Mass General and Community Partners Awarded MassUP Grant from the Health Policy Commission

Boston, MA—Massachusetts General Hospital has been awarded a $650,000 grant from the Massachusetts Health Policy Commission’s Moving Massachusetts Upstream (MassUP) Investment Program to work with community partners in Chelsea and Revere to address economic stability and mobility. Over the next three years, the Mass General Center for Community Health Improvement (CCHI) and our Revere CARES coalition will partner with Chelsea and Revere city leadership and community members, The Neighborhood Developers, the Chelsea Collaborative and the MassHire Metro North Workforce Board, to establish workforce development and economic mobility systems and policies.

“We are proud to work with our longtime partners in Chelsea and Revere on a key social determinant of health,” said Peter L. Slavin, MD, president of Massachusetts General Hospital. “Recent events are a reminder that we need innovative solutions—like this program—to address economic stability and mobility, which are key to achieving racial and ethnic equity.”

Joan Quinlan, vice president of Mass General Community Health, said, “We know economic instability and lack of mobility are major drivers of health inequities in our communities. We have partnered for many years with Chelsea and Revere and are now excited to work on these upstream approaches to address income and employment with the goal of eliminating health disparities.”

The partnership will establish a cross-city coalition to coordinate municipal workforce development efforts to increase skilled, benefitted jobs for residents. Activities will include reviewing and aligning the two cities’ workforce development plans; aligning job-training programs to identified growth sectors; advocating for municipal policies that support economic opportunity and bolstering ongoing programs that provide technical assistance and promote access to capital for women and minority businesses. 

“We are looking forward to working with our MassUP partners to establish an integrated public and private workforce development system,” said Revere Mayor Brian Arrigo. “Focusing on the social determinants outlined in the Revere Master Plan, the grant program will lead to better jobs, increased income and improved health for all of our residents.”

Chelsea City Manager Tom Ambrosino, added, “COVID-19 exacerbated what we already knew—our residents need good paying jobs with benefits and protections to be healthy, and our locally owned businesses need a leg up in this region. I’m happy we will have the funding and support to be able to implement the policies and systems needed to improve the health and well-being of everyone in our community.”

About the Mass General Center for Community Health Improvement

The Massachusetts General Hospital Center for Community Health Improvement (CCHI) brings together people and resources to address challenging health problems and foster sustainable improvement. Focusing on the social determinants of health, CCHI seeks to eliminate health inequities based on socioeconomic status, race and ethnicity, leveraging prevention, early intervention and treatment approaches that are measurable and have proven impact. Stay connected with CCHI on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.

About the Mass Health Policy Commission

The Massachusetts Health Policy Commission (HPC) is an independent state agency that develops policy to reduce health care cost growth and improve the quality of patient care. The HPC's mission is to advance a more transparent, accountable and innovative health care system through its independent policy leadership and investment programs. Find the HPC at Mass.gov/HPC or on Twitter.