April 2025 - Issue #24

Founded in 1990, Community Servings’ mission is to actively engage the community to provide medically tailored, nutritious, scratch-made meals to chronically and critically ill individuals and their families. 

Medically Tailored Groceries Pilot Underway

In partnership with The Health Foundation, it recently announced the launch of a pilot program aimed at expanding access to nutritious meals for residents living with diet-related chronic illnesses and food insecurity in Central Massachusetts, which was covered by the Worcester Business Journal, MassLive, and Grantmakers In Health. The “Food Is Medicine for Central Massachusetts” pilot project is supported by a $425,000 Synergy Initiative grant in 2025.  

Through this unique intervention, Community Servings will ship medically tailored groceries, as prescribed by its team of registered dietitian nutritionists, directly to participants with health conditions such as diabetes and heart disease over a 24-week period. The groceries will incorporate produce sourced from Central Massachusetts farms through a partnership with Growing Places. This pilot year grant follows a $250,000 planning year grant awarded in 2024 through the Synergy Initiative, The Health Foundation’s grantmaking program that supports collaborative projects aimed to address health challenges and achieve systems change over the course of several years.

New AMPL Institute Launched

Community Servings also recently announced the launch of its new AMPL Institute for Access to Medically tailored nutrition through Policy and Leadership, combining the organization’s 35 years of expertise and excellence in providing medically tailored nutrition with rigorous research, policy work and provider education, as described by Mass Nonprofit News. 

(L-R) T4MA Community Engagement Manager Rachel Scott, Jennie Blake, T4MA Senior Policy Manager Pete Wilson, Dr. Amie Shei, and MPHA Campaign Director Alexis Walls. (Foundation photo)

On April 3, The Health Foundation staff joined Transportation for Massachusetts (T4MA) and partners in a "Day of Action," urging policymakers to invest in transportation this legislative session.

The Health Foundation is currently following the budget deliberations regarding excess surplus revenues. While the Governor's proposal included a historic $10 million investment in micro-transit across the state, the House version, which will be voted on tomorrow, excluded this much-needed investment, which is a setback for regional equity and for communities without access to RTA and MBTA services, especially rural regions across the state. 

The Health Foundation is also following a new bill this session, “An Act establishing a special commission on micro-transit” (S.2366/H.3658), which would establish a special commission on micro-transit to study existing and emerging micro-transit services and funding needs.

In this recent Letter to the Editor in the Boston Globe about health care costs in Massachusetts, Dr. Shei wrote about the importance of investing upstream in social determinants of health to have the greatest impact on health. She lifted up transportation and the Quaboag Connector Synergy Initiative project as critical investments.



Below are resources and information that may be of interest to our nonprofit partners and community members. 

Mass Cultural Council

Operating Grants for Organizations

Unrestricted general operating grants for Massachusetts-based, nonprofit cultural organizations with year-round operations offering public programming in the arts, humanities, or sciences. Grants start at $6,000.

Application Deadline is April 17, 2025.

Creative Experiences Grants

NEW: Grants to organizations (including schools) to fund festivals, projects, residencies, and other cultural activities in the arts, humanities, and sciences. This program combines Festivals & Projects and Creative Projects for Schools into one program. Apply for grants of $2,500 or $5,000.

Application Deadline is April 30, 2025.

Metro Credit Union Foundation

Applications are now open at Foundation.MetroCU.org for its first round of 2025 grant funding. The Foundation awards grants twice a year to nonprofits whose initiatives and programs contribute to the economic and social well-being of local communities. The deadline to apply is May 16, 2025, at midnight ET.

Award recipients will be announced in June.

Executive Orders Affecting Nonprofits

The National Council of Nonprofits is providing live updates on the recent Executive Orders Affecting Nonprofits. This document will be updated frequently. You can find the most up-to-date version here.

© 2025 The Health Foundation of Central Massachusetts