Center photo credit: Shamar Humphries @HDiamondPictures

Dear Friends and Colleagues,

This has been a remarkable year for the Kraft Center marked by sustained programmatic impact and growth, as well as new opportunities to improve community health and health equity through innovation. As we reflect on the year, we are incredibly proud of all the Kraft Center programs and grateful for the hard work and dedication of our staff, partners, and community members.  

The Community Care in Reach® mobile addiction program has expanded access to clinical care and harm reduction across the Commonwealth, and the program continues to grow with a new partnership in Lowell. A new grant from the Massachusetts Department of Public Health has allowed us to provide technical assistance and evaluation services and explore opportunities to expand this life-saving model beyond Massachusetts.

The DrEaMH (Driving Equity and Maternal Health) initiative also launched the Mobile Postpartum Care Unit to improve maternal health equity and we've continued to leverage our Mass General Brigham Community Care Vans to address cardiometabolic disease, social risk factors, and substance use disorder.

In 2024, we’ve laid the groundwork for the launch of new community health and innovation programming that we look forward to sharing with you in the coming year.

We remain deeply grateful to Mr. Robert K. Kraft and the Kraft Family for their unwavering generosity and support that makes all of our work possible. As we look ahead to 2025, we wish you all a healthy, prosperous, and peaceful New Year!

Best wishes,

Overall, 2024 was an amazing year for the Community Care in Reach® (CCiR) mobile addiction services program. CCiR first launched in Boston in January 2018 and, with support from the Massachusetts Department of Public Health (MDPH), has since expanded to 5 sites across Massachusetts including Boston, Brockton, Springfield, Worcester, and newly, Lowell, mobilizing addiction services in areas with high overdose rates.

The Kraft Center welcomes the Lowell Community Health Center as the newest partner of the Community Care in Reach® (CCiR) team! Through the generosity of Robert K. Kraft and Family, Lowell Community Health was awarded a medical trailer and now joins the Community Care in Reach fleet. The vehicle hit this streets this winter, 2024-2025.

Lowell Community Health Center's new mobile medical unit built by Flexetail

Between January - October 2024, the CCiR sites had 13,767 encounters, 8,295 harm reduction encounters, 5,673 clinical encounters, 867 unique individuals received clinical care, and 238 unique individuals received buprenorphine treatment. Participating sites include Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program & the Boston Public Health Commission's AHOPE team in Boston; the Brockton Neighborhood Health Center in Brockton; Tapestry in Western Massachusetts, including Springfield and Holyoke; UMass Memorial Medical Center in Worcester and Lowell Community Health Center in Lowell.

With a new grant from MDPH, the Kraft Center continues to provide technical assistance and evaluation to the state-funded sites, and partners with The Heller School for Social Policy and Management at Brandeis University for program evaluation. The Center meets monthly with the program partners to cover topics ranging from safety during outreach, to vehicle maintenance, licensure & compliance, and the impact of recent legal rulings and community ordinances on the provision of services to people experiencing homelessness.

The Kraft Center for Community Health also hosted the first Virtual Mobile Addiction Services Conference in collaboration with RIZE Massachusetts in January 2024, to support organizations seeking to mobilize addiction services. The conference highlighted strategies and best practices around mobilizing clinical care and harm reduction services for individuals living with addiction, covering topics such as safety during outreach, showcasing existing mobile programs, supporting frontline staff, and starting a mobile program. The course can be attended asynchronously HERE and CME credits are available. The next virtual conference will take place in spring 2025!

Photo credit: Erin Clark | Globe Staff

The Driving Equity and Maternal Health (DrEaMH) initiative aims to reduce maternal health disparities, particularly those disproportionately affecting people of color. These disparities are often linked to limited access to convenient and accessible care options. DrEaMH approaches this mission through multiple strategies including mobile care for postpartum patients and expanded doula access through the Mass General Brigham Birth Partners program.

Central to this initiative is the Mobile Postpartum Care Unit (MPCU), a mobile program that delivers maternal health services directly to individuals who have recently given birth, providing care for up to six months postpartum. The MPCU officially began services in May 2024. The work of the MPCU was highlighted in multiple recent publications:

WGBH - Mass General Brigham pilot program delivers care to new mothers right at home

Boston Globe - Mass General Brigham wants to tackle health outcomes by bringing postnatal care to new moms’ doorsteps. Literally.

Additionally, the DrEaMH program enhances access to no-cost doula services for those most at risk of adverse pregnancy outcomes. By addressing the unique challenges faced by birthing individuals, DrEaMH seeks to create a more equitable healthcare system.

Mass General Brigham Community Care Vans bring essential healthcare services directly to individuals facing barriers to traditional healthcare. The fleet of three DPH-licensed mobile clinics provides services throughout the Greater Boston area, offering care for cardiometabolic conditions, substance use disorder, social risk mitigation, vaccinations, and health education. The program prioritizes historically marginalized communities, including those experiencing homelessness, low-income families, and elderly individuals with limited mobility.

We partner with local organizations in neighborhoods like Boston, Chelsea, Everett, Mattapan, and Lynn, providing services at food distribution sites, local churches, and barber shops. The care model is wraparound, ensuring individuals are supported and connected to primary care as needed. Services are available to all, with no barriers to access.

