January 2024 - Issue #10

The Health Foundation Announces

2024 Activation Fund Grant Opportunity 

The Health Foundation announces today the opening of our 2024 Activation Fund grant opportunity to target community-identified health issues and support innovative approaches to addressing health issues in the region.

The Activation Fund supports discrete, one-year projects in Central Massachusetts (targeting between $60,000 and $125,000) aimed at helping an organization move to its next level of capacity and effectiveness that can be sustained over time. In general, grants are limited to a 12-month duration for projects that will not require ongoing fundraising beyond the end of the grant period. The Health Foundation does not name specific health issues or priority areas, instead looking to community-based organizations to identify health issues and potential solutions.

Funding guidelines and answers to frequently asked questions may be found on the Foundation’s website at thfcm.org. The deadline for submission of a concept paper is March 1, 2024. The initial application phase has been streamlined this year, so please attend an upcoming information session to learn about the changes.

INFORMATION SESSIONS

Interested organizations are encouraged to attend an information session to learn about the modified application timeline and process in 2024. Virtual information sessions will be held on Tuesday, January 23 at 2:00 p.m. and Thursday, February 8 at 10:00 a.m. with time set aside for Q&A with attendees during these sessions and afterwards during posted office hours. Please complete the Info Session Registration Form to sign up for an information session. A recording will be available upon request. Please contact Foundation staff in advance if language assistance or other accessibility accommodations are needed.

WBJ Champions of Health Care Awards & Forum

(From left) WBJ Editor Brad Kane, and Health Care Forum panelists Dr. Amie Shei, Dr. Robbie Goldstein, Lou Brady, and Dr. Eric Dickson. (WBJ photo)

On December 13, Foundation President & CEO Dr. Shei participated as a panelist for the Worcester Business Journal's Champions of Health Care Awards & Forum at the College of the Holy Cross. Other panelists included Louis Brady, President and CEO of Family Health Center of Worcester, Dr. Eric Dickson, President and CEO of UMass Memorial Health, and Dr. Robbie Goldstein, Commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Public Health. The discussion was moderated by WBJ editor Brad Kane, and the topics included health care workforce challenges, rising health care costs, emergency preparedness, and health equity.

(From left) Panelists Dr. Monica Vohra, Chief Medical Officer, Dot House Health; Dr. Julie Le, Chief of Eye Care Services, Lowell Community Health Center Eye Clinic; Dr. Shei; Representative Christine Barber, 34th Middlesex; and moderator Michael Curry, President & CEO, Mass League of Community Health Centers. (Photo credit: NECO)

The New England College of Optometry (NECO) welcomed renowned experts in health equity, public health, and the eye care industry to its campus for the inaugural Vision Health Equity Summit on December 7. The event was an opportunity to hear from health equity advocates about the pressing issues of vision health, how vision loss creates disabilities resulting in further societal inequities, and how to create pathways to a more equitable future.

The summit was covered by several industry publications including Invision Magazine, Primary Care Optometry News, and Vision Monday. Dr. Shei used the opportunity to highlight significant challenges in access to vision services in Central Massachusetts and discussed the irony of limited access to vision services in Southbridge, which was once the home of the American Optical Company, the nation’s oldest optical company, and which was sometimes referred to as the “eye of the Commonwealth.”

On December 18, the Edward M. Kennedy Community Health Center (Kennedy Community Health) officially opened the doors at its new Milford site offering expanded primary care services. Additional lines of service include behavioral health, dental, optometry, and social services. The Health Foundation has provided grants totaling more than $580,000 to help Kennedy Community Health build its capacity and expand access to its services in sustainable ways, including the most recent $60,000 Activation Fund grant to purchase dental chairs to equip the new Milford facility.

Stephen J. Kerrigan, President & CEO of Kennedy Community Health, noted, "The Health Foundation of Central Massachusetts has been a vital partner of the Health Center for over 20 years and has supported Kennedy Community Health’s efforts to expand access to high-quality, comprehensive and affordable health care in the greater Milford community since 2014. With the opening of our new facility at 41 Cape Road, we’re thrilled to be able to offer new services to the community that patients previously had to travel to Worcester or Framingham to access. The Health Foundation was instrumental in making this happen, providing funding to support the purchase of dental chairs to bring vital oral health services to the site." 

• Philanthropy Massachusetts has just announced that the application for the 2024 Nonprofit Learning Institute, a free capacity building program for executive leaders of nonprofit organizations in Massachusetts sponsored by Bank of America, is due Wednesday, January 31. More information can be found here. An information session on this opportunity will be held on Wednesday, January 10: Nonprofit Learning Institute Information Session | Philanthropy MA.

• UMass Memorial Medical Center’s Determination of Needs Committee has issued a Request for Proposals for $4.8M in funding for 1-year and 3-year projects addressing needs identified through the 2024 Community Health Assessment. Priority areas include Healthcare and Public Systems Navigation, Mental Health and Housing. The geographic focus areas include the City of Worcester, Grafton, Shrewsbury and West Boylston. The application deadline is Friday, January 12. Click here for the full announcement and guidelines.

• The Massachusetts Community Health and Health Aging Funds 2024 Funding Cycle will soon open, offering grants of up to $200,000 per year for up to 5 years to Massachusetts-based non-profit organizations or groups with a 501(c)3 fiscal sponsor, municipalities, and quasi-governmental organizations who are working to address root causes of health inequities and social determinants of health. Grant applications will be due Friday, March 29. A Q&A session will be held on Thursday, January 11 at 5:00 p.m. regarding the application process and organizations may register here. A recording of the session will be posted on the website after January 15.  

© 2024 The Health Foundation of Central Massachusetts