Grant Partners

Neighborhood Birth Center (NBC) will lead a community-centered design for Boston’s first birth center through a series of charrettes to engage the community in envisioning a safe space for pregnancy and birth care. This feedback and input will lead to designing materials (renderings, videos, website) that will enable NBC to translate the vision onto the physical space. Through this initiative to develop and build a new model for birth centers that explicitly interrupts structural racism and heteropatriarchy, NBC will expand relationships with community members.

MABVI will pilot a partnership with The Dimock Center and New England College of Optometry (NECO) to increase access to low vision examinations and support services for patients with experiencing vision impairment who have low-income and are Black, Indigenous, and other people of color . The project will increase patient engagement with exams and comprehensive services resulting in patients being able to better manage activities of daily living and more fully adjust to living with vision loss.

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 Joint Committee for Children’s Health Care in Everett (JCCHCE) seeks to support new moms beyond the health insurance enrollment to ensure that they receive the help they need to navigate the complexities of parenthood. The pilot will support expectant/new moms, within each of the JCCHCE language groups--Portuguese, Spanish, Haitian Creole, and English. Each mom will be assigned to a staff member who will work to determine their needs to support a healthy environment for mom and young child.

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.

Bridge Over Troubled Waters will train four counselors in Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) and establish DBT groups for homeless youths. DBT teaches methods to acceptand tolerate? negative emotions as opposed to just focusing on the alteration and dissolution of negative emotions. DBT imparts young adults with critical behavioral skills to utilize independently, in order to increase focus on long-term aspirations: finishing their education, securing a job, and attaining housing.

Family Services of the Merrimack Valley will provide emotional health workshops, enhanced case management, and expanded crisis helpline services, and will facilitate community-wide emotional wellness resources. These services are designed to help residents access support services and provide them with skills to be resilient in the face of this ongoing crisis.

This grant was made in response to COVID-19 pandemic

The YWCA Central Massachusetts will assist the BCBSMA Foundation staff in conducting a focus group to understand the needs, concerns, and challenges facing organizations of color and organizations working in communities of color.  The focus group will also help the Foundation identify potential solutions to change the systems, policies, and structures that perpetuate racial inequities in health in Massachusetts.

La Alianza Hispana will support telehealth services for seniors through the Aliancianos Senior Center. It will also provide tiered telehealth services for families with children age 0-5 through their Madres y Niños program.

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

GreenRoots will assist the BCBSMA Foundation staff in conducting a focus group to understand the needs, concerns, and challenges facing organizations of color and organizations working in communities of color.  The focus group will also help the Foundation identify potential solutions to change the systems, policies, and structures that perpetuate racial inequities in health in Massachusetts.

Multicultural AIDS Coalition will address the gap in culturally appropriate COVID-19 education, prevention, and support services in response to the disproportionate impact of the pandemic on communities of color and among immigrant communities.  These communities may also be experiencing trauma, domestic violence, racial discrimination, HIV status, along with health-related social needs.

This grant was made in response to COVID-19 pandemic

Hilltown Community Health Center will increase staff time for patient navigators and community health workers, along with obtaining Community Sustainable Agriculture shares for food insecure patients.

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

Health Imperative will assist the BCBSMA Foundation staff in conducting a focus group to understand the needs, concerns, and challenges facing organizations of color and organizations working in communities of color.  The focus group will also help the Foundation identify potential solutions to change the systems, policies, and structures that perpetuate racial inequities in health in Massachusetts.

Martha’s Vineyard Community Services will help meet a dramatic increase in client requests for emergency assistance for basic needs, such as rent, diapers, supplies, and other health-related social needs.

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

The Rian Immigrant Center’s Wellness Program will expand its services to include a Spanish speaking case manager to increase its capacity to serve more Spanish speakers who need mental health supports. The case manager will also provide crisis intervention.

This grant was made in response to COVID-19 pandemic