Community Health Equity Empowerment Fund provides grants to improve health care accessibility in Boston

Local News

A new fund from Mayor Wu and the Boston Public Health Commission will disperse $1.2 million in grants across 10 community organizations, largely in communities of color.

The Boston Public Health Commission sis partnering with Mayor Wu and Mass General Brigham to the new Community Health Equity and Empowerment Fund. Jessica Rinaldi for The Boston Globe

Growing up on the South Side of Chicago, Dr. Bisola Ojikutu knew what it was like for a community to not have the infrastructure and resources it needs. Now, as executive director of the Boston Public Health Commission and commissioner of public health for the city of Boston, Ojikutu is helping to connect local organizations with the tools to be guiding forces in their communities.

The newly-created Community Health Equity and Empowerment Fund, announced on Monday, will disperse $1.2 million in grants across 10 community organizations with the goal of increasing health care access in underserved communities. Each inaugural recipient will receive up to $200,000 in funding, a press release said.

The Public Health Commission is working in partnership with Mayor Michelle Wu and Mass General Brigham on the fund.

Ojikutu said the grants seek to replicate the success community coalitions had in educating Black and Latine residents during the pandemic. 

“During COVID-19 one of the reasons that Boston was successful in closing gaps in vaccination uptake was because community coalitions were really boots on the ground,” she said. “They were able to do this because they really had the trust of their own communities.”

With COVID-19 funds no longer available, Ojikutu said, the CHEE Fund will bridge that gap. Organizations that already service minority communities can receive the money they need to expand their work. 

Suicide prevention in communities of color

Dee Dee’s Cry, one of the only resources for suicide prevention in the commonwealth specifically geared towards communities of color, is one of the CHEE grant’s inaugural recipients. 

In 1986, Toy Burton’s sister Denita Morris died by suicide at the age of 23. In 2017, Burton attempted to help a friend whose brother died by suicide and realized there were still no suicide prevention resources accessible to her community. As a result, she started Dee Dee’s Cry and is now its executive director. 

“For so long there’s been mistrust with healthcare and we want to bring that back because they have resources that people need for their health,” Burton said. “[The grant] is an awesome opportunity for us to expand our program and partner with Whittier Street Health Center.”

A holistic approach

Ojikutu said many of the organizations chosen take a holistic approach to health care. Mental health, she said, is just as important as physical health and can even play a role in fighting chronic disease. 

We Are Better Together Warren Daniel Harris Project takes that effort to heart, Ruth Rollins, the organization’s founder and executive director, said, working with women and girls affected by homicide and incarceration. 

Over 400 people came to Rollins’ son’s funeral when he was a victim of homicide, but when her other son was incarcerated, the phone calls of support stopped, she said. Rollins hopes to use the grant to help even more women and girls affected by both sides of violence. 

“Everyone is realizing we have to address violence holistically,” she said. “It was just one of those grants that I was just so grateful for. I don’t know if people realized we were suffering in silence.”

A food pantry with healthy options

A direct approach to fighting chronic diseases in underserved communities can be found at Greater Grove Hall Main Streets, where they aim to provide healthier options than your typical food pantry, executive director Ed Gaskin said. 

Canned foods that most pantries offer are very processed and have high amounts of fat and sugar, which can aggravate symptoms for people with chronic diseases, Gaskin said. 

“The attitude for some food banks is ‘you get what you get.’ We’re just saying, ‘we can do better than that,’” Gaskin said. “The gist of the grant is to ensure we can provide food which is consistent.”

While the city of Boston will act as a resource to the organizations, how to spend the money is up to them. Ojikutu said they have specific benchmarks they’d like the organizations to reach, liking connecting with a certain number of people by a specific point in time. But overall, she said, the project is community led for a reason.

“We’ll work with them. We’ll help them to formulate plans or help to adjust their plans if needed,” Ojikutu said. “But we really want the strategy to be determined by the community based organization or the coalition of organizations.”

A healthier Boston, she said, is about being the most equitable city it can be. 

“We envision a Boston where everyone can live their healthiest, most productive life,” she said. “Where everyone feels like their needs are being met in terms of health and wellness.”