Every year, the Blue Hills Community Health Alliance (CHNA 20) staff creates an annual report that is shared with local hospitals whose Determination of Need (DoN) funds support community health initiatives and build the capacity of CHNA 20 and its members.

Ensuring that these funds are utilized in the most strategic, cost-effective and impactful manner possible is paramount to CHNA 20. During the last two years we have allocated resources to support multi-sector partnerships, taken steps to align with regional public health efforts, and increased our internal capacity, while prioritizing social determinants of health and health equity initiatives.

The annual report provides a detailed summary of how hospital DoN funds have been allocated and put to work in empowering our communities to achieve their optimal health. Highlights (included below) were shared at the 2020 Winter General Meeting, held on Friday, February 7, 2020. View the entire report here.

Funds Allocation and Purpose

For January 1, 2018 (FY 2018) to December 2019 (FY 2020), DoN funds have been allocated to the following four areas:

Capacity Building Programs (54%): grants and technical assistance were allocated to targeted prevention and health promotion projects with a focus on addressing root causes of health disparities, increasing collaboration between sectors, improving community linkages, and leveraging resources.
Health Equity and Blue Hills RCC Initiatives (22%): funds were allocated for the development of a regional coordinating council, a voluntary group of stakeholders working on community transportation.
Convening and Connecting Activities (14%): funds were allocated for community engagement activities targeted to members, community partners, and other key stakeholders to facilitate participation and opportunities for cross-sector collaboration.
CHNA 20 Administration (10%): funds were allocated to support staff, program and strategy development, organizational capacity, consultants, communications tools (website and newsletter), and related fiscal agent fees.

Activities & Programming

At the core of CHNA 20’s work is convening and connecting organizations to improve public health. We do that through the following activities:

Collaborative Support

One of CHNA 20’s greatest strengths is our ability to serve as a neutral party in health-related efforts, engaging with a wide range of sectors to tackle public health problems. We not only provide intensive education around collective impact and collaborative models, but also aim to support these efforts in our communities. We accomplish this goal through advisory committees and working groups dedicated to learning more about, and implementing, multi-sector, solutions-based initiatives to address local and regional health priorities.

CHNA 20 serves as the backbone entity for the Blue Hills Regional Coordinating Council (BHRCC), a voluntary coalition of stakeholders collaborating to address regional transportation needs. Established in January 2019 by CHNA 20, the BHRCC is conducting a deeper community needs analysis exposing the root causes of access disparities, and then designing and implementing a regional plan to close gaps, strengthen structural and systemic inadequacies and increase utilization of public and private systems.

Learning & Networking Events

CHNA 20 frequently brings together members of the broader community to learn, share, and collaborate to improve public health in the 13 towns and cities we serve. We host quarterly general meetings, workshops and trainings, and other learning opportunities around our priority areas throughout the year. Post event evaluations are given to attendees and used to measure educational value, usefulness, overall interest, and satisfaction for each event. 2019 events included:

November 2019: General Meeting on Age-Friendly Communities (45 attendees)
June 2019: Hospitals Investing in Community Health: Updates on the Determination of Need and Community Benefits Frameworks in MA (webinar in collaboration with MA Public Health Association and CHNA 7; 35 attendees)
May 2019: General Meeting on Community Transportation (48 attendees)
February 2019: Breakfast Forum on Opioids in the Workplace (hosted in collaboration with the Quincy Chamber of Commerce; 76 attendees)
January 2019: Annual Winter General Meeting and Grants Showcase (53 attendees)

Leveraging Resources

CHNA 20’s role as a regional health coalition has included providing technical and financial support to deserving organizations whose efforts further our mission and vision in our communities. Historically, the coalition has offered grants to support programs, events, and sustainable change projects that lead to positive, enduring, and replicable outcomes in one or more CHNA 20 priority areas. While grant making efforts have been reduced significantly due to changes in Determination of Need (DoN) funding, CHNA staff continues to provide ongoing education and technical assistance to community partners on a wide range of topics.

Grant programs completed in 2019:

Partnership Grant: The focus of the Partnership Grant program was to provide assistance to projects that addressed the social determinants of health (SDoH) and built sustainable agency partnerships.
Behavioral Health Grant: Behavioral Health Grants supported local projects that addressed substance use and/or mental health in CHNA 20 communities and considered one or more risk factors associated with disparities in outcomes, including: 1) stigma, 2) trauma, and/or 3) cultural competency.

CHNA 20 staff also regularly participates in community meetings and serve as core members of local coalitions, offering a regional perspective on a variety of public health topics (e.g. Randolph CHNA/CHIP Steering Committee, Milton Substance Abuse Prevention Coalition (MSAPC) Core Stakeholders Group, Quincy MA Opioid Abuse Prevention Coalition membership).

Future Planning & Activities

Community Partner Engagement & Collaborative Efforts: To further focus on the social determinants of health and health equity, enhance community engagement efforts, and promote regional collaboration, one of CHNA 20's priorities for FY20 is to more frequently partner with local and state organizations and/or agencies on health-related activities and events. In addition to maintaining existing partnerships, CHNA 20 staff has connected with municipal and state leaders on healthy aging efforts and have committed to participating in a regional behavioral health integrated care model.

Enhanced Communications: With changes in activities and programming, it is imperative that CHNA 20 articulates to a variety of stakeholders (including members, funders, and the general community) its role in advancing community health in this region. Communication efforts have been added as a key activity for FY2020.

Ensuring Sustainability: Diversifying funding streams is vital to ensuring the sustainability of CHNA 20 moving forward given limited DoN resources. Under the Blue Hills RCC project, CHNA 20 has been able to secure funds to support efforts around a regional transportation needs assessment and action plan.

We encourage you to read the full report, and to sign up for the CHNA 20 newsletter so you can stay up to date on all of our future activities and opportunities.