BCBSMA Foundation Announces Nearly $4M in 2024 in Grantmaking
The Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts Foundation, a nonprofit grantmaking and research organization, today announced it has awarded approximately $1 million in grants to support statewide initiatives for community-driven mental health and health equity. This latest round of funding brings the Foundation’s grantmaking activity to nearly $4 million in 2024, all in support of organizations serving those who are economically, racially, culturally or socially marginalized.
The Foundation’s Board of Directors approved the final round of its three-year Advancing Community-Driven Mental Health program, with grants for five nonprofit organizations that are training non-clinical staff to offer support to clients experiencing mild to moderate mental health distress and problems of everyday living. The program is leveraging a model developed by the World Health Organization, called Problem Management Plus (PM+), that helps adults learn how to manage adversity and stressors with the support of a community-level referral network.
The following five organizations received $153,000 each to continue their projects to improve access to community-based mental health services and expand the behavioral health workforce: Boston Senior Home Care, Cambridge Economic Opportunity Committee, Quincy Asian Resources Inc., Stavros Center for Independent Living and The Community Builders Inc. Their missions address housing, support for people with disabilities; social and community services.
In addition, the Foundation is providing a total of $297,111 to two technical assistance partners, Partners In Health and The Family Van, to support the grant partners’ projects. The program’s third year will focus on expanding the number of clients served and on sustaining the PM+ model into the future in the organizations.
“The implementation of this model has shown promise in positively impacting clients’ self-reported well-being as well as the value of training community-based providers in mental health support skills,” said Jacquie Anderson, the Foundation’s Senior Director of Grantmaking. “The organizations and provider teams are learning important lessons about how to address specific barriers to mental health support for the communities they serve.”
The Foundation also awarded a $30,000 policy grant to Cambridge Health Alliance (CHA), a hospital and health care system serving Cambridge, Somerville and areas north of Boston. The grant will support the development and implementation of an “action lab” through which CHA will share with a small group their work in community engagement to advance racial, ethnic and linguistic equity.
The action lab model, for sharing best or promising practices, was originally recommended in the Foundation’s December 2023 report, Achieving a Racially and Ethnically Equitable Health Care Delivery System in Massachusetts: A Vision, Toolkit, and Proposed Action Plan.
“This initiative aligns with the Foundation’s focus area of addressing structural racism and racial inequities in health and will continue progress on our health equity action plan,” said Foundation President and CEO Audrey Shelto. “We anticipate the action lab to be the first in a series of small group learning opportunities hosted by the Foundation, and we look forward to further engaging with the community in these settings.”
About the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts Foundation
The mission of the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts Foundation is to ensure equitable access to health care for all those in the Commonwealth who are economically, racially, culturally or socially marginalized. The Foundation was established in 2001 with an initial endowment from Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts. It operates separately from the company and is governed by its own Board of Directors. For more information, visit www.bluecrossmafoundation.org.
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