Grant Partners

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 is led by people in recovery and engages people with lived experience to identify recovery barriers and solutions through individual peer work, group work, and coalition-building efforts. Bay State Community Services, Inc. serves as MOAR’s fiscal sponsor for this grant.

The Fishing Partnership (TFP) will increase behavioral health equity in Massachusetts fishing communities by promoting the availability and accessibility of behavioral health support with a focus on cultural competency and language accessibility. This funding will allow TFP to integrate behavioral health access within its existing community health worker program by training TFP Navigators in behavioral health with Riverside Trauma Center (RTC). This will enhance the Navigators’ ability to respond to traumatic incidents in the fishing industry alongside the RTC team of clinicians.

Luminosity Behavioral Health Services will develop an improved responsive behavioral health model in communities of color throughout southeastern Massachusetts.  As the co-convenor and fiscal agent for the South East Multicultural Providers Association (SEMPA), Luminosity and its collaborative partners are aiming to end the “scavenger hunt” for supportive, culturally sensitive therapeutic interventions that exist in the region.  SEMPA members will implement cross-agency agreements to address the availability of services, youth advocacy and referrals.  The goal is to train and certify 60 staff members in applying trauma-specific interventions, create a standardized referral process and policies to reduce long waitlists across the participating organizations, and increase the pool of multicultural health professionals and youth mentors serving the needs of Brockton families.

Propa City Community Outreach will provide its services focused on perinatal health education and peer support to Boston’s communities of color who are dealing with pregnancy loss. 

Agencia ALPHA, an immigrant-led, grassroots organization in Boston, plans to add Certified Application Counselors to its team and expand its member outreach around MassHealth redeterminations and enrollment in health coverage.

Funding to purchase equipment to print and distribute materials to increase organization’s efficiency and efforts to address food insecurity.

Funding to implement electronic Emergency Medical Records to provide high quality care to clients – allowing the organization to fully integrate their medical records with a large hospital system which also serves its clients. 

Funding to translate digital and print resources to languages spoken by their clients: Spanish, Haitian Creole, Russian, Ukrainian, Pashto, Urdu, and Arabic. This investment will strengthen capacity to provide culturally respectful care and create a more welcoming environment.

MLRI has effectively directed its legal advocacy expertise to benefit numerous coalitions, including those focused on immigrants, health care reform, and people with disabilities. MLRI’s legal analyses and policy expertise are critical to improving access to care and the social determinants of health for consumers. MLRI has demonstrated a history of strong working relationships with state agencies and defends coverage and access for marginalized populations.

Enhance Asian Community on Health (EACH), a community-based organization,  will provide outreach and enrollment supports to  the Asian community in key geographic areas, including Boston’s Chinatown neighborhood and Malden, Newton, Quincy and Somerville.

Berkshire Nursing Families will implement the next phase of its partnership with Springfield Family Doulas to train and mentor Black doulas and lactation counselors in Berkshire County. 

Funding requested to fund an evaluation plan to help improve mentor retention program as part of an effort to expand the Men of Color Health Awareness (MOCHA) program to youth. 

Boston Center for Independent Living (BCIL) advocates with and for people with disabilities. BCIL is an influential leader in the statewide independent living movement. Its delivery of independent living services enables participants to raise issues of personal and systematic interests that BCIL folds into its policy and advocacy agenda.

In collaboration with Community Care Cooperative (C3) (an accountable care organization that funds 24 Federally Qualified Health Centers across Massachusetts) Mandela Yoga Project will pilot a peer-led, culturally responsive, trauma-responsive mind-body intervention at Uphams Corner Health Center (Uphams) and Brockton Neighborhood Health Center. The pilot will address disparities in diabetes and hypertension by increasing the percentage of diabetes patients with controlled blood pressure, increasing the percentage of diabetes patients with A1C control, and improving member experience.

Martha’s Vineyard Community Services will create a co-responder pilot program to address the lack of behavioral health care access for island residents, who typically engage with mental health and substance use services only through 911 calls to police.  The new program will link a qualified behavioral health clinician with local law enforcement to create a pathway to community-based services, diverting residents from detainment, arrest, or transport to the hospital emergency department.