Baystate Franklin Medical Center Launches RFP for Community Benefit Grants

GREENFIELD — Baystate Franklin Medical Center and its Community Benefits Advisory Council (CBAC) announced a request for proposals (RFP) for the Better Together Community Benefits Grants Program.

Better Together unites healthcare and community-based nonprofit organizations across Baystate Franklin’s service areas to shape future healthcare and human services. The aim is to develop approaches that will improve people’s overall well-being and make our community a healthier place to live by targeting the social and economic determinants of health.

The CBAC at Baystate Franklin Medical Center is comprised of area educators, health and service providers, and others who are actively engaged in community health-improvement efforts. Working together with hospital staff, this group prioritizes unmet health needs as identified in the hospital’s community health-needs assessment.

Committee members from the CBAC will evaluate proposals, with a focus on using Better Together to fund evidence-informed and data-driven programs. The model for evaluation puts a strong emphasis on programs that provide an authentic path for alignment with Baystate’s community-benefits mission and community-health priorities.

The Better Together Community Benefits grants program will award outcomes-based grants and pilot grants to eligible nonprofit organizations with current IRS-designated 501(c)(3) status that have projects directly benefiting residents of Franklin County and North Quabbin. Funding is made possible through the state Department of Public Health’s determination-of-need requirements to address community health needs.

Letters of intent are due Monday, July 2, and grant proposals are due by Friday, Aug. 3. Grant award decisions will be issued on or before Friday, Aug. 31.

A general RFP information session will take place on Thursday, June 21 from 2:30 to 4 p.m. in the first-floor meeting room of the John W. Olver Transit Center in Greenfield. All interested applicants are welcome and encouraged to attend. Pre-register for the session by clicking here.

To apply for the Better Together grant, visit www.baystatehealth.org/applyforfunding.