Grant Partners

Hilltown Community Health Centers (HCHC) will work with small businesses, Councils on Aging, schools, employers, medical providers, and community organizations to conduct outreach, advertise in newsletters, print, and social media. They will work with the Connector to identify and target outreach to consumers who need to renew their coverage and partner with sheriff’s departments, courts and probation offices to reach recently incarcerated and court-involved individuals who experience higher rates of churn. To address health insurance literacy, they will develop consumer-friendly education tools and collateral. 

Massachusetts Housing and Shelter Alliance (MHSA) serves unaccompanied homeless adults throughout the state, with a primary focus on the chronically homeless.  MHSA will analyze the impact of housing as a social determinant of health among the chronically homeless population through two permanent supportive housing programs, Home & Healthy for Good and Pay for Success.  In partnership with the Commonwealth Medicine division of UMass Medical School and Analysis Group, the study will estimate the impact of participation in these programs on health care use and costs, using Medicaid claims and enrollment data. 

Funding will support the On Solid Ground (OSG) Coalition, which is facilitated by Citizens' Housing and Planning Association (CHAPA), and includes advocacy organizations representing health, housing, education, employment, legal services, and faith-based communities, as well as research and philanthropic partners.  In the past year, OSG conducted gap analysis and research, publishing Observations and Findings from 31 Public Support Programs Available to Low-Income Families in Massachusetts, which identified the programmatic and administrative barriers faced by vulnerable residents of the state when they try to use such social service resources.  OSG plans to deepen its involvement, with key staff continuing to partner with the Foundation on Actions Labs and other convenings, attend hearings on Medicaid reform and related topics, and participate in coalitions that work on community benefit agreements, determination of need, Medicaid reform, and research initiatives in other states.  They will strive to increase funding and support for housing assistance and services as part of a coordinated strategy to address the social determinants of health. 

Dukes County will participate in community outreach events, and use paid and unpaid advertising and social media to promote affordable insurance information. They will develop a folder with handouts for appointments, and adapt a checklist for account set-up, enrollment and payment information, primary care provider selection, and making appointments. It will also set up reminder systems for clients with pending action steps. 

Boston Center for Independent Living (BCIL) will provide services to and seek full integration for individuals with disabilities into society. BCIL will advocate to policymakers and legislative leaders, maintain and strengthen operations for the Disability Advocates Advancing our Healthcare Rights (DAAHR) Coalition, organize the disability community against any threats to coverage or affordability, develop organizational technical expertise, and provide policy analysis and input to the field, particularly related to One Care. BCIL will also increase capacity to focus on behavioral health integration and social equity.

Project Director: Liora Beer“2017 Survey of Massachusetts Artists, Makers, and Entrepreneurs in Creative Industries” is a one year project that will examine the economic status and needs of artists and creative entrepreneurs, with a focus on health insurance coverage, access to health care services, and key social determinants of health such as housing. Artmorpheus represents artists and creative sector entrepreneurs, who – as demonstrated from a similar 1791 survey and report – are generally low and middle income individuals who disproportionately lack health insurance. The results from this survey will help identify if/what health coverage and access changes have occurred since 1791 and what opportunities and improvements remain. The results will be summarized in a report that will be broadly distributed to survey participants, local and regional arts service organizations, policymakers and government agency officials, and nonprofit agencies.

The National Alliance on Mental Illness Massachusetts (NAMI Mass) will strive for access to services for all who need them and end the stigma around mental illness.  Their strategies include educating families and individuals to understand their illnesses and advocating for needed services. NAMI will strengthen their policy focus on the following issues: a lack of uniform access to health-related benefits; lack of recognition of cost-effective treatment modalities by MassHealth; and inequitable treatment of disability coverage for mental illness.

Massachusetts Association of Community Development Corporations (MACDC), in partnership with the Mel King Institute, will train community developers and offer technical assistance to help them partner with local hospitals to address the social determinants of health at the community level.  Content of the trainings include hospital Community Benefit programs, the Determination of Need program, reforms to health care under Medicaid and requirements for Accountable Care Organization models, and successful examples of partnerships between the hospital and housing communities.  This program seeks to build partnerships with community developers, as hospitals are addressing the needs identified in their own Community Health Needs Assessment processes. 

