Senators Warren and Markey submitted the following Congressionally Directed Spending (CDS) federal funding requests to the Senate Appropriations Committee for important community projects in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts..

Under guidelines issued by the Senate Appropriations Committee, each Senator may request CDS funding for projects in their state for fiscal year 2024. However, only a small number of these proposals may actually receive federal funding. CDS requests are restricted to a limited number of federal funding streams, and only state and local governments and eligible non-profit entities are permitted to receive CDS funding. In compliance with Senate Rules and Senate Appropriations Committee requirements, Senator Warren has certified that she, her spouse, and immediate family have no financial interest in any of these submitted CDS requests. This page will be updated on a rolling basis to comply with Senate Appropriations Subcommittee deadlines and requirements.

NOTE: The projects are listed alphabetically by project name. 

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Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development

Link to FY24 Financial Certification Letter

Project Name: Carrying Capacity and Supply Chains of Coastal Massachusetts Islands
Amount Requested: $1,862,000
Intended Recipient: Martha's Vineyard Commission
Location: Oaks Bluff, Dukes County, MA
Project Purpose: Seeking to understand better the impacts of development on anthropogenic stressors, infrastructure, and climate change, the Army Corp of Engineers, the Martha’s Vineyard Commission, and the Town of Nantucket request funding for an evaluation of the islands’ carrying capacity thresholds (including resource management) and supply chains. The evaluation will be used to inform regional and island-specific planning. While this project's scope is Martha’s Vineyard, Nantucket, and other small islands, there are other coastal and rural communities across the Commonwealth facing similar pressures as the Islands. Sea level rise, nitrogen loading, grid modernization, and stormwater surge management are areas of evaluation that have particular value to other communities, particularly but not limited to Cape Cod. Many structural and non-structural solutions from this study generated to address these issues can be considered for different geographies.

Project Name: City of Melrose Net Zero Police Station Design
Amount Requested: $3,000,000 (Total project cost is $30,000,000)
Intended Recipient: City of Melrose
Location: Melrose, Middlesex County, MA
Project Purpose: The City of Melrose seeks federal funds to design a new Net Zero Police Station to meet critical public safety needs and support the City’s goal to be energy net-zero by 2050. Unlike schools and libraries, there is no state funding to support the design of public safety buildings, so the entire project is financed through increased property taxes. Built in 1900 as a telephone company and retrofitted in the 1950s, the existing Melrose Police Station is functionally obsolete with serious structural deficiencies and accessibility constraints. At 7,144 sq ft, the building contains less than 25% of the square footage required to meet the programmatic and storage needs of the Melrose Police Department. The City has a design firm under contract to proceed with design immediately, seeing the project through to successful completion.

Project Name: Endicott College Seawall 
Amount Requested: $1,000,000
Intended Recipient: Endicott College
Location: Beverly, Essex County, MA
Project Purpose: Endicott College is requesting $1 million to assist with seawall reconstruction and stabilization of its seawall in three locations along the shoreline of Endicott’s campus in Salem Sound, severely damaged by storms in March 2018 and April 2020. Foth Infrastructure & Environment, LLC began repairing and replacing the seawall in June 2022. Phase 1 at Endicott Beach in Beverly is 80% complete, and phase 2 at Mingo Beach is 10% complete. Completion of phases 1 and 2 promise the following results: public access to both beaches; protection of nearby state highway Route 127; protection of the historic Misselwood Estate, a part of Endicott College used for hospitality training and public events; protection against erosion and the economic impact of receding shoreline; and ensuring the safety of neighboring private homes abutting the phase 1 seawall.

Project Name: Mount Holyoke College Geothermal Energy Conversion 
Amount Requested: $2,000,000
Intended Recipient: Trustees of Mount Holyoke College
Location: South Hadley, Hampshire County, MA
Project Purpose: In concert with the Commonwealth's goal to reach net-zero emissions by 2050, Mount Holyoke has set an ambitious goal to be carbon neutral by 2037, the College's bicentennial. The most ambitious and far-reaching action the College is taking to achieve this aim is to replace the 100-year-old gas-and-steam powered system that heats and cools the 800-acre campus with a renewable, geothermal exchange system, beginning in spring 2023 and is estimated to take eight years to complete. Geothermal energy will reduce the college's contribution of carbon-equivalent greenhouse gasses by 80%, or 7,136 metric tons annually. Mount Holyoke is a nationally-ranked women's college and a pillar of the South Hadley community.

Project Name: Ultra-Low Temperature Freezer Replacement for Energy and Emissions Reduction
Amount Requested: $1,625,000
Intended Recipient: Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Inc.
Location: Boston, Suffolk County, MA
Project Purpose: Dana-Farber seeks to expedite efforts to remove some of the largest energy-consuming pieces of equipment from its research facilities.. -80 °F freezers serve a critical function in the research setting, but due to their high cost, are often not replaced for higher efficiency models. This project will target the 125 freezers that have been identified as inefficient and replace them in-kind with the latest technology that can perform the same function at 32% of the energy consumption. Replacing 125 freezers could reduce Dana-Farber’s emissions by 1% and electricity consumption by 3%, a relatively significant value while maintaining the operating conditions necessary for the research environment.

Project Name: Cape Cod Bridges, MA
Amount Requested: $30,000,000
Intended Recipient: U.S. Army Corp of Engineers, Cape Cod Bridges
Location: Bourne and Sagamore, Barnstable County, MA
Project Purpose: The project consists of the replacement of the existing Bourne and Sagamore bridges, built in the 1930s, with two new bridges (“replacement bridges�), built to modern Federal Highway Administration standards, and associated work, including utility relocations and real estate acquisition.

Project Name: City of Boston Coastal Storm Risk Management
Amount Requested: $500,000
Intended Recipient: U.S. Army Corp of Engineers, City of Boston
Location: Boston, Suffolk County, MA
Project Purpose: Boston’s people and neighborhoods - as well as the transportation and economic hubs of New England - are at risk from coastal flooding along its 47 miles of coastline. The City of Boston has partnered with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on a Coastal Storm Risk Management Feasibility Study to mitigate risks from coastal storms. The study combines the Corps’ engineering and economic expertise with the City’s ongoing planning and implementation practice to recommend coastal storm flood mitigation strategies for the city. The study will evaluate and recommend strategies to protect the City from flooding during coastal storms. This will provide the opportunity to open the City to further investment in the design and construction of the recommended strategies upon completion of this planning study.

The funding provided through this proposal is expected to enable the timely delivery of this study, meaning that effective risk management solutions will be delivered more quickly in places that need them most.

