Brigham and Women's Faulkner Hospital Community Health Initiative Priorities & Strategies

Priority Selection Criteria

The Community Health Initiative Advisory Committee is charged with selecting areas for funding that impact the DoN Health Priorities. The following guidelines are set for Determination of Need Health Priorities:

• Social Environment: A community’s social conditions and cultural dynamics (e.g., the development of neighborhood associations or open street programs that allow community members to gather, socialize, walk, etc.)
• Built Environment: Physical parts of where we live, work, travel and play including transportation, buildings, streets and open spaces (e.g., promoting active transportation, such as complete street initiatives to institute sidewalks, access to healthy food options, access to parks, etc.).
• Housing: Creation and maintenance of safe, quality, affordable living accommodations for all people (e.g., healthy home environment assessments, housing rehabilitation loan and grant programs, etc.).
• Violence and Trauma: Intentional use of force or power, threatened or actual, against oneself, another person, or against a group or community (e.g., universal school-based violence prevention programs; Safe Date Programs designed to prevent the initiation of emotional, physical, and sexual abuse in adolescent dating relationships, etc.).
• Employment: Availability of safe, stable, quality, well-compensated work for all people (e.g., vocational training for adults, multi-component workplace supports for active commuting and worksite obesity prevention interventions, etc.).
• Education: A person’s educational attainment, or the years or level of overall schooling a person has completed (e.g., dropout prevention programs, etc.

2022 CHNA Priorities

CHNA priorities are determined by a long term, collaborative process of community engagement and data review. Data was reviewed extensively through the community engagement work as well as through the Community Health Assets and Needs Assessment (CHNA).

As part of the 2022 CHNA data collection process, the team:

• Interviewed key informants and conducted focus groups
• Facilitated community listening sessions
• Conducted outreach through Union Capital Boston
• Surveyed the community
• Interviewed internal stakeholders
• Reviewed Mass General Brigham data on system priorities
• Reviewed large scale data sets by neighborhood, BPHC COVID Survey, and SDoH data from participating Boston hospitals
• Reviewed topic areas reports and policy documents

CHNA 2022 Priority Areas

A primary focus is to implement strategies that will achieve racial and ethnic health equity in the following areas:

• Financial stability and mobility
• Housing
• Mental and behavioral health
• Chronic disease and healthy living
• Access (food, transportation, healthcare, digital, language)

Learn more about the BWFH CHNA.

Strategy Selection Criteria

All proposed CHI strategies must be submitted to the Department of Public Health for approval.

For a proposed CHI strategy to be approved it must meet the following criteria:

• The strategy must impact one or more of the six DoN Health Priorities.
• The strategy must be evidence-informed or evidenced-based.
• The strategy must be either a “total population-community-wide prevention” strategy and/or an “innovative community clinical linkage” intervention.
• The strategy must be feasible and impactful as it relates to reach, population, and community support, with a focus on reducing health inequities.

General Strategies

• Multisectoral community partnerships
• Comprehensive, holistic care models
• Culturally specific engagement strategies
• Culturally relevant and diverse workforce
• Partner with trusted, community leaders

Allocation Committee

The charge of the Allocation Committee is to oversee a competitive process for awarding funds for the health priorities identified through the community engagement process. Members are selected based on their knowledge and:

• Experience based on professional or lived, in one or more of the identified health priorities
• Philanthropic and/or grant making experience
• Understanding/expertise in the Social Determinants of Health
• Lived experience in priority neighborhoods (Jamaica Plain, Hyde Park, Roslindale and West Roxbury)
• Ineligible to apply for funds unless otherwise stated in DPH regulations
• No perceived conflicts of interest

The Allocation Committee duties:

• Carrying out formal solicitation or alternative processes for the disbursement of CHI funds for the noted health priorities and strategies. This process will include the development of a request for proposal (“RFP”) and Bidders Conferences (with technical assistance resources)
• Development of creative, transparent strategies for disbursing CHI monies beyond an RFP
• Engaging technical assistance resources that can support and assist applicants with their responses to an RFP
• Disbursement of CHI funding
• Reviewing and analyzing grantee reports on the impact of CHI funding.

Funding Criteria

The following criteria are included in the process for funding.

1. A CHNA Priority and a CHIP Strategy
2. Review of neighborhood demographics (poverty, hardship, etc.)
3. Health disparities
4. Need (where there may not be other hospitals to fund the work)
5. Opportunity for collaboration
6. Population size
7. Community Readiness
8. Priority area for BWFH (Jamaica Plain, Roslindale, Hyde Park and West Roxbury)

Where We Are To Date

Priority Selection

The selected health priority for this project is mental and behavioral health with a focus on access to treatment and innovation approaches to prevention and care.

Strategies Selected

1. Increase CHWs & Recovery Coaches: Increase the pool of Community Health Workers and Recovery Coaches with specialized mental health/substance use training who represent low-income, immigrant, LGBTQ, seniors, and/or communities of color.
2. Access to community behavioral health services in the community through partnerships with community-based organizations.
3. Specialists in the Boston Housing Authority & Schools: Explore funding to place behavioral health specialists in every Boston Housing Authority and Boston Public School site.