The Implementation Science Center for Cancer Control Equity work came to a close in August 2024 of which the Kraft Center for Community Health was one of three leading partners with the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and Massachusetts League of Community Health Centers. Over the last 5 years, the Center has had over 50 investigators and research staff, 25+ trainees, 70+ Community Health Center leaders and staff in key roles on pilot projects, and 200+ CHC participants attended our Implementation Learning Community (ILC), with roles ranging from leadership to QI and population health to community health workers and all types of clinicians. We invite you to review this brief summary of some of our many achievements together.

The Kraft Center Community Care Van participated in the 5^th Annual Deatrich Wise Block Party at the Josh Kraft Mattapan Teen Center. The Community Care Van team partnered with Mass Eye and Ear to provide essential health information and services at this family-friendly community gathering in Mattapan. This year's celebration included local musicians, health eats, and tons of fun - all headlined by New England Patriots defensive end, Deatrich Wise, and Kraft Center Board Chair and New England Patriots Foundation President, Josh Kraft.

The Community Care Van team was on-site at the event providing blood pressure and diabetes checks, flu and COVID vaccines, while the Mass Eye and Ear Team offered vision and hearing screenings. It was an overall great event filled with health, community, and connection.

Photo credit: Shamar Humphries @HDiamondPictures

The Kraft Center received a philanthropic gift from the Biogen Foundation marking inaugural support for the planning and launch of a Community Health Equity Corps next summer. The Corps will consist of a community-embedded team of well-trained young people promoting health and wellness focused on equitable health outcomes in cardiometabolic disease, cancer, substance use disorder, and maternal morbidity/mortality. Activities of the Corps will include screening & navigation, education & empowerment, partnership building, and health promotion. We are grateful to Biogen for their support during the planning phase and look forward to building a program that will make a meaningful and lasting impact on community health and health equity in Greater Boston.

Our Executive Director, Dr. Elsie Taveras, has been honored with the Dr. Joan Wallace Benjamin Leadership Award by the Urban League of Eastern Massachusetts. This prestigious award recognizes nonprofit leaders who demonstrate exceptional leadership and a compassionate, empathetic commitment to their communities, celebrating the legacy of Dr. Joan Wallace Benjamin, the accomplished former President & CEO of the Urban League. Dr. Taveras’s impactful work at Mass General Brigham, the Kraft Center for Community Health, her contributions to the Health Equity Compact, and her unwavering leadership in health equity and community health exemplify the values this award represents.

Congratulations, Dr. Taveras, on this well-deserved recognition!

Şeyda Kilic (she/her) is a community health worker at the Kraft Center, contributing to both the Driving Equity and Maternal Health (DrEaMH) Innovation Initiative and the Walgreens Community Care Program. Şeyda earned a Bachelor of Science in Community Health and Biology from Tufts University and has experience working in non-profit organizations to support immigrant populations. Her research includes published work on racial and ethnic disparities in clinical trial enrollment. Şeyda is a passionate advocate for immigrant health. She will be attending medical school in July 2025, with an interest in maternal and fetal medicine and a passion for supporting medically underserved populations.

Erin Duncan is a graduate student at Tufts University pursuing her Master of Public Health degree. Her interests lie in population health promotion, specifically through the reduction of disparities in the fields of primary care and maternal health. This summer, Erin supported both the Community Care Van and the MGB-Walgreens Community Care Program through on-site data collection, along with helping design deliverables for the pilot Mobile Postpartum Care Unit. In the future, she hopes to pursue further education to become a Physician Assistant. 

Melissa Holguin, a recent graduate from the University of Miami, studied Public Health with minors in French and Health Communication. During her summer internship with The Kraft Center for Community Health through the Health Career Connection program, Melissa supported the Community Care Van initiative, administering and translating social determinants of health screenings at cultural festivals across the greater Boston area. Melissa contributed to the Right FIT pilot program and collaborated with the ISCCE Lab, where she conducted a literature review on the challenges faced by Community Health Center staff in Community-Academic Partnership Research.

Fiona Duggan has been spending her fall semester as an intern at the Kraft Center for Community health. She is a health science student at MCPHS and will be graduating this

Spring, 2025. She has been working on projects with DREAMH and has found this to be a life changing experience that has led her to hope to pursue a career in maternal health. The experience on the Mobile Postpartum Care Unit has shown her the amazing impact this team has on the community and is so grateful for the opportunity to be a part of the amazing team!

Gracie Benavidez is a senior at Brookline High School. She is interested in majoring in Public Health and Public Policy. This year, Gracie was a maternal health equity intern with the DrEaMH program. She shadowed clinical visits to postpartum mothers and their newborns and wrote an abstract on the early implementation of the program with the help and mentorship of Dr. Priya Sarin Gupta that was accepted as a poster at the 2024 American Public Health Association Conference. Gracie also volunteered with the MGB and Kraft Center Community Care Van at La Colaborativa in Chelsea, MA. She was excited to gain this experience and hopes to continue working on Kraft Center projects.