Project Name: Saugus River and Tributaries CSRM, MA (Saugus, Lynn, Malden, and Everett)
Amount Requested: 
Intended Recipient: U.S. Army Corp of Engineers, Saugus River Study
Location: Saugus, Essex County, MA
Project Purpose: Initiate a feasibility study to evaluate options to reduce the risk of coastal and riverine flooding in the Saugus River watershed in Saugus, Lynn, Malden, Everett, and Revere, Massachusetts. The study will re-evaluate the previously authorized tide gate project along with other structural and non-structural alternatives. The study will also examine natural and nature-based solutions independently and in combination with structural measures.

Project Name: New Bedford Fairhaven and Acushnet Hurricane Barrier, MA
Amount Requested: $3,500,000
Intended Recipient: U.S. Army Corp of Engineers, New Bedford Hurricane Barrier
Location: New Bedford, Bristol County, MA
Project Purpose: Funding is required to repair damaged areas of the steel sector gates at the Project.  Steel repairs will include the replacement of a portion of the skin plate and supporting structural members at the leading edge of both gates and repairs to the fender system of each gate.  Fender system repairs include work on steel brackets that hold 10 rows of timbers and the replacement of some composite timbers.   Work will also include abrasive blasting and painting of parts of each sector gate that have failed paint.

Project Name: Ipswich Harbor Dredging, MA
Amount Requested: $850,000
Intended Recipient: U.S. Army Corp of Engineers, Ipswich Harbor Dredging
Location: Ipswich, Essex County, MA
Project Purpose: Complete Sampling and Testing leading to environmental coordination and permitting supporting maintenance dredging of about 70,000 cubic yards of material with placement at a nearshore site with silty material placed in Massachusetts Bay Open water site. Perform hydrographic surveys to support maintenance dredging of about 100,000 cubic yards of material with placement at a nearshore site with silty material placed in Massachusetts Bay Open water site. Plans and Specs to support maintenance dredging of about 100,000 cubic yards of material with placement at a nearshore site with silty material placed in Massachusetts Bay Open water site.

Project Name: Cohasset Harbor, MA
Amount Requested: $450,000
Intended Recipient: U.S. Army Corp of Engineers, Cohasset Harbor Dredging
Location: Cohasset, Norfolk County, MA
Project Purpose: Surveys, Sampling and testing, environmental coordination, and NEPA document associated with maintenance dredging of approximately 115,000 CY from the 8-foot entrance channel, 7-foot anchorage, and three (3) separate 6-foot anchorages. Shoaling in the harbor is making navigation of the 8-ft channel difficult, with 50% depth and 100% width restrictions.  The channel was last maintained in 2017 when a partial dredge of the project removed 72,000 cubic yards of sandy shoal material from the entrance channel, 7-foot anchorage, and a single 6-foot anchorage and placed at the Green Harbor nearshore placement site.

Project Name: Edgartown Harbor, MA
Amount Requested: $250,000
Intended Recipient: U.S. Army Corp of Engineers, Edgartown Harbor Dredging
Location: Edgartown, Dukes County, MA
Project Purpose: Surveys, Sampling and testing, environmental coordination, and NEPA document associated with maintenance dredging of approximately 35,000 CY from the 17-foot entrance channel. Shoaling in the harbor is making navigation of the 17-ft channel difficult, with 35% depth and 100% width restrictions.  The channel was last maintained in 1939 and now needs approximately 35,000 CY of sandy dredged material removed from the 17-foot channel and placed at a nearshore placement site.

Project Name: New Bedford & Fairhaven Harbor, MA
Amount Requested: $2,000,000
Intended Recipient: U.S. Army Corp of Engineers, New Bedford and Fairhaven Harbor Dredging
Location: New Bedford & Fairhaven, Bristol County, MA
Project Purpose: Design and award of CAD Cell Construction and Maintenance Dredging Contract. The project provides navigation for one of the most major commercial fishing ports in New England. FNP consists of 30' deep channel FNP CONSISTS OF 30' deep channel (350’ wide, 5 miles long) extending from Buzzards Bay to a point above the New Bedford-Fairhaven Bridge (U.S. ROUTE 6). The channel has increased widths for anchorage and maneuvering purposes northwest of Palmer Island (along the New Bedford Main Waterfront) and above the bridge. Construction was completed in 1939; the project has not been federally maintained since. Shoaling of the FNP will restrict access to the entire project including channels, turning basin, and anchorage.  Continued shoaling will only worsen existing conditions making safe navigation difficult and access to the public piers and docks challenging at high tide conditions.

Project Name: Green Harbor, MA
Amount Requested: $1,000,000
Intended Recipient: U.S. Army Corp of Engineers, Marshfield Green Harbor Dredging
Location: Marshfield, Norfolk County, MA
Project Purpose: Dredge the Entrance Channel only, removing approximately 20,000 cubic yards of material. The project is vital to the Town of Marshfield and supports both commercial fishing and recreational activities. Green Harbor is a regionally significant commercial fishing port. Shoaling at the Narrows in the entrance channel caused by winter and spring Nor'easters creates hazardous conditions for the regionally significant fishing fleet. Maintenance dredging of this portion of the entrance channel is required annually.

Project Name: Worcester Housing Authority: Saving Energy
Amount Requested: $2,000,000
Intended Recipient: Worcester Housing Authority
Location: Worcester, Worcester County, MA
Project Purpose: This request from the Worcester Housing Authority (WHA) will purchase (1) electric vehicle (EV) chargers and solar panels for its administrative offices at 630 Plantation Street and (2) two additional EV chargers for its maintenance headquarters at 660 Lincoln Street. Highly aware of its present energy consumption rates and the devastating effects of climate change, the WHA will be one of the first public housing authorities in the Commonwealth to utilize these energy and cost-saving measures, setting the standard for environmentally friendly practices at housing authorities. Additionally, on average, WHA spends $80,235.46 on gas per year and $25,548.65 on auto repairs/materials in fiscal years 2021/2022. Lastly, WHA can fund additional programs and services for the agency's 14,000 public housing residents through energy cost savings.

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Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies

Link to FY24 Financial Certification Letter

Link to Revised FY24 Financial Certification Letter

Project Name: Centennial Grove Rehabilitation Project  
Amount Requested: $200,000
Intended Recipient: Town of Essex
Location: Essex, Essex County, MA
Project Purpose: The Town of Essex seeks funds to improve the physical elements of its Centennial Grove recreational facility and beach used for general public recreation and enjoyment, sporting events, swimming, summer camp, enrichment programs, and private events on a rental basis. The facility includes a staff building, small changing spaces, a lakeside cottage, sports field-related sheds, and a large garage with an upstairs room. Improvements include the installation of permanent toilets, HVAC, and year-round potable water. The Lakeside cottage will also be converted into a year-round space to leverage the facility in other seasons. While the Town and YMCA have marketing programs to attract private groups (including relationships with minority communities and environmental advocates) for event space rentals, the facility lacks the infrastructure to comfortably support these events, losing out on a significant additional source of revenue.

