NEWS

Age-Friendly Funding Alert: Mass. DPH, Mass Cultural Council, EOHHS Human Services Workforce

Oct 5, 2022

The Massachusetts Healthy Aging Collaborative is pleased to promote the following funding opportunities that advance inclusive age- and dementia friendly communities:

Mass. DPH, Root Cause Solutions Exchange, MHOA: Accessibility Mini-Grants

The Massachusetts Department of Public Health, Health and Disability Program in conjunction with the Office of Local and Regional Health, Mass in Motion, the Root Cause Solutions Exchange, and the Massachusetts Health Officers Association (MHOA) is pleased to announce that it will be giving 7 mini-grants of $12,000 to Massachusetts’ municipalities to work on making their communities more accessible for people with disabilities. This initiative is designed to enhance the health equity of residents of Massachusetts communities and attention will be placed on both disability justice and racial justice. Communities are encouraged to view accessibility through a lens that takes into account the intersectionality of marginalized identities community members may have.

As part of the project, communities are asked to work with Independent Living Centers who will provide disability-related expertise. The Department of Public Health, Health and Disability Program will give an additional $3,000 to the Independent Living Center for each municipality that they work with. This will ensure that people with disabilities are front and center of the communities’ projects.

Communities will work on their projects from January 1, 2023-June 30, 2023. If you are interested in applying for a mini-grant, please contact Kimberley.Warsett@mass.gov for the application.

Mass Cultural Council – Local Cultural Council (LCC) Program (applications due Oct. 17).

Mass Cultural Council distributes funds to local and regional cultural councils, who then regrant funds to arts, humanities, and interpretive science projects in their own communities. Currently, there are 329 local and regional councils that represent all 351 cities and towns in the Commonwealth. The program is administered by 2,400 municipally appointed volunteers serving statewide.

The LCC application process can be quite competitive. Because of the large number of requests and the limited funds available for regranting, many LCCs receive far more applications than they can fully, or even partially, fund. Average grants tend to be modest ($500-$750) and are either reimbursement-based, meaning the applicant expends their own money, and if approved for a grant, then submits paperwork for reimbursement or directly-granted, meaning funding is provided up front to approved applicants and requires the applicant submit a W-9, grant agreement, and final report. Each LCC stipulates whether they provide reimbursement or direct grants on their council profile.

More information is available here.

Executive Office of Health and Human Services – Home- and Community-Based Services and Human Services Workforce (Applications due Nov. 4)

The HCBS and Human Services Workforce Grant totals $42.5M in grant funding for training, recruiting, or retaining the HCBS and human service workforce in Massachusetts. Applicants’ proposals must support workers in one of the following 5 categories: