Tufts Health Plan Foundation awards nearly $1 million to nine community organizations

WATERTOWN, MA – Tufts Health Plan Foundation today announced nine new community investments totaling $972,000 and demonstrating the Foundation’s commitment to policies and practices that support healthy aging. These investments are in addition to $3.9 million in grants announced earlier this year.

“The Foundation is proud to support community efforts to be vibrant, healthy and equitable,” said Tom Croswell, Tufts Health Plan president and CEO and a member of the Foundation’s board of directors. “Advocating for public policy change is essential to achieving social change at scale.”

Tufts Health Plan Foundation is the only regional funder exclusively focused on healthy aging. The new grants support engagement of older people as advocates on critical policy work to include addressing gaps in food and health care access, transportation and community safety.

“We value advocacy and leadership among older people,” said Nora Moreno Cargie, president of Tufts Health Plan Foundation and vice president for corporate citizenship at Tufts Health Plan. “The organizations we are supporting demonstrate collaboration with state agencies and other community groups that spurs innovation and makes our communities better places to grow up and grow old.”

The nine new grants are:

• Age-Friendly Rhode Island (AFRI) (Providence, R.I.)
  AFRI: 2020-2022
  To strengthen AFRI’s organizational capacity and to engage, encourage and expand cross-sector collaboration and information sharing. The Rhode Island College Foundation serves as the fiscal agent for AFRI. Three-year grant for $360,000.
• Granite United Way (Manchester, N.H.)
  2020 Census
  To support local, grassroots activities to reach those most susceptible to an undercount in the 2020 Census, including low-income communities, rural areas with limited broadband access, college students, immigrants and refugees, young children and older people. Six-month grant for $10,000.
• Healthy Waltham, Inc. (Waltham, Mass.)
  Broadening Waltham Connections for Healthy Aging
  To extend and strengthen the work of Waltham Connections on inclusion, nutrition and transportation. Six-month grant for $20,000.
• LivableStreets Transportation Alliance of Boston, Inc. (Cambridge, Mass.)
  Better Buses and Safer Streets for Older Adults on Blue Hill Ave
  To meaningfully engage and provide advocacy opportunities for older people to directly address the multitude of safety and transit concerns along the Blue Hill Ave/Warren Street corridors. Two-year grant for $60,000.
• Massachusetts Healthy Aging Collaborative (MHAC) (Lawrence, Mass.)
  Advancing Age-Friendly
  To support MHAC in advancing and increasing the number of age- and dementia-friendly communities. Elder Services of the Merrimack Valley, Inc. serves as the fiscal agent for MHAC. Two-year grant for $175,000.
• Massachusetts Law Reform Institute (Boston, Mass.)
  Older Adult Nutrition Access Project
  To implement the SNAP gap pilot, including leveraging the state’s expansion of the Medicare Savings Program to increase awareness of and enrollment in SNAP. One-year grant for $60,000.
• Massachusetts Senior Action Council (Quincy, Mass.)
  Senior Power Up for Health and Economic Security
  To engage diverse older people with low incomes in community and policy processes that will result in active civic leaders. Three-year grant for $240,000.
• Massachusetts Smart Growth Alliance (Boston, Mass.)
  Great Neighborhoods Zoning Reform Implementation
  To advance local and state zoning and housing law reforms to create more walkable and welcoming communities where families can age in place. Citizens’ Housing and Planning Association serves as the fiscal agent. One-year grant for $37,000.
• New Hampshire Women’s Foundation (Concord, N.H.)
  2020 Census
  To engage a statewide complete count consultant to work alongside the N.H. Complete Count Committee (CCC), local CCCs, grassroots groups and other community leaders to increase awareness of and participation in the 2020 Census. Six-month grant for $10,000.