Grant Partners

To hire a social media consultant to develop a marketing strategy, broaden outreach, and increase access to families of children with disabilities.

To support the production of new outreach materials in English and Spanish for the teen dating violence program.

Caring Health Center will implement an extensive media and grassroots community outreach campaign to promote enrollment via multilingual television, radio, newspaper, print, social media, and website advertisements; deliver outreach at numerous community events and venues; support MassHealth members impacted by the Accountable Care Organization transition, increasing knowledge and awareness of new coverage options; develop and facilitate multilingual discussion groups to understand health system challenges; and develop facilitators’ guides, educational handouts, and a survey instrument to assess consumers’ understanding of public health insurance availability, policies, and literacy.

Greater New Bedford Community Health Center will educate patients on practices that will help them obtain and maintain coverage, including an overview of the enrollment process, action steps needed, and key deadlines; set-up a secure drop-box for patients to deposit documentation to expedite the collection and application processes; develop reminder cards that highlight important dates, deadlines, and outstanding documentation; proactively review copies of patients’ notification letters from MassHealth and the Connector to provide targeted assistance for those denied for coverage; and target outreach at self-pay patients, which the health center is seeing at increased rates, to discuss coverage options and assist in the enrollment process.

Brockton Neighborhood Health Center will partner with community organizations; help patients update account information, make payments and understand communications from the MassHealth and the Connector; reach out to patients via phone or mail to ensure they understand changes and take steps to maintain coverage; and work closely with patients through individual education and coaching to address post-enrollment issues like selecting a health plan, choosing a primary care provider, and making payments online.

Conference of Boston Teach Hospitals (COBTH) will hire a consultant to develop and facilitate a planning process that will establish the Community Health Needs Assessment (CHNA) and Community Health Implementation Plans (CHIP) Collaborative and provide recommendations that are represented by key city stakeholders and community members, and aloow them to highlight the social and economic factors impacting the City of Boston and its neighborhoods.  This planning process follows an agreement by COBTH hospitals to collaborate on primary data collection that is shared among member hospitals of COBTH for their respective CHNAs.  In 2018, COBTH intends to conduct a single CHNA and develop a joint CHIP for all of the city in partnership with the Boston Public Health Commission and other key community stakeholders. 

Brookline Community Mental Health Center will develop a small-scale pilot of a functional user community that allows care providers to share resources, pose questions, and sustain dialogue across systems. The Brookline Center will build and coordinate the network by creating the user group, recruiting members, monitoring and administering the group, and collecting and analyzing data.

To support professional development for nursing staff, printing of promotional materials, and medical equipment for the North Shore Mother Visiting Partnership.

Hilltown Community Health Centers will partner with local community organizations; advertise and author articles in local newspapers and on social media; open a new site in Amherst; work with Managed Care Organizations, MassHealth, and the Connector to proactively identify consumers who need to renew their coverage, and provide assistance; work with employers, small businesses, business associations, home care agencies, and other organizations to reach part-time, seasonally, and self-employed people at risk for churn; and develop an advertising and social media campaign informing the public about the important of renewing coverage and open enrollment.

Health Care For All will launch an ethnic media campaign during the 2017 Open Enrollment period, utilizing radio and print advertisements, outreach strategies, and other communication avenues to engage hard-to-reach individuals in cities with high rates of uninsured individuals across the state.

The Talking Information Center (TIC) will develop a radio program to broadcast events focused on health and vocational training for individuals with disabilities. TIC provides free broadcasting of local news, articles, consumer information, and other items of interest to visually-impaired and otherwise disabled individuals across the state.

To replace three residential-style refrigerators in the Adult Day Center.

HSL has developed a depression services program, Making Real Progress in Emotional Health, to integrate behavioral health treatment with primary care and other health services to reduce the severity of depressive symptoms in seniors, and to improve overall health.  The Foundation's grant will enable HSL to expand services to patients receiving in-home care.  In 2015, HSL acquired Jewish Family and Children’s Services, which expanded HSL’s home care services by an additional 1,000 seniors (now totaling 2,000 older adults).  In contrast to seniors in supportive housing who tend to be part of a community, seniors in home care are more likely to suffer from isolation, pain, and increased debility post-hospitalization.  These stressors also increase these seniors’ susceptibility to depression.  HSL will take the lead in developing and monitoring individual care plans; tracking health outcomes in collaboration with primary care physicians from the practices treating the majority of patients; and developing additional community partnerships to ensure more comprehensive collaborative care for their patients.

The Massachusetts League of Community Health Centers (the League) will serve as a source of accurate and timely information related to health care coverage issues. The League will conduct policy analyses regarding state and federal issues and disseminates their learnings to policymakers, state agencies, member organizations, and other advocacy groups. Additional priorities will include increasing the League’s capacity for grassroots advocacy work and improving health literacy among patients at community health centers.

Massachusetts Public Health Association (MPHA) will focus on community health integration and improving the built environment. MPHA will work with the Alliance for Community Health Integration to ensure that social determinants of health are adequately addressed, in particular through community investments, support for ACOs from MassHealth, and health care institutions’ internal policies.