Baystate Health Issues RFP for Better Together Grants Program

SPRINGFIELD — Baystate Health, in partnership with its Community Benefits Advisory Councils, is issuing a request for proposals (RFP) for the Better Together grants program.

The goal of the 2022 Better Together Grant is to bring together health and community-based social-service organizations across Baystate’s four hospital service areas to improve health outcomes and reduce health inequities. The aim is to develop approaches that, by targeting the social determinants of health, will improve people’s overall well-being and make our communities healthier places to live in, while complementing the healthcare system’s current services.

Applicants can submit one proposal with the proposed project aligning with the hospital’s priority social determinant of health:

• Baystate Franklin Medical Center seeks proposals that enhance the engagement of people with lived experience in policy making and project design for one of the priority populations identified in the 2019 BFMC community health needs assessment.

• Baystate Medical Center seeks proposals on education related to workforce development.

• Baystate Noble Hospital seeks proposals that advance issues of equity and anti-racism within institutions and at the community level.

• Baystate Wing Hospital seeks proposals that address education to employment with a focus on career readiness for children, youth, and young adults.

For more detailed definitions and examples of interventions for each health priority, applicants can review the Massachusetts Department of Health (DPH) Determination of Need Health Priority Guidelines at www.mass.gov/doc/health-priority-0/download.

Applicants are asked to carefully review the RFP grant guidelines prior to submitting their round-one application, which is due Wednesday, Jan. 12, 2022. Finalists will be notified and invited to the application interview stage by Friday, Feb. 4, 2022.

A virtual general information session will be held on Wednesday, Oct. 20 from 2:30 to 4 p.m. All interested organizations and applicants are encouraged to register for the information session. For those who cannot attend, the session is being recorded and will be available for access at baystatehealth.org/applyforfunding.

Funding for the FY 2022 Better Together grants RFP is made possible through the DPH’s Determination of Need Community Health Initiative requirements related to the replacement of Baystate Medical Center’s 17 operating rooms as part of the Hospital of the Future project approved in December 2020.