Grant Partners

Resilient Sisterhood Project 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.

Boston Chinatown Neighborhood Center, Inc.  (BCNC) will support two staff members to attain their certification as Mental Health First Aid trainers. These BCNC staff will then facilitate a series of mental health first aid training to other staff and youth, adults, and caregivers.  This initiative will enable BCNC staff to become more attuned and better equipped to serve participants struggling with mental health issues. Ultimately Chinese immigrant youth, adults, and families will have increased access to culturally and linguistically appropriate mental health services.

Somali Parents Advocacy Center for Education’s (SPACE) initiative will build resilience among Somali-American families and increase their understanding of the public health and health delivery system. SPACE will host workshops and conversations, training, and hands-on experiential learning about health, wellbeing, physical fitness, nutrition, preventive health care, and natural environmental physical supports.  These events will create a foundation to deepen culturally appropriate comprehension and advance new behaviors related to living a healthy lifestyle.

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

Fathers’ Uplift will purchase grocery store gift cards for families in need of food and other supplies, increasing the ability of fathers and families to adress mental health concerns by providing resources to lessen the stressors associated with their physical and financial health. Funding will also cover expenses associated with implementing remote counseling and therapy services.

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

East Boston Neighborhood Health Center, in collaboration with the Chelsea Senior Center, will expand and sustain COVID food delivery services to include medications and pharmacy goods. Pairing medication and pharmacy goods with its food deliveries will benefit the individual health of the patients receiving necessary medications while also working to stop the community spread of COVID by allowing patients to stay at home.

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

Public Health Institute of Western 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.

Samaritans, Inc will upgrade their video conference and webinar capacities to conduct virtual workshops for youth and their caregivers. Samaritans will focus these workshops on individuals in communities experiencing health inequities who are particularly vulnerable during these challenging times.

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

Roca, Inc. will transition its innovative approach to behavioral health for young adults so that interactive cognitive-behavioral theory (CBT) and educational training can be delivered virtually. It will also work to combine its skills in engagement, outreach, and CBT, with the more traditional skills of Community Health Workers and Therapeutic Mentors, to maximize the number of young people engaged and retained in appropriate levels of both non-clinical and clinical care. 

This grant was made in response to COVID-19 pandemic

Advocates will purchase Zoom accounts, computer monitors, laptops, and printers for six recently hired bilingual clinicians to expand access to behavioral health care for low-income Latino individuals and families.  Funding will also provide equipment to two medical assistants to improve their efficiency when scheduling appointments and updating client charts.

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

Volunteers In Medicine Berkshires 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.

Lowell Community Health Center will provide multi-cultural communication and outreach efforts with a focus on immigrant and communities of color and expand its capacity for medical interpretation to ensure that patients are referred to trusted partners to address identified health-related social needs.

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

Trinity Boston Connects will provide clinical services for youth workers who experience cost barriers to accessing therapy and are experiencing a decline in mental health care access due to significant changes in their routine, family income, or from being unemployed due to the pandemic.

This grant was made in response to COVID-19 pandemic

William James College will pilot the Behavioral Health Service Corps (BHSC) program that will engage 20-25 recent college graduates who wish to spend a year learning about and working in behavioral health organizations. BHSC scholars will become employees of behavioral health host organization in inpatient units, home-based services, residential treatment, and recovery centers, among others. A key focus of this project is to both diversify and grow the behavioral health workforce.