Project Name: Deerfield 1888 Building Town Administrative Office Project 
Amount Requested: $4,000,000
Intended Recipient: Town of Deerfield
Location: Deerfield, Franklin County, MA
Project Purpose: Funds for this project will rehabilitate the 1888 Building, a 135-year-old three-story brick former grammar school built in the Victorian Gothic style, and repurpose it to house Town Municipal Offices, thereby simultaneously saving a vacant building of historical value and provide functional, energy-smart facilities. Main elements include adding a three-story ADA-compliant elevator/stair tower; completing a historic exterior restoration; gut renovation of the interior into offices/meeting spaces; all new mechanical systems; and HVAC tied to a multi-building geothermal exchange field.

Project Name: Double Edge Theatre FY23
Amount Requested: $1,000,000
Intended Recipient: Double Edge Theatre Productions, Inc.
Location: Ashfield, Franklin County, MA
Project Purpose: Double Edge Theatre requests funding to build a community center for design, visual arts, and traditional Indigenous craft, with an adjacent residency building providing short-term housing opportunities. Both buildings will be available for use by DE partner organizations, resident artists and students, as well as craftspeople and youth from the rural Hilltowns.

Project Name: Franklin County's YMCA Camp Apex Capital Improvements
Amount Requested: $914,000
Intended Recipient: Community YMCA of Greenfield
Location: Shelburne Falls, Franklin County, MA
Project Purpose: For more than seventy years, Franklin County’s YMCA Camp Apex has transformed the lives of the region’s children. Over the last decade, Camp Apex has experienced significant deterioration due to both age and environment. More specifically, the time is now to repair and renovate existing facilities and to build structurally sound, safe, and functional spaces to serve campers and the Franklin County community better. This 3-phase project encompasses federally mandated compliance requirements, long overdue upgrades, enhancements, and repairs to well-used facilities, including a pool complex, main camp lodge, nature center, and other ancillary buildings, grounds, and sports/recreation fields.

Project Name: Middleton Municipal Facilities Project
Amount Requested: $1,000,000
Intended Recipient: Town of Middleton
Location: Middleton, Essex County, MA
Project Purpose: In June 2021, the Town of Middleton voted to support the Public Facilities Project, thereby initiating the commission of a schematic design for a new town common, Public Safety Building, Fire/EMS and police departments, and a town hall/community center to host large public events, including programming for the Council on Aging. The project is facing significant economic impacts, and despite reducing the total square footage of each footprint (which lessens the long-term impact of the project), the project is in a deficit and requires additional funding.

Project Name: Multipurpose Turf Athletic Field
Amount Requested: $825,000
Intended Recipient: Town of Sturbridge
Location: Sturbridge, Worcester County, MA
Project Purpose: The Town of Sturbridge requests funds to install a multi-purpose turf field. Currently, the Town of Sturbridge does not own or control one regulation-sized multipurpose field; Sturbridge’s public high school is regional, meaning its field is unavailable for regular town use. Currently, the Town has limited field space from children’s and adults' leave, and youth soccer, football, cheer, and lacrosse are outsourced for most games and practices by default. A new field would be located adjacent to the town’s elementary school and would be large enough for 1200 youth athletes to use.

Project Name: Quabbin Projects 2023
Amount Requested: $304,000
Intended Recipient: Quabbin Regional School District
Location: Barre, Worcester County, MA
Project Purpose: The request funds the replacement of the failing 1996 McQuay 190, 200 Ton Chiller for Quabbin Regional Middle and High School to ensure continuity of operation and improve the school’s HVAC system. The project includes the replacement of the chiller, and all necessary auxiliary components, such as electrical, piping, valves, fittings, and freon for proper operation. The project also includes demolition, removal, and disposal of the existing unit and freon. This unit maintains proper temperature control in the middle/high school, where a well-maintained, safe environment is essential for student learning.

Project Name: Richard Sudgen Public Library HVAC Improvements 
Amount Requested: $284,867
Intended Recipient: Richard Sudgen Public Library
Location: Spencer, Worcester County, MA  
Project Purpose: Funds are requested to replace the HVAC system at the Richard Sugden Public Library. An HVAC system will help ensure patron comfort when visiting the library and aid in the long-term preservation of the building’s 250,000+ collection and the Spencer Historical Society artifacts housed in the building. 

Project Name: Schell Bridge Reconstruction in Northfield 
Amount Requested: $9,200,000
Intended Recipient: Town of Northfield
Location: Northfield, Franklin County, MA
Project Purpose: In partnership with the Massachusetts Department of Transportation, the Town of Northfield (population: 2,866) requests $9.2 million to demolish and replace the pedestrian and bicycle-use Schell Bridge in the Town of Northfield in rural Franklin County. The bridge spans the Connecticut River and has been closed since 1985 due to structural deficiencies. The project is shovel-ready with all required environmental permits and right-of-way acquisitions completed. The new bridge has numerous purposes; it will reconnect communities, encourage multimodal transportation, create a more efficient emergency vehicle route, improve safety, and bolster rural Franklin County's recreational tourism economy.

Project Name: Southampton Public Safety Complex
Amount Requested: $750,000
Intended Recipient: Town of Southampton
Location: Southampton, Hampshire County, MA
Project Purpose: The Town of Southampton is seeking to build a new Public Safety Complex to house the fire/EMS, police, and dispatch communication departments, corresponding to the needs of this growing community.  as well as dispatch communications to support the needs of this growing community. Currently, the fire station is housed in an old schoolhouse built in 1863, and the police station is housed in the basement of the original town hall built in 1904. Even with periodic improvements, these structures are deteriorating, lack appropriate space, ventilation, and security, and fail to comply with current ADA and building codes. In the present feasibility stage, the Town hopes to identify a final location for the complex. The requested funds will be used during the next phase of the project to finance pre-design, site surveying, required permitting, detailed architectural design, and bid-ready construction documents.

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Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government

Link to FY24 Financial Certification Letter

Project Name: Growing & Nurturing Hope: The Victory Programs Urban Farm Workforce Development Initiative for Underserved Populations 
Amount Requested: $2,000,000
Intended Recipient: Victory Programs Inc.
Location: Dorchester, Suffolk County, MA
Project Purpose: Victory Programs’ Revision Family Urban Farm is an innovative urban agriculture project in Dorchester, MA, that grows produce in its fields and provides access to affordable, nutritious, and culturally appropriate food to residents of the ReVision Family Home and surrounding communities. The organization’s mission is to incorporate urban farming into its recovery model to prepare formerly homeless people with substance use disorders in their recovery programs for post-recovery employment. The work will be vital to achieving successful recovery as it imparts a sense of purpose through growing and distributing food to people who are food insecure. Funding would be used to:

• Create a therapeutic workforce development model for 350 people a year in recovery.

• Develop curriculum and supplies necessary for a program administrator.

• Distribute 5000 lbs of produce through donation or discounted sale in Dorchester.

• Help people in recovery with dual mental health diagnoses.

