Description
The Department of Public Health (DPH) is partnering with the Massachusetts League of Community Health Centers to distribute funding to Community Health Centers to support outreach and increased access to vaccination. Funding will be used by the health centers to support critical workforce and equipment needs and outreach, education and navigation support.
The Massachusetts League of Community Health Centers (MLCHC) and 42 Community Health Centers receive funding under this component of the Vaccine Equity Initiative beginning in April 2021. Some of these Community Health Centers work across multiple communities, and some may be funded under more than one component of the Vaccine Equity Initiative. See below for details about the community health centers.
Specific efforts
- COVID-19 Vaccine Community Engagement Campaign
- Supports a specialized outreach campaign to engage populations facing structural barriers to vaccination: Black and Latinx residents; Portuguese speakers; and immigrants from China, Vietnam, Haiti, Cambodia, Cape Verde, East Africa and the Middle East.
- Campaign messaging is customized, reflecting the specific questions and concerns of different populations.
- Supports the development of videos which feature community health providers telling their own experiences of the pandemic, addressing specific questions and concerns surrounding the vaccine, and emphasizing why they are recommending the vaccine to their family, friends and patients.
- These materials will be used by Community Health Worker Ambassadors as part of the initiative described below.
- Community Health Worker Ambassadors
- Provide Community Health Workers with the tools and technical assistance needed to increase vaccine confidence. Community Health Workers engage patients and community members in vaccine discussions resulting in increased COVID-19 vaccination rates among populations who have historically been insufficiently served.
- See below for a list of Community Health Centers receiving funding for this program.
- Workforce and Infrastructure Investments – Immediate
- Provide health centers with support for infrastructure demands of building out a COVID-19 vaccination effort at individual Community Health Centers. Funding for staff support, systems and equipment. Examples include: scheduling software, phone systems, mobile & pop-up vaccination equipment, computers and printers, and furniture.
- Workforce and Infrastructure Investments – Additional
- Massachusetts League of Community Health Centers will assess health centers’ vaccine infrastructure and workforce capacity needs by June 1, 2021.The assessment will identify new unanticipated expenses due to expedited eligibility in the vaccine roll-out. Based on information from the assessment, Massachusetts League of Community Health Centers will announce a rolling application and review process to assist centers with their emergent vaccine program needs.
- Deploy Best Practice Playbook for Vaccine Services
- Provide project management, consulting and staffing resources to the Community Health Centers to support deployment of best practice toolkit to support vaccine acceptance, access and administration.
| Amount | $6.1M ($1M from FY21 state appropriations - through June 2021 + 5.1M through FY22) $3.1M February 2022 |
|---|---|
| Led by | Massachusetts League of Community Health Centers |
| Relevant dates | Rolling approval & funding |
Public/private partnership: In addition to these public funds, the Mass. League of Community Health Centers has raised $4.4 million from private donors to create the Mass. League & Community Health Center COVID-19 Vaccine & Recovery Fund (VRF). The goal of the VRF is to support health centers’ ability to meet the various challenges related to COVID-19 vaccine distribution, while also ensuring equity.
Donors supporting this additional private investment include the Barr Foundation, Barbara and Amos Hostetter, the Klarman Family Foundation, the Boston Foundation, Liberty Mutual Foundation, Combined Jewish Philanthropies and the Trefler Foundation. Community health worker ambassador program funding includes $25,000* per Community Health Center through June 2021, with an additional $25,000 for FY22. Together, these public and private funds are providing health centers with essential resources to promote COVID-19 vaccination.
*funded through a public-private partnership
Funded Community Health Centers
| Community Health Center | Municipalities | Funding |
|---|---|---|
| Boston Healthcare for the Homeless | Boston | $105,000 |
| Upham’s Corner Health Center | Boston | $130,000 |
| Codman Square Health Center | Boston | $195,000 |
| Dothouse Health | Boston | $104,653 |
| Bowdoin Street Health Center | Boston | $35,000 |
| South Boston Community Health Center | Boston | $201,147 |
| Fenway Community Health Center | Boston | $102,460 |
| South Cove Community Health Center | Boston | $75,000 |
| Connecticut River Valley Farmworker Health Program | Boston | $48,000 |
| MGH Community Health Associates | Boston | $75,000 |
| NEW Health Center | Boston | $205,000 |
| Brookside Community Health Center | Boston (Jamaica Plain) | $100,000 |
| Southern Jamaica Plain Health Center | Boston (Jamaica Plain) | $125,000 |
| Whittier Street Health Center | Boston (Roxbury) | $125,000 |
| Harvard Street Neighborhood Health Center | Boston (Dorchester) | $140,000 |
| Greater Roslindale Medical and Dental Center | Boston (Roslindale) | $170,857 |
| Harbor Health Services Incorporated | Boston (Mattapan) | $180,000 |
| Mattapan Community Health Center | Boston (Mattapan) | $54,255 |
| East Boston Neighborhood Health Center | East Boston | $125,000 |
| Brockton Neighborhood Health Center | Brockton | $205,000 |
| Cambridge Health Alliance | Everett, Malden, Revere | $75,000 |
| Island Health Care | Edgartown | $150,000 |
| HealthFirst Family Care Center | Fall River | $146,773 |
| SSTAR Family Healthcare Center | Fall River | $125,000 |
| Community Health Connections Family Health Center | Fitchburg, Leominster | $226,556 |
| Edward M. Kennedy Community Health Center | Framingham | $147,500 |
| Community Health Programs | Great Barrington | $80,000 |
| Greater Lawrence Family Health Center | Haverhill, Lawrence, Methuen | $195,100 |
| Holyoke Health Center, Inc. | Holyoke | $182,000 |
| Duffy Health Center | Hyannis | $111,000 |
| Lowell Community Health Center | Lowell | $176,825 |
| Lynn Community Health Center | Lynn | $189,228 |
| Community Health Center of Cape Cod | Mashpee | $143,201 |
| Greater New Bedford Community Health Center | New Bedford | $209,288 |
| Manet Community Health Center | North Quincy | $70,000 |
| Community Health Center of Franklin County | Orange | $75,000 |
| Outer Cape Health Services | Provincetown | $108,260 |
| North Shore Community Health Center | Salem | $130,000 |
| Caring Health Center, Inc. | Springfield | $249,978 |
| Family Health Center of Worcester | Worcester | $55,000 |
| Community Healthlink Inc. | Worcester | $50,000 |
| Hilltown Community Health Center | Worthington | $125,000 |