The Massachusetts League of Community Health Centers (the League) will address the changes in the policy and health care environment with vulnerable populations, community health centers, and their communities.  A main goal is to analyze health care reform policies, monitor proposals for change, and educate community health centers and partner organizations. The League will also assemble health centers, community members, providers, and advocates in an action-based coalition for maintaining and expanding coverage.

Friends of Jewish Community Housing for the Elderly (JCHE) provides supportive, affordable, independent senior housing in Massachusetts, and owns 1,200 apartments that are home to 1,500 low-income older adults in Brighton, Newton, and Framingham.  In collaboration with the LeadingAge Center for Applied Research, JCHE will seek to demonstrate the effectiveness of affordable housing on the quality of life for the organization's seniors, as well as an impact on costs to the government and health care system.  It will include metro Boston seniors who are low- and moderate-income with similar demographics (income, age, ethnicity, risk profile) living in subsidized housing and receiving supportive services.  The provision of housing will be studied as an intervention at three levels, using Medicaid and Medicare utilization data:  1) housing without services, 2) housing with resident service coordination only, and 3) housing with significant service enrichment. 

Massachusetts Law Reform Institute’s (MLRI) health care work targets vulnerable populations who face unusual challenges in obtaining and maintaining health insurance coverage and care. MLRI will provide legal advocacy focused on policy and regulation issues in the Commonwealth in defense of low-income and vulnerable populations. One key issue is retaining coverage for those affected by redetermination through detailed critiques and analyses to identify standards and practices that are not in compliance with applicable law.

Greater Lynn Senior Services (GLSS) is a Massachusetts' designated Area Services Access Point, and the principal source for home, community-based, and long-term support services for more than 30,000 low- and moderate-income elders, adults living with disabilities, and their families/caregivers.  The organization is focused on building healthy and more livable communities, where critical home and community-based services and supports are required to promote residents' optimal independence and well-being.  GLSS, in partnership with Boston University's Center for Aging and Disability Education and Research (CADER), will develop an evaluation framework for its Kiosk for Living Well program, which deploys vibrant, mobile spaces embedded in community pulse-points that inspire consumers to participate in activities designed to promote healthier living routines.  Currently situated at four senior centers and three housing complexes, kiosks represent community hubs designed to strengthen clinical-community linkages, facilitate health care access, and provide health monitoring and assessments.  The evaluation will deliver an evidence-informed assessment of both early impact and ongoing potential of the kiosk concept as a model for integrating health care and social services.   

South Middlesex Opportunity Council (SMOC) provides housing and supportive services to disadvantaged, homeless, single adults in three regions of the state:  MetroWest/Framingham, Central Mass/Worcester, and the Merrimack Valley/Lowell.  SMOC will evaluate the impact of its Housing First program that recognizes an immediate and primary focus on helping clients access and sustain permanent housing, to test the hypothesis that stable housing leads to improved health outcomes, and ultimately, a reduction in health costs.  Three hundred clients will be placed into housing and evaluated as part of this project.  SMOC will identify those clients with the highest service needs at entry into shelter, and then follow them into and throughout their housing placement in order to measure their health outcomes at various points along the continuum of homelessness and housing.

Harbor Health Services will participate in off-site joint outreach sessions at social service agencies, supermarket chains, ethnic markets, Councils on Aging, Veterans Agencies, sites serving behavioral health and developmental delayed persons, subsidized housing, state employment and job training sites, schools, food pantries, WIC program sites, health fairs, and via social media. It will create a health insurance literacy community assessment, and develop user-friendly materials that educate clients on how to use health insurance benefits. Finally, it will dedicate a phone number and webpage for residents to reach staff for enrollment assistance, and execute a social media campaign.

Family Health Center of Worcester (FHCW) will partner with community organizations to receive referrals for individuals needing enrollment assistance. They will provide one-on-one sessions and events about minimizing the risk of losing coverage, review all eligibility determination letters, utilize its EMR to record pending expiration dates, and use automated call center software to reach uninsured patients in multiple languages. The organization will conduct quarterly “health insurance 101” trainings, provide regular patient orientation sessions, and make health insurance literacy information and resources available through patient computer kiosks.