• Develop nutrition programming

Project Name: Latino Economic Development Corporation Micro-Small Business Support 
Amount Requested: $750,000
Intended Recipient: Partners for Community, Latino Economic Development Corporation
Location: Springfield, Hampden County, MA
Project Purpose: Partners for Community, on behalf of The Latino Economic Development Corporation (LEDC), is requesting funds to support its work providing minority-owned businesses with leveraged financial and business support to Latino and minority-owned businesses in Massachusetts. LEDC makes mini-grants directly to minority businesses to offset expenses. Entrepreneurial and supplier diversity training is provided to close the educational and training gap in Latino and minority communities. Finally, LEDC offers technical assistance to minority businesses, connecting them to a team of knowledgeable business coaches. Additional funds support the 3 C's of business success: Capital infusion, Coaching, and Connections. 

Project Name: Methuen Digital History Center
Amount Requested: $222,000
Intended Recipient: City of Methuen, Office of the City Clerk
Location: Methuen, Essex County, MA
Project Purpose: The Methuen Digital History Center (MDHC) would make local history resources accessible to researchers, students, genealogists, and the general public. The project involves establishing a website with a searchable database where researchers can find documents, maps, and photographs. The website will be populated with collections of additional municipal and private history collections invited to contribute. This project is an innovative pilot program and can serve as an example of an open-access history resource management tool for other Commonwealth communities.

Project Name: Next Gen Small Business Social Innovation Incubator
Amount Requested: $625,000
Intended Recipient: Bentley University
Location: Waltham, Middlesex County, MA
Project Purpose: Bentley University and the City of Waltham request CDS funds to launch the Next Gen Small Business Social Innovation Incubator. A small business social innovation incubator in Waltham would mobilize the city's resources and collective skills to create a new wave of social entrepreneurship and innovation, placing the Greater Waltham region on the map as a hub of small businesses focused on impacting the greater good. Functionally, the Incubator will:

1. Assist small business entrepreneurs and social innovators in moving their ideas into action by bringing together community resources such as banks, business leaders, lawyers, accountants, financial professionals, and other resources;

2. Provide much-needed support for social impact businesses in the region, including a focus on first-generation, BIPOC, and low-income social entrepreneurs, along with students from nearby universities seeking to launch social enterprises, nonprofits, and small businesses with a conscience; and

3. Guide entrepreneurs through an incubation process, including mission statement development, creation of strategic vision and business plans, key messaging, logo development and branding, grant writing and fundraising strategy, website design, PR, marketing, technical support, legal support on incorporation, and advice on forming boards of directors and advisory boards.

Funds will be used for administration, payroll, hiring personnel, necessary equipment and IT infrastructure, and contractual services for web development, digital marketing, and public relations. The Next Gen Small Business Social Innovation Incubator will help to create new jobs while building a stronger, more resilient community.

Project Name: Revitalize CDC Warehouse & Distribution Center 
Amount Requested: $500,000
Intended Recipient: Revitalize Community Development Corporation
Location: Springfield, Hampden County, MA
Project Purpose: Revitalize Community Development Corporation (Revitalize CDC) requests funding to construct a warehouse and distribution center to meet the growing need for its services. Revitalize CDC provides free critical repairs, modifications, and rehabilitation of homes for low-income families with children, older adults, veterans, and individuals living with disabilities, helps bridge food insecurity gaps through the delivery of fresh foods, and provides community members with education and support for chronic conditions like asthma and diabetes. Since 1992, we have repaired over 1,500 homes and nonprofits with the help of over 12,000 volunteers, investing approximately $54M in Hampden County. 

Revitalize CDC had raised funds and purchased the 7,000-square-foot facility at 240 Cadwell Drive in Springfield in January of 2023. Revitalize CDC has moved into the building and is now in the planning and fundraising stages for developing the warehouse and distribution center and energy-efficiency improvements. The warehouse and distribution center construction starts in December 2023 and will be completed by September 2024.  When finished, this project will help Revitalize CDC to expand the number of people served, helping to improve their quality of life and overall well-being.

Project Name: PowerUp - Amplify Latinx Small Business Program Expansion 
Amount Requested: $1,500,000
Intended Recipient: The Latina Circle, DBA Amplify Latinx
Location: Boston, Suffolk County, MA
Project Purpose: Amplify Latinx, the largest network of Latinx small businesses, entrepreneurs, change-makers, and leaders in Massachusetts, is seeking funding to expand the PowerUp Latinx Small Business Program statewide, especially in gateway cities (e.g., Lawrence and Springfield) facing vast racial income and wealth gaps. Funds will support strategic business planning, education, technical assistance, and mentorship for Latinx small businesses, entrepreneurs, and micro-businesses, prioritizing those with less than $1,000,000 in revenue and fewer than 20 employees. 

CDS funds enable Latina Circle to provide programming for women and minority-owned businesses focused on expanding equitable access to capital, certifications, government contracts, and representation on commissions, Boards, and cross-sector leadership positions. Your funds will also empower the organization to scale up a pilot small business program that focuses explicitly on the needs of childcare providers in MA. Combined, PowerUp Latinx Small Business Program can use CDS funds to serve over 120 businesses.

Project Name: Technical Assistance and Local Procurement Support for Local and Small Businesses  
Amount Requested: $75,000
Intended Recipient: Cambridge Local First
Location: Cambridge, Middlesex, MA
Project Purpose: Funds will be used to provide one-on-one technical assistance to businesses disproportionately impacted by the pandemic in the Boston metropolitan area by developing and operationalizing a database of locally-owned and small business-focused providers of technical assistance (i.e., branding, small business consulting, accounting, legal services, bookkeeping, training). Funds will also support local and small businesses by increasing local procurement and strengthening relationships between local companies and anchor institutions through networking events, workshops, and direct facilitation. 

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Subcommittee on the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies

Link to FY24 Financial Certification Letter

 

Project Name:  Acton Water District PFAS Treatment
Amount Requested:  $4,000,000
Intended Recipient: Acton Water District
Location: Acton, Middlesex County, MA
Project Purpose:  This funding would be used to construct treatment systems for the removal of PFAS at the Central, South, and North Acton WTPs. The AWD water system consists of 11 groundwater sources, consisting of 36 wells serving over 6,800 service connections. The population served includes a significant number of vulnerable customers, including four daycares, nine schools, and senior housing. When operated individually or in combination, the Central, South, and North Acton WTPs supply up to 100% of the Town's drinking water. A fourth WTP is used on a limited basis and may require separate capital investments to remain a reliable part of the water system. Unfortunately, the PFAS response required has deferred these upgrades.

