Grant Partners

Health Law Advocates is a leading advocacy organization that combines legal expertise with community outreach, education, and policy reform to advance healthcare access. It identifies trends and policy opportunities by handling individual cases, which they translate into statewide policy development and advocacy.

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.

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.

MLCHC is a powerful and vital advocate for defending the state's safety net and primary care institutions. MLCHC works to support community health centers (CHCs) and seeks to advance its knowledge and identify entry points for increased direct advocacy while continuing to support the ongoing work of CHCs. MLCHC is an effective resource and information source for its members, policymakers, state agencies, and other advocates on the preservation of and access to high-quality and affordable care and comprehensive benefits.

MAMH focuses on expanding access to effective treatment and services, reducing stigma and discrimination, and addressing disparities in behavioral health services. MAMH's ability to disseminate scientific knowledge about mental health promotion, prevention, treatment, and recovery supports advocacy, community-based organizations, and state and local governments.

Disability Policy Consortium (DPC) promotes health justice and ending health disparities for people with disabilities. DPC's credo is "About Us, By Us," the belief that when decisions are made about people with disabilities, people with disabilities should be the ones making them. DPC has established itself as an essential voice in state and federal policymaking while remaining effective in community organizing and advocacy.

MPHA is a strong policy and advocacy organization creating and strengthening essential partnerships that are helping to advance critical public health initiatives. It brings a strong focus and consumer voice to policies focused on the social determinants of health. It highlights the critical connection between the often-siloed public health and health care areas. MPHA works with community groups, state policy organizations, health care institutions, state agencies, and others to identify community health challenges, design policy solutions, and advocate for action. 

Mass Senior Action Council (MSAC) is a member-led organization and is the only organization in Massachusetts that informs, engages, and empowers low-income seniors from diverse communities to have direct input in shaping the Commonwealth's health policy decisions. MSAC will advocate to expand access to affordable healthcare for lower-income Medicare beneficiaries by: raising state income eligibility of the Medicare Savings Programs from 165% to 200% of the federal poverty level (FPL); and updating the MassHealth asset limit to exclude life insurance policies. In addition, it will continue to meet with a range of stakeholders to better understand the oversight of Long-Term Care and to identify opportunities for increased protections for residents of nursing facilities. MSAC will also continue to advocate for a fully integrated intake and eligibility process for state health, food, and other means-tested benefits. MSAC is also continuing its efforts to have all 6 Senior Care Options programs include Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and other benefit enrollment during their intake and re-certification processes. 

The Massachusetts League of Community Health Centers (MLCHC) works to support community health centers (CHC) and seeks to advance its knowledge and identify entry points for increased direct advocacy, while continuing to support the ongoing work of CHCs. It is seen as a trusted source of information for CHCs and is often called on by the state for policy expertise, input, and convening functions.  MLCHC will finalize negotiation and implementation of MassHealth’s Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) prospective payment system, and promote equitable access to telehealth by leveraging funding to develop digital access initiatives, including a CHC digital bridge pilot.  Additionally, MLCHC will advocate for continued and new workforce investments to address shortages; investments will develop and expand programs that focus on the growth of culturally and linguistically diverse CHC care teams that include behavioral health, community health workers (CHWs), and peer supports to address patients' health-related social needs.

Health Law Advocates (HLA) advocates for public policy reforms that help consumers access necessary health care and provides legal expertise with grassroots organizing and policy reform to advance healthcare access.  HLA will advocate to reduce barriers preventing immigrants from accessing health care. It will focus on improving health insurance coverage for immigrants and reducing the medical debt incurred by immigrants. HLA will help immigrants access health care through three interrelated activities: policy advocacy, legal assistance for immigrants, and training programs for providers. Additionally, HLA will continue its longstanding advocacy for better access to mental health care for youth. HLA lawyers will advocate with policymakers across our health care, human services, education, and judicial systems to remove barriers to mental health care for children. 

Boston Center for Independent Living (BCIL) advocates with and for people with disabilities. BCIL will respond to developing situations related to the pandemic, which could include seeking timely access to booster vaccines and expanding homebound vaccinations. It will also work on prior authorization changes and new programs for expedited wheelchair repairs.  Additionally, BCIL will develop a consumer advisory group with MassHealth to monitor medical transportation providers.

Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition (MIRA) is the largest coalition organization in New England advocating for the rights and integration of the over 1.2 million foreign-born residents of Massachusetts. MIRA will secure funding for services and outreach to immigrants, state housing assistance programs, and other crucial programs for immigrant health and wellbeing.   Additionally, it will seek to end deep racial disparities in the COVID-19 vaccination rollout in MA. MIRA provides the Vaccine Equity Now! Coalition with ongoing communications services, including the regular release of up-to-date developments in six languages for dissemination to the Commonwealth's immigrant communities and beyond.

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. 

Massachusetts Association for Mental Health (MAMH) focuses on expanding access to effective treatment and services, reducing stigma and discrimination, and addressing behavioral health services disparities.  It is a critical partner in both the area of social determinants of health and health care reform as a convener, technical adviser, and coalition leader.  MAMH will continue to inform the implementation of the Executive Office of Health and Human Service's Roadmap for Behavioral Health Reform and the Strategic Design Work Group for MassHealth's 1115 waiver renewal. It will also advocate for the implementation of behavioral health parity laws; and educate and engage stakeholders around the need to expand access to timely, comprehensive, community-based, and culturally and linguistically responsive services.  In addition, MAMH will continue to engage communities of color in the content and user experience of Network of Care Massachusetts' Culturally Responsive Behavioral Health Information Hub and expand its partnership with the Urban League to tackle disparities. 

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.