Impact

Advocacy

Advocacy has been a critical ingredient in The Health Foundation’s recipe for success with its initiatives, with activities ranging from education to lobbying depending on needs and opportunities. Advocacy has helped ensure that the strategies that are piloted, evaluated, refined, and implemented through grants can then be sustained longer-term through policy or systems changes, and it has often led to broader replication of effective strategies beyond Central Massachusetts. 

Beyond incorporating advocacy into its Synergy Initiative projects, The Health Foundation has also hosted convenings and supported outreach campaigns to raise awareness about emerging health issues in the region and engaged in advocacy to support community-driven efforts to seek public policy changes aimed at improving health, broadly defined. Following are examples of the Foundation’s recent education and advocacy efforts.  For current updates on any of the initiatives described, please contact Foundation staff at info@thfcm.org. 

Equitable Regional Transportation  

The Issue:  The Health Foundation has long recognized transportation as an important social determinant of health, directly impacting a person’s ability to access health care services as well as get to jobs, education, grocery stores, community events and more. In the greater Boston area, residents can utilize the MBTA, a transportation system that includes commuter rail, subway, bus, ferry, and paratransit service. Across the state, residents in more than 250 communities rely on 15 Regional Transit Authorities (RTAs). Yet, there are many areas of the state, especially rural regions, that lack meaningful RTA service.  

Related Investments & Advocacy:  Recognizing the critical need for transportation in the Quaboag Hills region, which straddles three counties in central and western Massachusetts, the Quaboag Valley Community Development Corporation (CDC), the Town of Ware, and local social service agencies partnered to launch a demand-response community shuttle service known as the Quaboag Connector, which is now considered a model across the state for a mode of transportation known as “microtransit.”  In 2019, The Health Foundation selected the Quaboag Connector as a Round 5 Synergy Initiative project and has since invested $1.9M in the initiative to date. 

In collaboration with the Quaboag Connector project team and other key stakeholders, The Health Foundation has been a vocal advocate for greater state funding for microtransit and is pleased that $10 million has been made available through the FY2025 surplus supplemental state budget for the new Microtransit and Last Mile Transit Grant Program.  

In 2025, The Health Foundation provided $25,000 in grant funding for Transportation for Massachusetts (T4MA), a statewide coalition focused on improving Massachusetts’ transportation systems, to partner with the Quaboag Connector and other allies to lead advocacy efforts for “An Act Establishing A Special Commission on Microtransit” (S.2366/H.3658), which would be charged with creating a shared definition of microtransit and recommending funding options to sustain services long-term. On September 16, 2025, Dr. Amie Shei and T4MA Senior Policy Director Pete Wilson provided testimony to the Joint Committee on Transportation in support of the bill.   

Safe Drinking Water for All 

The Issue:  As many as half a million Massachusetts residents rely on private wells for their drinking water, living in rural areas where there is no public water infrastructure.  Public water systems undergo regular testing for contaminants such as arsenic, E. coli, radon, uranium, and per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS, also known as “forever chemicals”) as mandated by federal and state regulations, but there are neither federal nor state regulations requiring that private wells be tested to ensure that the water is safe to consume. Some municipalities may develop their own local regulations that require testing, but the existence and scope of these local regulations vary significantly from town to town, leading to a confusing patchwork system. 

Related Investments & Advocacy:  Concerned about the health implications of unregulated and untested private wells, which are especially prevalent in Central Massachusetts, RCAP Solutions applied for a grant to help the organization expand its private wells program funded by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to provide more in-depth water quality testing and technical assistance to homeowners in the region and to seek necessary policy changes. In 2019, RCAP Solutions was selected as a Round 5 Synergy Initiative project, which has since received nearly $2M in grants for this critical work, now focused on advocacy.  

Working closely with legislators, the project team drafted legislation that would enable the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) to develop minimum statewide private well regulations. The bill, “An Act to Promote Drinking Water Quality for All,” was originally filed in the 2021-2022 legislative session and again in 2023-2024 with refinements including financial assistance for low-income homeowners to remediate contaminated private wells.  That year, RCAP, in partnership with The Health Foundation, formed The Coalition for Safe Drinking Water, a group of diverse individuals and organizations advocating for equitable access to safe drinking water for private well owners across Massachusetts. 

In 2024, the legislature appropriated $100,000 to MassDEP to conduct a study and make recommendations for a statewide program to ensure that drinking water from private wells is safe to consume.  In 2025, new legislation (SD.847) was filed that would grant MassDEP clear authority to establish standards and define testing requirements for new and existing wells to ensure effective implementation.  Upon the sale of a home, a private well used for drinking water would have to pass a test for the transaction to be completed (similar to the state’s Title 5 septic system regulations).  The state would also make resources available to assist eligible homeowners with the cost of well water upgrades.   

For more information about the legislation and the Coalition for Safe Drinking Water, please visit www.whatsinyourwellwater.org. 

Access to Healthcare in Nashoba Valley 

The Issue:  In May 2024, Steward Health Care filed for bankruptcy resulting in the August closure of Nashoba Valley Medical Center (NVMC) in Ayer despite strong opposition from the community and pleas for more time to ensure a smooth transition for local residents. In the aftermath of this hospital closure, residents were left without access to critical services including a nearby emergency room, inpatient beds for more acute conditions, primary care providers, and medical specialists.  

Related Investments & Advocacy:  In response, The Health Foundation provided a $25,000 grant to support a multi-prong community awareness and outreach effort led by Health Care for All (HCFA), in partnership with other private funders and the Massachusetts Department of Health, aimed at helping individuals and families navigate the unique health care access challenges that were exasperated due to the closure.  The project ran from Oct 2024 – Jan 2025 and its goals were to educate patients about accessing health care services, identify the communities’ health care needs after Steward ceased operations, and amplify the voices of those most impacted by the closures. HCFA developed multilingual educational and recruitment materials to support canvassers in their outreach efforts, including flyers, canvassing scripts, social media postings, and other tools designed to effectively engage communities. 

In June 2025, The Health Foundation awarded a three-year, $250,000 grant to the North Central Massachusetts Health Equity Partnership, also known as CHNA 9, to develop a micro-coalition aimed at addressing root causes exacerbating health disparities in Ayer and six surrounding towns, including access to health care.  The initiative is part of the Healey-Driscoll Administration’s Advancing Health Equity in Massachusetts (AHEM) initiative, which works to eliminate racial, economic and regional disparities in 30 communities across the state.