Project Name: Bartlett Road Culvert & Stormwater Management Project
Amount Requested:  $2,600,000
Intended Recipient: Town of Plymouth
Location: Plymouth, Plymouth County, MA
Project Purpose: The Town of Plymouth's Bartlett Road Culvert & Stormwater Management Improvement Project ("the Project") represents the replacement of a deteriorating, undersized culvert situated over a diadromous fish run in the Manomet area of historic Plymouth, Massachusetts. The culvert spans a tributary of Beaver Dam Brook that flows between Plymouth's public recreation area at Fresh Pond and the Massachusetts Audubon Tidmarsh Sanctuary.  Along with the removal and replacement of the culvert, the Town will realign the narrow roadway, add a much-needed sidewalk, and establish new, "green" stormwater infrastructure, simultaneously protecting public safety, water quality, and ecological habitat at the site.

Project Name:  Bellingham PFAS
Amount Requested:  $4,000,000
Intended Recipient: Town of Bellingham
Location: Bellingham, Norfolk County, MA
Project Purpose:  Over just the past decade, the Bellingham Department of Public Works (BDPW) has and continues to expend a significant amount of capital for the design and construction [as well as ongoing operation & maintenance (O&M) costs] for its two Water Treatment Plants (WTPs).  When originally constructed, these two WTPs were required for the removal of naturally occurring iron and manganese from their good sources.  The BDPW is now facing significant additional capital expenditures for the design and construction (and O&M costs) of upgrades to its Hartford Avenue WTP for the treatment of the newly regulated Per and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS). 

In late 2019, the BDPW detected PFAS concentrations in routine sampling at one of its recently upgraded wells.  As a result, the MassDEP required the BDPW to resample the replacement well and its other sources.  The BDPW also sampled the WTPs serving the town.  The follow-up samples detected PFAS at concentrations requiring treatment at the Hartford Avenue WTP.  The town has since been monitoring the PFAS level while investigating ways to implement and pay for the PFAS removal treatment.

The funding would be used to construct a treatment system for the removal of PFAS at the Hartford Avenue WTP. The BDPW water system consists of 16 groundwater sources serving approximately 6,000 service connections. The population served includes a significant number of vulnerable customers, including three daycares, five schools, and senior housing. When operated individually or in combination, the Hartford Avenue and Wrentham Road WTPs supply 100% of the Town's drinking water.   

Project Name:  Boston Harbor Islands National Park Area Visitor Enhancement Program
Amount Requested:  $500,000 
Intended Recipient: Boston Harbor Now
Location: Boston, Suffolk County, MA
Project Purpose:  The Georges Island Visitor Experience Improvements Project represents a significant investment in the re-development and evaluation of the visitor experience on Georges Island while telling the story and sharing the legacy of this island's past,  present, and future. This legacy is interwoven with the 33 other Islands and gateways of the Boston Harbor Islands National and State Park. Fort Warren on Georges Island is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is a registered National Landmark. Several other Boston Harbor Islands are also listed on the National Register. 

Project Name:  Centerville Village Sewer Expansion Project
Amount Requested:  $24,400,000 
Intended Recipient: Town of Barnstable
Location: Barnstable, Barnstable County, MA 
Project Purpose: The purpose of this project is to extend municipal sewer within the Village of Centerville, consistent with the Town of Barnstable's Comprehensive Wastewater Management Plan (CWMP), to address nitrogen impairment in the Centerville River. The project will install approximately 5.3 miles of sewers, require 6 new sewer pump stations, connect approximately 350 properties to the municipal sewer system, collect approximately 66,000 gallons per day of wastewater, and remove approximately 6.6 kg/day of nitrogen from the Centerville River Watershed.

Project Name:  Chelmsford Water District for Town Wide PFAS Removal
Amount Requested:  $2,225,000
Intended Recipient: Chelmsford Water District
Location: Chelmsford, Middlesex County
Project Purpose:  Treatment to remove PFAS from drinking water sources in the Town of Chelmsford.  

Project Name:  Chicopee Nitrogen Removal Project
Amount Requested:  $2,500,000
Intended Recipient: City of Chicopee
Location: Chicopee, Hampden County, MA
Project Purpose:  The Chicopee Water Pollution Control Facility (WPCF) is a 15.5 million gallons/day facility, discharging to the Connecticut River, which is a tributary to Long Island Sound, an Estuary of National Significance impaired by nitrogen. This stand-alone project will improve the treatment process and equipment to reduce nitrogen by 200-300 lbs/day; it can be accomplished within one year and will complete the work necessary to implement a larger $60M facility upgrade. This project provides immediate measurable nitrogen reductions, benefiting water quality in the Connecticut River and Long Island Sound, and will improve energy efficiency at the facility, stabilizing operating costs and taxpayer burden. 

Project Name:  City of Gardner James Street Pump Station
Amount Requested:  $1,153,540
Intended Recipient: City of Gardner
Location: Gardner, Worcester County, MA
Project Purpose:  The James Street pump station serves water to the northeast neighborhoods of Gardner. The pump station was built during the 1980s and is in need of a renovation.     

Project Name:  City of Gloucester WPCF FY24
Amount Requested:  $3,000,000
Intended Recipient: City of Gloucester
Location: Gloucester, Essex County, MA
Project Purpose:  Originally built in 1984, the City of Gloucester's wastewater treatment plant is the last remaining facility in New England without secondary wastewater treatment. The City recently entered into a Consent Decree with the U.S. Department of Justice, Environmental Protection Agency, and Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection to make necessary upgrades to the Water Pollution Control Facility (WPCF) and construct a secondary treatment plant at the existing site as a result of violations to the state and federal Clean Water acts. The complete project is estimated to cost $150 million to make critical upgrades to the primary wastewater treatment plant and construct a secondary treatment plant.

Gloucester's WPCF has reached its life expectancy and upgrades are essential to continue providing essential services to residents and businesses while protecting our environment. In recent months, several key pieces of equipment have failed and require replacements and updates to continue operating; this will be incorporated into the secondary upgrade project in addition to the larger plant construction. We are requesting $3 million to support the incorporation of the design of the critical upgrades at the primary plant required by the Consent Decree.

Project Name:  CT River Outfall Lining 
Amount Requested:  $4,566,400
Intended Recipient: City of Easthampton
Location: Easthampton, Hampden County, MA
Project Purpose:  Built in 1949, Easthampton's 2.14-mile outfall weaves between Arcadia Wildlife Sanctuary, and wetlands discharging into the Connecticut River. The project protects public and environmental health by reducing the high probability of wastewater leakage. Eliminating the outfall brings high costs, so the most prudent action is to continue its current mode of operation.  Relocation of the outfall piping to either East Street or adjacent to the Manhan Rail Trail is impractical, given the deep excavation and associated high costs related to relocation alternatives. By lining the outfall piping, we extend the life of the outfall piping and eliminate root intrusion.

Our outfall discharges into the Connecticut River, just south of Northampton and north of Holyoke. The quality of wastewater is vitally essential to keep nitrogen and e.coli levels at levels within federal permitting for the Pioneer Valley, down to the Long Island Sound.  The Long Island Sound has an EPA-approved total maximum daily load (TMDL) for Nitrogen. Discharges from MS4s in Massachusetts to waters that are tributaries to the Long Island Sound are subject to the requirements of the 2016 MA Small MS4 General Permit Appendix F, part B.1.

