The Massachusetts Department of Public Health, Executive Office of Elder Affairs and Health Resources in Action announced the recipients of the 2024 Community Health and Healthy Aging Funds. This cohort marks the third round of funds that will bring $15.8 million over five years to 26 total awardees and more than 40 community partners.
The recipients of the Healthy Aging Fund and Healthy Aging Planning Grants are listed below:
- Healthy Aging Fund
DEAF, Inc.
Health Care Access Disparities in the Massachusetts Deaf Adult and Older Deaf Adult Populations
The Deaf, DeafBlind, Hard of Hearing and Late Deafened ‘Deaf” community struggles with multiple significant health disparities compared with hearing adults, additional disparities exist regarding the quality, quantity and effectiveness of interactions between Deaf and health care providers – numerous systemic, societal and institutional inequalities contribute. Most often omitted and excluded from health equity and healthy planning, very limited qualitative and quantitative data are available on health care access and the Deaf community. Utilizing accessible, culturally knowledgeable material and approaches designed specifically to include Deaf, DeafBlind, Hard of Hearing and Late Deafened Massachusetts residents, we will obtain data and information to demonstrate the need for and promote changes, with goal that change that Deaf individuals receive effective communication, equitable treatment, and similar experiences interacting with the health care system to their Hearing peers.
LifePath, Inc.
Age- and Dementia-Friendly Plan Implementation
In 2019, LifePath began a project to re-envision aging in our community. Employing the World Health Organization’s Age-Friendly model, we embarked on a three-year project to engage the community in developing an Age- and Dementia-Friendly Action Plan. This project seeks to build on these community relationships to implement the action plan and evaluate the results.
Massachusetts Senior Action Council
Seniors Power Up! Building Senior Voices for Justice in Aging
Massachusetts Senior Action Council will expand and strengthen its successful model of building active agents of change among lower-income seniors so they may use their own voices and collective power to address key public policy and community issues that affect their lives. They do this through a combination of community outreach, leadership development, and collective action. MSAC’s approach to community organizing shifts power into the hands of those who are most impacted and achieves tangible policy and institutional change that benefits all of our communities.
OutstandingLife
Increasing Inclusion & Combatting Social Isolation of LGBTQ+ Seniors in Massachusetts
The goal of OutstandingLife’s initiative is to increase inclusion and combat social isolation of LGBTQ+ seniors in Massachusetts. By working with Councils on Aging (COAs), Senior Centers, and Aging Service Access Points (ASAPs) in Gateway Cities and Cape Cod we will expand online and other programming options for LGBTQ+ seniors across the Commonwealth. As a result, senior-serving organizations will change so that LGBTQ+ seniors will be better able to connect to local services, their LGBTQ+ neighbors and other LGBTQ+ seniors throughout Massachusetts, reducing isolation and feelings of loneliness, thus improving their mental, physical, and emotional lives.
- Healthy Aging Planning Grants
Central Massachusetts Regional Planning Commission
How Happy is the heart of Massachusetts? Discovering the Happiness Factor of Central Massachusetts
The Central Massachusetts Regional Planning Commission (CMRPC) is launching its newest initiative, “Discovering the Happiness Factor in Central Mass”, examining how social connections impact the happiness and well-being of older adults in the region. This initiative is in alignment with the Age-Friendly Central Mass Action Plan and seeks to delve into how civic involvement can influence senior residents’ quality of life.
Massachusetts Association for Mental Health
Establishing a Statewide Hoarding Resource Network to Support Stable Housing and Eviction Prevention
The MA Hoarding Resource Network (MHRN) will lead advocacy, technical assistance, and public education to strengthen support and homelessness prevention for older adults with hoarding conditions in diverse communities throughout the Commonwealth. Their initiative includes the following conducting an environmental scan to identify service gaps and best practices; piloting peer-led bilingual hoarding support groups; and bringing together first responders, mental health and aging services providers, people with lived experience of hoarding, and other stakeholders. MHRN’s goal is to help people at risk of housing loss to live healthy lives in the community.