Grant Partners

To support immediate health and safety issues facing vulnerable young adults with housing instability during the pandemic, offering basic needs items, along with increased mental and physical health supports. They anticipate continued negative effects on clients’ mental health and are actively building relationships with appropriate providers as well as encouraging active learning and personal growth during this time.

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

Bay Cove Human Services Cape Cod Emergency Services Program (CCESP) will expand behavioral health urgent care services--encompassing mental health conditions, substance use disorders (SUD), and co-occurring disorders--to difficult to reach and isolated areas of Cape Cod. The program will increase outreach efforts to support individuals with urgent crises before they become emergencies, including regular ride alongs with police departments to proactively identify emerging crises at an earlier stage and to encourage more police departments to call the ESP in at the first sign of constituent in distress. 

To meet increased needs resulting from the pandemic, including for grocery, sanitation, and personal protective equipment.

This grant was made in response to the 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.

To hire a strategic planning consultant to help Boston Cancer Support develop a three-year strategic plan.

Boston Center for Independent Living (BCIL) will identify new ways to conduct virtual organizing in response to the ongoing pandemic. BCIL will continue to provide personal protective equipment to people with disabilities and advocate with MassHealth for stepped-up personal protective equipment distribution for people with disabilities. A key focus area for BCIL will be advocating for increased effectiveness with new One Care plans, a plan that combines MassHealth and Medicare benefits. Additionally, BCIL will continue to co-coordinate the Dignity Alliance of MA, a new advocacy effort that has attracted over 30 groups committed to real change beyond nursing home reform. It will also continue its involvement with the Disability Advocates Advancing our Healthcare Rights Coalition, focusing on social determinants of health.

Brockton Neighborhood Health Center, which serves a community with one of the state’s highest number of uninsured residents, will partner with local organizations to expand its reach to specific populations, including immigrants, recently or chronically unemployed, residents recovering from substance use disorder, probationers and parolees. Through 2021, specific grant plans may be adjusted to meet the current health and safety guidelines to protect the wellbeing of clients, patients, and staff.

To support a 20-week CSA program with weekly distribution of farm fresh food and nutrition/cooking resources providing food security to meet increased demand as a result of COVID-19. JR partners with the Community Health Center of Franklin County through a direct referral program, enrolling food insecure patients into the CSA program. JR also works with affordable housing complexes, offering year-round food access/health equity programming.

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.

To customize the exterior, obtain permits, train volunteers, and purchase equipment for a food truck to provide nutritious smoothies for people experiencing food insecurity and homelessness in Boston.

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

To hire a grant writer to fundraise for the organization.

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

Metro Housing|Boston, in partnership with Boston Medical Center (BMC), is serving patient families who face imminent homelessness, eviction, foreclosure, or have an impending housing court date. Families referred by the hospital’s Pediatric Emergency Department, Obstetrics Clinic, Newborn Nursery, and the Domestic Violence Program are provided with complex stabilization services. In addition to supporting clients, the grant partners will develop infrastructure for sustainable and efficient data sharing across the two organizations.

The Massachusetts Organization for Addiction Recovery (MOAR) will advocate for continued telehealth services for addiction and recovery and advocate for policy flexibilities that should be made permanent when we transition out of the COVID-19 moratorium period, such as allowing methadone patients to take the medication at home for 14 to 28 days. A key focus will be on advocating against all cuts to publicly funded addiction services in collaboration with Massachusetts Coalition for Addiction Services and ensuring that the proposed Recovery Coach Credentialing board has more recovery coach representation. In addition, MOAR will implement its new action plan focused on ending racial discrimination in the organization and with its external partners.

Family Health Center of Worcester will focus insurance outreach and enrollment efforts towards refugee, immigrant, and asylee populations through clinics and community events with an emphasis on dispelling misinformation, myths, and fears related to public charge. It will proactively outreach to patients who are newly uninsured as a result of a change in life circumstances and will hold new patient education sessions monthly in languages other than English. Family Health Center of Worcester will also conduct ongoing reviews of information collected from Health Insurance Literacy surveys and provide group learning opportunities for its navigators to identify and address themes and content for staff training. Through 2021, specific grant plans may be adjusted to meet the current health and safety guidelines to protect the wellbeing of clients, patients, and staff.