This project has a direct connection to small businesses and jobs. Within Easthampton, the Manhan River is the main tributary stream that flows west to the northeast and feeds into the Connecticut River in the northeast corner of the City via the Oxbow. The outfall ends where the river meets a person-made oxbow, built to accommodate RT 91. With now fish and swimmable river water, the Oxbow area is a flourishing micro-business and recreation center.  Its shores host a marine repair shop, a boat dealership, a water ski club, restaurants, a bait shop, and the Easthampton Rod & Club, to name a few - local businesses providing local year-round jobs.

The outfall is above the Aquifer, endangering the City's drinking supply, including the land where the outfall pipe discharges. This project protects acres of active agricultural land, some owned by the same family for over 50 years. Today, brewers and cannabis growers locate here for the same reason - delicious water and nutrient-rich soil. Both industries bring jobs and retail customers to our Mill District. These hyper-local businesses - produce stands, breweries, farmers' markets, goat, beef dairy, and produce farmers were economic mainstays through the pandemic.

Project Name:  Fall River Ferry Street Sewer Pump Station Rehabilitation Project
Amount Requested:  $2,416,000
Intended Recipient: City of Fall River
Location: Fall River, Bristol County, MA
Project Purpose: The sewer pump station on Ferry Street is over 60 years old and requires major rehabilitation and capacity improvements to be able to function reliably for the next twenty years. Further exacerbating concerns regarding the pump station's performance is its location along the waterfront within the City Pier watershed, a highly developable area that has quickly become a regional draw for commercial, residential, and clean energy-producing development. This area has been the focus of several recent redevelopment projects, including a reconfiguration of roadways that will create over 19 acres of developable waterfront parcels when completed in 2026. As a result, sewer flows to the pump station are expected to increase significantly and far exceed the current capacity. These performance and capacity issues must be quickly addressed via complete rehabilitation to prevent unplanned and costly major failures, which would discharge directly into the nearby Mount Hope Bay and cause an environmental and public health hazard.

This proposed rehabilitation will include: (1) installing permanent force main bypass connection, (2) replacing the concrete block structure housing the generator and deteriorated foundation floor with a reinforced concrete building on a pile foundation, (3) replacing a natural gas standby generator with a diesel standby generator, (4) constructing flood-hardened structures to the base flood elevation plus three feet, (5) rehabilitating dry well concrete structure with cementitious waterproof coatings, (6) replacing ultrasonic level measurement with primary and backup transducers and a high-level float, (7) replacing wet well access with new concrete cover and water-tight hatch, (8) installing SCADA communication with the wastewater treatment facility to indicate operating conditions and alarms, (9) upgrading the primary electrical feed to a standard 480 volt 3-phase service, (10) replacing electrical equipment, (11) replacing  pumps, valves, and piping in drywell and wet well, and (12) replacing ventilation systems.

Project Name:  Fall River Material Separation and Transfer Facility Project
Amount Requested:  $5,000,000
Intended Recipient: City of Fall River
Location: Fall River, Bristol County, MA
Project Purpose: The City of Fall River will construct a material separation and transfer facility at the site of its existing public works facility on Lewiston Street (Phase I), which is located inside a structurally decrepit former incinerator that was shuttered in 1999 for producing airborne pollutants at up to twelve times the volume considered to be safe exposure for certain toxins. In addition, the City will also create space for its Department of Community Maintenance (DCM) offices (Phase II) on the same premises to create a central headquarters for all of the City's recycling and waste management efforts.

Currently, the Lewiston Street facility has no material separation capabilities and functions solely as a transfer station for all of the City's material solid waste, which is collected unseparated from residents' homes by a vendor who then transports it to our facility. At the facility, City employees compact the unseparated waste and load it onto the truck of yet another vendor, who then transports it to a separate facility where it is separated and sold for profit. The City pays upward of $1 million per year on the aforementioned contracts and sees none of the profits from the sale of its recyclables.

The construction of a Municipally owned and operated material separation and transfer facility at the Lewiston Street site will (1) increase recycling capture rates with the introduction of on-site separation capabilities, (2) improve health outcomes in a historically environmentally disadvantaged community, and (3) establish a local end-market for recycled commodities by enabling the City to sell its separated waste materials, which will save the City millions of dollars per year in vendor costs and generate even more in additional revenue.

This project will be accompanied both by the incorporation of separate bins for separate waste streams and by a series of community outreach and education efforts led by Groundwork Southcoast, a community non-profit committed to environmental justice and youth leadership. These efforts are already underway, with DCM slated to implement a pilot program to introduce additional recycling bins at single-family residences in April 2023. If successful, these bins will become permanent and expand to include multi-family residences as well. In addition, the City has also already begun a cart maintenance program, which will both ensure that residents' waste bins are functioning properly and create an inventory of waste bin serial numbers that will later aid the City in effectively enforcing the stricter waste disposal guidelines that the proposed separation facility will require.

Project Name:  Going to Scale: Regional Urban Forestry in Greater Boston's Mystic Watershed 
Amount Requested:  $4,000,000 
Intended Recipient: Mystic River Watershed Association
Location: Arlington, Middlesex County, MA
Project Purpose:  MyRWA will work with 20 communities to plant 5,000 trees across the watershed between now and 2026, prioritizing underserved neighborhoods of color that we found to be the hottest per MyRWA's Wicked Hot Mystic maps. We will do this by bringing down both the cost and mortality of planting new trees, coordinating efforts to engage communities and train youth and adults in tree care, and focusing our efforts in underserved urban heat islands where predominantly low-income BIPOC residents live and in major public parks where people can go to cool off.

Project Name:  Green Infrastructure in the Mystic River Watershed
Amount Requested:  $4,000,000 
Intended Recipient: Town of Arlington
Location: Arlington, Middlesex County, MA
Project Purpose: We propose a regional green infrastructure project in the 21 municipalities of the Mystic River watershed, Arlington as lead: a system of small-scale, cost-effective installations that distribute the benefits of stormwater management regionally. The principal tools will be: 1) Infiltration trenches: Pioneered in Arlington, an efficient street trench design has been used 100 times across the watershed. 100 more sites are shovel-ready.  2) Tree trenches: Trenches with co-benefits of urban greening and cooling. 3)  Rain gardens. 4)  Other green infrastructure Best Management Practices. The project will seek the most cost-effective solutions possible across settings, from the full palette of options

Project Name:  Horn Pond Water Treatment Plant PFAS Mitigation
Amount Requested:  $3,800,000
Intended Recipient: City of Woburn
Location: Woburn, Middlesex County, MA
Project Purpose:  The project will add granular activated carbon (GAC) treatment to remove PFAS in drinking water at the Horn Pond Water Treatment Plant which is essential to comply with Massachusetts Drinking Water Standards and provide the public with a safe water supply. It also includes a control system and Cybersecurity upgrades to strengthen the resiliency of critical drinking water infrastructure.

