municipal agencies, health care provider organizations, health insurers, employers, unions, and advocacy groups. These interviews will support the Compact to better understand these different stakeholders' current health equity-related interests and priorities, work, and desires for change at the state level. The interviews will also assess the reactions of these stakeholders to the policy proposals currently being formulated by the Compact. The Compact will then develop a report on stakeholder perspectives on the health equity policy proposals identified by the Health Equity Compact.

Family Health Center of Worcester (FHCW) is a full-service health center that assists patients and clients with insurance applications and renewals, provides education on how to use and keep coverage, and works with agencies that serve people with low-income, individuals without insurance, as well as immigrants and refugees. Worcester continues to be a community with pockets of high rates of uninsurance compared to other parts of the state. FHCW will provide application and renewal assistance with a focus on those who may fall on and off coverage, as well as conduct community-based outreach focused on those who may be food insecure, refugees or immigrants, and other area events.

Cambridge Economic Opportunity Committee’s (CEOC) mission is to empower people and mobilize resources to fight the impact and causes of poverty through education and organizing. CEOC envisions an inclusive and diverse Cambridge without poverty, where everyone has affordable housing, quality health care, education, food security, and economic stability. CEOC will provide the Journey to the Hope program (the organization’s PM+ intervention program); increase staff members' knowledge, comfort, and confidence in discussing mental health and delivering Journey to Hope to community members.

Funding to hire a consultant to develop a dedicated Spanish Language eLearning Center to ensure Spanish speaking residents can access its stress management and mental health supports during and after the pandemic.

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

Pioneer Valley Workers Center builds collective power its constituents through grassroots organizing. Pioneer Valley Workers Center will enhance its capacity to lead campaigns for racial justice and worker access to good health and health care. It will also purchase (in combination with other funds) training on supervision and mentorship, meeting facilitation, new workplan system. It will strengthen three-year organizational plan for campaigns and membership development and will train and improve bilingual systems of financial oversight for Board and staff.

Funding to hire a consultant to develop a strategic plan to grow and to increase the organization’s impact in Nashua Valley and Lowell, meeting increased demand due to the pandemic.

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

Massachusetts Law Reform Institute (MLRI) represents individual clients and works in coalition with other organizations that have consumers as their members.  Through these relationships, MLRI enriches its understanding of systemic issues and enlists additional individuals and organizations to advocate for access to quality health care, immigrant health care rights, and issues of importance to individuals with disabilities.  MLRI will assure that unwinding the COVID-19 protection in 2022 does not result in eligible individuals losing benefits. It will also advocate for MassHealth to retain flexibilities in place during COVID-19 after the Public Health Emergency ends. At the same time, MLRI will be advocating for expanded eligibility for criminal-justice-involved individuals before release, and other expansions of current coverage. Additionally, MLRI will address barriers to coverage and care for the remaining uninsured and will work on expanding coverage options for non-citizens, including undocumented children and pregnant women.

Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program (BHCHP) is committed to supporting patients with enrollment and retention of the full health benefits for which they are eligible. Its team educates patients on how to use health coverage, understand covered services, retain benefits, and remain engaged in preventive care, reducing dependence on emergency room visits. BHCHP will ensure that patients across its 40+ clinics and on the street have access to this support. During the grant year, it will expand its health insurance outreach and enrollment activities to new locations, including at Horizons for Homeless Children, Women’s Lunch Place, and through increased outreach services, focusing on a sharply growing number of people living on the street. BHCHP will focus on addressing the churn experienced by people who are incarcerated and will advocate for expanded coverage for this population and others with access needs. It will also prioritize patient access to Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), along with other health related social needs.

Lahey Health Behavioral Services will continue implementation of telemedicine for psychiatric prescribing and consultation to its Urgent Care Clinic; initiate medication-assisted treatment (MAT) via telepsychiatry; and implement a crisis management program to facilitate communication among members of an individual’s care team. 

Funding to evaluate the effectiveness of the club’s health and fitness offerings and to ensure that its programming meets the post-pandemic needs of its community.

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

The Joint Committee for Children’s Health Care in Everett (JCCHC) assists clients, mainly from immigrant, multilingual, and multicultural backgrounds, to understand and enroll in health insurance coverage and how to access health care services. It provides consistent, culturally and linguistically appropriate information on health insurance. Once clients have coverage, the JCCHC works to assist them select culturally appropriate primary care providers and assists clients in making an initial appointment. During the grant year, JCCHC will conduct outreach and host events for clients in places where they frequent, attending community events, fairs, health care forums, service agencies, ethnic small businesses, food pantries, libraries, parks, and places of worship. JCCHC will also assist clients with WIC and SNAP applications as requested.

Quincy Asian Resources, Inc. (QARI) In partnership with Walker Therapeutic and Educational Programs (Walker), will offer a series of fun educational group activities for middle and high school students in the Quincy Public Schools (QPS) and a set of educational workshops for their parents or caregivers. This new program called “Getting the Teens Out” (GTTO) is born out of QARI’s overarching strategy to bring together QARI's linguistic and cultural competence with Walker's mental health expertise to benefit teen immigrant clients.

Plummer Youth Promise (PYP) will measure the impact of its evaluation practices to ensure that they incorporate dismantling injustices faced by marginalized populations. PYP will ensure that its evaluation practices collect demographic data in respectful ways, assess for discrimination-related trauma, document barriers to care, and report outcomes and identify other best practices.

Funding to develop, launch, and grow its new website, a critical tool to raise awareness of Perinatal Mood and Anxiety Disorders and better serve new parent mental health needs during COVID and beyond.

Funding to support increased demand for its services due to the pandemic, including for food access and for application assistance for health insurance, unemployment, and low-income housing.

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