Governor Announces Health Equity Partnership
in Ayer Region
| | The Health Foundation Awards $250,000 to CHNA 9 | | | |  | Governor Maura Healey announces the initiative. (HEC photo) | | (L-R) Health Equity Partnership Executive Director Chelsey Patriss, Executive Office of Health and Human Services Director of Health Policy and Strategic Initiatives Eliza Lake, and Foundation President and CEO Dr. Amie Shei. (THFCM photo) | | | |
The Health Foundation has awarded a three-year, $250,000 grant to the Health Equity Partnership to support this work, which was covered by the State House News Service.
The summit was the third such event hosted by the Health Equity Compact, which brings together over 85 leaders of color who aim to advance health equity in Massachusetts. Compact members are high-level executives and experts from a diverse set of health, business, labor, and philanthropic organizations, including hospitals, health centers, payers, academic institutions, and public health.
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Food Hub Celebrates Grand Opening of
New Headquarters at Union Station
| | Food Hub Director Shon Rainford addresses the crowd at the grand opening. (THFCM photo) | | |
With local leaders and public officials in attendance, the Worcester Regional Food Hub recently celebrated the grand opening of its new headquarters at Union Station in Worcester. The Food Hub aims to increase access to fresh local food by providing aggregation and distribution services to farms and institutions and to incubate local food entrepreneurs through a commercial kitchen and business consulting services. To date, the Food Hub has launched or scaled over 200 food businesses, including food trucks, caterers, and packaged goods producers.
The shared commercial kitchen features five state-of-the-art kitchen spaces and expanded cold and dry storage. The aggregation and distribution program connects over 65 farmers and food producers to more than 160 institutional buyers, including over 100 school districts serving more than 300,000 students statewide.
| | | | | (L-R) Foundation Director Michael Grenon, Worcester Regional Chamber of Commerce President & CEO Tim Murray, Dr. Shei, and Foundation Director Christie Hager. (THFCM photo) | | |
Numerous news outlets covered the event, including MassLive and Spectrum News 1.
The Health Foundation provided nearly $3 million to the Food Hub as a Round 4 Synergy Initiative project from 2015-2023.
| | Strong Advocacy Showing at Private Wells Hearing | | Senator Jamie Eldridge testifies during the Joint Committee on Environment and Natural Resources hearing.(RCAP photo) | | On June 3, the Joint Committee on Environment and Natural Resources held a hearing on "An Act Protecting Drinking Water Quality in Private Wells" (S.585/H.900), legislation filed by Senator Jamie Eldridge, Representative Natalie Blais, and Representative Meghan Kilcoyne which aims to ensure that residents who rely on private wells have access to clean and safe drinking water. | | | | To show your support for S.585 and H.900, you can submit written testimony. For detailed instructions as well as a letter template, refer to this Guidance for Submitting Written Testimony. Please submit your support by Tuesday, June 17! | | Foundation President and CEO Dr. Amie Shei was joined by Conservation Law Foundation President Bradley Campbell and RCAP Solutions MA State Lead Jim Starbard to provide testimony in support of the legislation. Several advocates also provided testimony in strong support of the legislation. | | (L-R) Conservation Law Foundation President Bradley Campbell, RCAP Solutions MA State Lead Jim Starbard, and Dr. Shei. (malegislature.gov) | | |
The Health Foundation has supported the Private Well Program to Protect Public Health, a Round 5 Synergy Initiative project led by RCAP Solutions, since 2020, providing over $1.9 million in funding to date.
From 2020 to 2022, RCAP Solutions conducted over 500 water quality tests across several Massachusetts towns which had a high concentration of private wells and discovered approximately 32% of wells had levels of contaminants exceeding state health standards and/or suggesting potential health risks.
| | Massachusetts eHealth Institute (MeHI) Event Highlights Digital Health Startups | | (L-R) Mass Life Sciences Center President & CEO Dr. Kirk Taylor, Massachusetts Senator Cindy Friedman, Dr. Shei, Executive Office of Health and Human Services Undersecretary Dr. Kiame Mahaniah, and Seae Ventures Partner and moderator Arianne Kidder. (MeHI photo) | | |
On June 4, Dr. Shei served as a panelist on the health equity in health tech panel at the 2025 Advancing Health Equity in Massachusetts (AHEM) Challenge Showcase hosted by the Massachusetts eHealth Institute (MeHI).
The Showcase brought together more than 200 entrepreneurs, investors, public health leaders, policymakers and innovation partners to celebrate MeHI's latest Challenge cohort and witness the next wave of groundbreaking health care solutions. Eleven finalists who were selected to compete for prizes worth $250,000, presented their final pitch at the event. You can read about the winners here.
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For the second year in a row, Dr. Shei was named one of the Worcester Business Journal's Power 100. Also selected was Advocates President & CEO and Foundation Director Diane Gould, and Health Equity Partnership of North Central Mass (CHNA 9) Executive Director and former Foundation community member Chelsey Patriss.
The Health Foundation would like to congratulate all of this year's recipients. You can read all of the Power 100 profiles here.
| | Nonprofit and Community Resources | | |
Below are resources and information that may be of interest to our nonprofit partners and community members.
RIZE Massachusetts Foundation (RIZE)
RIZE recently launched the Family Resilience Grant Program, the third grant program offered through Mosaic Opioid Recovery Partnership (Mosaic), which will provide funding for organizations leading local initiatives to address critical gaps in care for children and families impacted by the opioid crisis. RIZE will award up to $2.5 million annually for three years to an anticipated 5 to 10 organizations, with grants up to $500,000 per year. The program prioritizes multi-service agencies with operating budgets of $20 million and under, as well as minority-led and minority-serving organizations. The application deadline is June 17.
Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts Foundation
The Advancing Community Driven Mental Health Grant Program will fund five community based organizations with grants of up to $100,000 a year for two years, starting in December 2025 to improve and increase access to community based mental health services for adults experiencing mild to moderate mental health distress and practical problems of daily living, and develop the skills of a non-clinical workforce. The Foundation will host a webinar on June 18 to review the guidelines and answer questions. Letters of Interest are due July 24.
The Massachusetts Institute for Community Health Leadership (MICHL) program is now accepting applications! MICHL is program that develops evolving leaders to increase their personal impact; strengthen their effectiveness in their organization; enhance the organization’s influence in the health care system; and understand effective leadership in the context of privilege, health inequities, and racial equity. Learn more about the application process and register for a virtual information session here. The application deadline is August 1.
Greater Worcester Community Foundation
Nourishing Tomorrow's Leaders is a nine week course that teaches participants how to become effective nonprofit board members while aiming to increase diverse representation on nonprofit boards in Worcester County. The goal is to give participants the tools, connections, and confidence needed to be on nonprofit boards. Applications open June 23 and close August 6.
| | The Health Foundation of Central Massachusetts is dedicated to improving the health of those who live or work in Central Massachusetts, with particular emphasis on vulnerable populations and unmet needs. Through its unique and impactful approach to grantmaking, The Health Foundation supports community-identified health issues, with health defined broadly to include social determinants of health and with a focus on promoting health equity. As a health conversion foundation launched in 1999 following the sale of the not-for-profit HMO Central Massachusetts Health Care, Inc., The Health Foundation’s grants have totaled over $59 million to more than 230 unique organizations over its history. For more information, visit www.thfcm.org. |
| © 2025 The Health Foundation of Central Massachusetts | | | | |