Project Name:  Implementing an Advanced Septic System Treatment Technology Incubator at MASSTC
Amount Requested:  $707,937 
Intended Recipient: Massachusetts Alternative Septic System Technology Center
Location: Sandwich, Barnstable County, MA 
Project Purpose:  This project will provide resident research facilities at the Massachusetts Alternative Septic System Technology Center (MASSTC) and leverage existing associations with academic and other research institutions to address the many challenges of wastewater treatment near water resources including nutrients, contaminants of emerging concern, forever chemicals (PFAS), and pathogens. In many coastal and rural areas, onsite wastewater treatment systems do not receive proportional research, attention, or funding given to centralized wastewater treatment.

By providing convenient facilities for laboratories and short-term habitation we hope to encourage the development of novel measures to treat wastewater by private industry and research universities. 

Project Name:  Montague Sewer Collection System and Clean Water Facility Improvements 
Amount Requested:  $2,000,000
Intended Recipient: Town of Montague
Location: Turners Falls, Franklin County, MA
Project Purpose:  The Town of Montague has two separate sewer systems; Millers Falls and Turners Falls.  The Turners Falls sewer system conveys sewage to the Montague Clean Water Facility (CWF) where it is treated before being discharged to the Connecticut River.  The Turner's Falls sewer system is a combined sewer system containing three combined sewer overflow (CSO) structures located at 7th and L Streets, Avenue A, and Greenfield Road.

Ordinarily, some stormwater is sent to the CWF before it is discharged into the Connecticut River. However, during high rainfall events, the treatment plant cannot process all of the combined wastewater. Combined sewer overflows (CSOs) were built to deal with this excess wastewater, essentially bypassing the treatment plant.

The Town of Montague was issued an Administrative Order (CWA-AO-R01-FY20-31) from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on June 11, 2020, addressing compliance with its National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit (No. MA0100137) to meet numeric effluent limitations and minimize Combined Sewer Overflows in the Turners Falls Wastewater Collection System.  The Administrative Order specifically brought attention to "excursions of the water quality criterion for E. coli bacteria in the Connecticut River" from untreated combined sewage that was discharged from CSO outfalls between 2018 and 2019 and required an update to the Town's CSO LTCP. 

The proposed project will remove excessive infiltration/inflow from the Turners Falls sewer collection system, minimize Combined Sewer Overflows and sanitary sewer overflow (SSO) volumes in the Turners Falls sewer collection system, implement short-term and immediate recommendations for the Turners Falls sewer collection system being written into the CSO Long-Term Control Plan Update, due to the EPA by June 30th, 2023, and maximize the use of existing infrastructure in the Turners Falls sewer collection system to minimize CSOs. 

Project Name:  New West Parish Filters Water Treatment Plant
Amount Requested:  $5,000,000
Intended Recipient: Springfield Water and Sewer Commission
Location: Agawam, Hampden County, MA
Project Purpose:  The Springfield Water and Sewer Commission is currently designing a new drinking water treatment plant to serve 250,000 people in the lower Pioneer Valley, including a large number of vulnerable and Environmental Justice populations located in Springfield. The new plant is intended to eliminate the increasingly unacceptable risk to public health and access to safe water the 1970s (and older) existing plant poses to the entire region. The new plant will incorporate clarification technology to address non-compliance with disinfection byproducts; add new rapid sand filtration and chemical feed systems; and electrical upgrades to maximize energy efficiency.

Project Name:  Newburyport Reservoir Protection
Amount Requested:  $882,500
Intended Recipient: City of Newburyport
Location: Newburyport, Essex County, MA
Project Purpose:  This project will protect the future of our region's water supply from the anticipated effects of climate change, including more frequent contaminants causing algal blooms and river flooding, by directly connecting our largest source of water to our water treatment facility. This will save millions of gallons of water annually and prevent future emergency measures in the event of threats to our water supply.

Project Name:  North Reading Town Center Wastewater Construction
Amount Requested:  $1,500,000
Intended Recipient: Town of North Reading
Location: North Reading, Middlesex County, MA
Project Purpose:  The purpose of this project is to connect municipal and school buildings to the wastewater treatment system owned by the Town and currently operated by its public schools.

Project Name:  Pepperell Groton Dunstable regional PFAS filtration
Amount Requested:  $1,000,000 
Intended Recipient: Town of Pepperell
Location: Pepperell, Middlesex County, MA 
Project Purpose:  Pepperell, Groton, and Dunstable Massachusetts share a common border near a freshwater well site in Pepperell. Each community hopes to provide clean water to its community.  Pepperell's well site and pumping station have a low but detectable PFAS concentration.  PFAS has also been detected in Groton's water.   This proposal is to build one filtration plant and provide clean water access to all three communities.  Much of the distribution infrastructure is already in place.

Project Name:  PFAS Project Lab Municipal Testing Initiative
Amount Requested:  $859,666
Intended Recipient: Northeastern University
Location: Boston, Suffolk County, MA
Project Purpose: This request will fund a PFAS testing, mapping, and outreach initiative in select high-risk cities and towns across the Commonwealth and provide for the acquisition of PFAS contamination testing, monitoring, and mapping tools and supplies in those communities. The acquisition of these supplies and equipment will allow Northeastern's PFAS Project Lab, in collaboration with Silent Spring Institute, participating cities and towns, and other community partners to launch a multi-municipality PFAS monitoring and testing program in the Commonwealth.

Project Name:  Phase 1/1A Sewer Project
Amount Requested:  $1,600,000
Intended Recipient: Town of Sudbury
Location: Sudbury, Middlesex County, MA
Project Purpose:  The Phase 1/1A Sewer System Conceptual/Preliminary Design effort includes the preliminary design of the Towns first municipal Wastewater Treatment Facility and associated groundwater discharge to support removing failing and/or improperly operating septic systems in and around drinking water supplies that will ensure preservation and protection of the Town's major drinking water supplies, to preserve and protect public health, as well as surrounding environmental resources.

Project Name:  Pump Station Efficiency & Reliability Improvements for WWTF
Amount Requested:  $2,240,000 (Total project cost is  $2,800,000)
Intended Recipient: Town of Acton
Location: Acton, Middlesex County, MA
Project Purpose: The Acton sewer pump station project includes the rehabilitation of several pump stations throughout Acton's Sewer District. This project is critical to ensure the continued operation of these pump stations to support much of Acton's existing commercial areas, but it ensures that reliable sewer service/capacity is available for several proposed future housing developments along with Kelley's Corner improvements.

