September 2024 - Issue #17

As we spend 2024 reflecting on The Health Foundation's 25-year history, we lift up the hiring of our founding president and CEO, Dr. Jan Yost, and two prior projects which continue to have an impact to this day.

Beginning with a Strong Vision

With the launch of The Health Foundation in 1999, the Central Massachusetts region had a new tool to invest in health, including upstream social determinants of health. What was needed was a visionary leader to guide how this new tool could be used most effectively. Leading such a forward-thinking organization in fulfilling its mission would require the skills, expertise, and experience of a strong individual with unparalleled accomplishments.

Dr. Jan Yost fit the profile perfectly and was hired in July 1999 as The Health Foundation's founding president and CEO. Dr. Yost came to The Health Foundation after serving as executive director of the Mary Black Foundation, one of the largest philanthropic organizations in South Carolina. 

In collaboration with the founding Board, she led the development of The Health Foundation’s original grantmaking agenda, introduced an Empowerment Evaluation planning and evaluation system and the use of professional evaluators to the grantmaking process, and successfully advocated that The Health Foundation maintain its 501(c)(4) status, allowing The Health Foundation to lobby and advocate for policy and systems changes.

Dr. Yost retired in 2022, and it is these important early decisions that laid the foundation for the work that followed.

Investing in Brighter Futures

In 2001, more than 30 child care providers, social service agencies, and other nonprofit organizations collaborated to enhance the mental health of children in Worcester through Together For Kids (TFK), a program designed to reduce suspensions for challenging behaviors in child care settings. Recognizing the importance of providing a nurturing and supportive environment in which all children can grow, The Health Foundation invested over $1.7 million for TFK as one of its first Synergy Initiative projects.

The project developed a model of behavioral health consultation for preschool teachers and parents, which was found by evaluators to reduce the preschool suspension rate to near zero.

Not only did the project succeed in creating a viable strategy to address challenging behaviors among some preschool children, it also helped change public policy for all children in the state, which has been sustained with the state's ongoing commitment of more than $30 million (2008-2023) for mental health consultation in preschool settings.

The coalition which was formed for this Synergy Initiative project continues to this day.

“The long-term impact of The Health Foundation’s Synergy Initiative grant process has had a profound effect on early childhood in Central MA and across the state. The decade of work to develop the nationally recognized Together For Kids evidence-based model of clinical supports in early childhood classrooms addressing early childhood mental health and well-being, brought the expulsion of young children to zero while catalyzing a community of early childhood stakeholders, who today under the umbrella Together for Kids Coalition, continue to advocate and elevate the concerns of our youngest children and families. Together For Kids Coalition is building an ongoing track record of systems development and change owned by the Central MA community to increase high quality early education and care, create better access to quality health and well-being services for young children, and expand equitable supports for families and parental and caregiver engagement, while raising community leadership and investment across the state.”  

- Eve Gilmore, Chair, Together for Kids Coalition

Working for a Better Worcester

Working for Worcester Build Day 2016. (Foundation photo)

Working for Worcester (W4W) is a student-run non-profit organization launched by two Holy Cross students in 2012 dedicated to revitalizing community spaces and infrastructure in Worcester. W4W received an Activation Fund grant from The Health Foundation in 2015 to start chapters at four additional colleges/universities in the city. The grant also allowed them to purchase laptops and software to improve the efficiency and sustainability of their work.

Its annual Build Day brings together volunteers, local business and community partners, and students from seven colleges to transform and enhance sites across Worcester. W4W has reinvested over $2.4 million in the community, positively impacting an estimated 45,000 individuals through the construction of playgrounds and infrastructure projects.

W4W is now accepting Request For Projects through October 15, 2024 for its 2025 Build Day.

The ongoing Steward Health Care crisis is directly impacting the Central Massachusetts region through the closure of Nashoba Valley Medical Center in Ayer. The Health Foundation’s president and CEO, Dr. Amie Shei, attended the Department of Public Health hearing on August 15 in Devens to express support for the community. In addition, she also published on the issue recently, advocating that this rural region not be overlooked and forgotten in the aftermath of the hospital’s closure.

CommonWealth Beacon op-ed on August 19:

"The shutdown of Nashoba Valley is part of a troubling trend of hospital closures in rural communities across the country. Each time a hospital closes, the health and economic effects ripple across its community for years."

The Boston Globe Letter to the Editor on August 29: 

“The time is now for the state to engage the Nashoba Valley community in exploring options and identifying funding to protect health in the region. Investments in primary care and in nonmedical factors that influence health are likely to have the greatest return on investment.

All communities are worthy of the state’s attention and investments to survive, rebound, and thrive after the crisis brought on by Steward Health Care’s collapse.”



On September 23, the UMass Memorial Health Road to Care team and UMass Chan Medical School will host their final free continuing medical education (CME) conference for providers designed to meet the federal training mandate for opioid use disorder and pain management.

The daylong training session, “Transforming Care: Harm Reduction, Overdose Prevention and Management of Opioid Use Disorder," will be held virtually. Registration information can be found here.

These trainings are offered free of charge due to funding from The Health Foundation, Reliant Foundation, and RIZE Massachusetts, which together provided more than $150,000 in grant funding. 



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

UMass Memorial Health – HealthAlliance-Clinton Hospital (HA-C) has announced a Prenatal, Postnatal and Infant Services funding opportunity for local non-profit organizations in HA-C’s Service area. The deadline for applications is September 12, 2024. For further information and to access the application, visit the HA-C DoN Website.  

ONE Worcester (formerly known as Jericho Road Worcester) provides consulting and coaching to Worcester-area nonprofits free of charge. It is offering a Fiscal Sponsorship vs. 501(c)(3) Status Workshop on September 25, 2024 from 4-6 p.m. (Click here to register.) This free, two-hour session will examine the advantages and disadvantages of fiscal sponsorship for nonprofits, offering guidance on choosing a sponsor, drafting agreements, and transitioning to becoming a standalone nonprofit.

The Elaine Eppinger Small Business Grant opportunity for women-owned small businesses in Central Massachusetts is accepting applications that are due on October 1, 2024. Grants will awarded to up to 3 businesses in December.

Reliant Foundation awards community grants for charitable projects, programs and initiatives of 501(c)(3) non profit organizations that improve the health and well-being of individuals of all ages in the Central and MetroWest regions of Massachusetts. Its 2024 Grant Cycle is open and you can download their Grant Proposal Guidelines. The deadline to apply is October 1, 2024.

© 2024 The Health Foundation of Central Massachusetts