Project Name:  Ramah Circle and Downtown Stormwater Infrastructure Improvements
Amount Requested:  $2,400,000
Intended Recipient: Town of Agawam
Location: Agawam, Hampden County, MA
Project Purpose:  The Ramah Circle area experiences flooding in the northern portion of this mixed-use neighborhood and the adjacent downtown area has inadequate drainage infrastructure. Flooding of some businesses and disruption in the area have resulted, as well as the degradation of stormwater infrastructure, roads, and streams. The project will advance selected alternatives to improve the stormwater collection system and perform stream restoration throughout the Ramah Circle area and downstream to the Westfield River. It is anticipated to include reconstruction and improvements to increase stormwater collection system capacity within and downstream of the flooding areas, stream restoration, and daylighting portions of culverted streams.

Project Name:  Regional Wastewater Needs
Amount Requested:  $700,000
Intended Recipient: Town of Hull
Location: Hull, Plymouth County, MA
Project Purpose:  The Town of Hull, MA, working as the Lead Community on behalf of the neighboring communities of Scituate and Cohasset, MA, is requesting a $700,000 FY24 Earmark to be matched by $300,000 in local funding ($100,000 each has been committed from local revenues by each collaborating community) for the development of a regional wastewater plan.  The plan will continue and expand work to address regional wastewater needs across the three communities, benefiting them individually and collectively.  The expected implementation of the plan will create an economy of scale, by sharing rather than replicating waste treatment facilities and equipment.  A regional approach will also better protect the public health and environment through improved handling of wastewater flows. An expanded regional collection system with secondary treatment at the Hull Wastewater Treatment Facility (WWTF) will dramatically reduce nutrients from existing septic systems that are presently traveling underground to fresh and marine waters and causing water quality impairments. Nutrient loading into the Gulf River, which empties into Cohasset Harbor, which has experienced degradation due to non-point (Cohasset and Scituate septic systems) and point source (Cohasset WWTF discharges to the Gulf River under its NPDES Permit) pollution will be reduced and or eliminated, thus restoring these water resources to their intended uses. The RCWMP will also provide for any potential future need for the Town of Cohasset to send all flows to Hull, if and when Cohasset's WWTF reaches its useful life.  Hull currently owns and operates a 3.07 MGD facility that has the capacity needed to service the regional partners' wastewater needs.  There is also potential for the Town of Hingham to join the regional wastewater group, specifically with sewer needs in the Worlds End area.

Project Name:  Roseway Preservation Project
Amount Requested:  $500,000
Intended Recipient: World Ocean School
Location: Boston, Suffolk County, MA
Project Purpose:   The National Historic Landmark schooner, Roseway, is nearing her 100th anniversary and needs a preservation project to address areas of concern in structural wood dating back to her original construction in 1925. This funding will specifically address two key areas, the frames, and keelson of the vessel, which are integral to the infrastructure and constitute a major portion of the preservation effort.

Project Name:  Sewer Main Improvement Project on Stoneham’s Park Street and Fallon Roads
Amount Requested:  $4,000,000
Intended Recipient: Town of Stoneham
Location: Stoneham, Middlesex County, MA
Project Purpose:  The Town of Stoneham requests a Sewer Main Improvement Project on Park Street and Fallon Road, which is located in the southwesterly part of town, for funding. Our municipal sewer systems transport human waste from homes and businesses and treat it in a centralized wastewater plant at Deer Island. The Massachusetts Water Resources Authority (MWRA) provides water and sewer service and the Town has 5 pumping stations, 75 miles of water, and 75 miles of sewer, all of which are overseen by the Stoneham Public Works Water and Sewer Department. Aging pipe networks challenge our wastewater infrastructure and many of these pipes are over a hundred years old. This project seeks to implement engineered designs to re-lay portions of the sewer main, along with extending other areas to the system.

Project Name:  Town of Amherst - Centennial Water Treatment Plant
Amount Requested:  $5,000,000 
Intended Recipient: Town of Amherst
Location: Amherst, Hampshire County, MA
Project Purpose:  The Town of Amherst is reconstructing the Centennial Water Treatment Plant that was taken out of service in 2018 due to age and condition. This facility represents about a third of the Town's treated water capacity. The new facility will use the latest technology to treat water and meet the latest water quality regulations. The treatment plant pulls water from a series of three connected reservoirs located in Pelham, Massachusetts. It is currently on the Intended Use Plan for the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund. Design work for this project is complete and the Town has received construction bids.

Project Name:  Town of Concord CDS FY24 Request  
Amount Requested:  $1,500,000
Intended Recipient: Town of Concord
Location: Concord, Middlesex County, MA
Project Purpose: The Nagog WTF Project Purpose is to construct a new 1.5 million gallons per day (MGD) water treatment facility to filter and treat the Town's surface water supply (Nagog Pond).  This supply resource is critical to meet the Town's potable water demands.  The Project will also address the Disinfection Byproduct Rule non-compliance for bromate maximum contaminant level (MCL) exceedances.  The Project will also incorporate treatment provisions to meet new federal MCLs for PFAs ("forever chemicals").

Project Name: Town of Ware 
Amount Requested:  $525,000 (Total project cost is  $1,025,000)
Intended Recipient: Town of Ware
Location: Ware, Hampden County, MA
Project Purpose:  Funds will be used in conjunction with a pending EPA Brownfield Cleanup Grant to complete the Brownfield Cleanup project located at 0 Monroe Street, directly adjacent to Ware's athletic complex - Memorial Field. Upon cleanup completion, the site will be capped with a 100-space parking lot with EV charging stations, and a multi-purpose court, and also include ADA-accessible improvements for visitors to access the adjacent Memorial Field.

Project Name: Tri-Town Water Plant Army Corps Tribal Archeological Relief 
Amount Requested: $974,720                                                                                                                      
Intended Recipient: Town of Holbrook
Location: Holbrook, Norfolk County, MA
Project Purpose: The Town of Holbrook operates a joint drinking water facility with Randolph and Braintree. Initially constructed in the 1880s and refurbished in the 1930s, this existing plant outlived its usefulness yet remains operational during the construction of the replacement facility targeted for completion in 2026. The project requires additional, unforeseen funding due to the discovery of tribal artifacts at the site of the new treatment plant. In compliance with the Army Corps permit conditions, the towns were required to hire an on-site archeologist and compensate three different tribal nations for oversight services. Additionally, delays in the construction schedules have also imposed costly delay claims, ultimately creating a financial hardship on already beleaguered ratepayers in a town with a population of 11,500. 

Project Name:  Tyngsborough, MA- Sewer Capacity Project 
Amount Requested:  $480,000
Intended Recipient: Tyngsborough Sewer Commission
Location: Tyngsborough, Middlesex County, MA
Project Purpose:  The purpose of this Sewer Capacity Project is to ensure Tyngsborough maintains sewer capacity in this area of town to support housing and economic development. 

Project Name:  Wareham Fire District Water Infrastructure Upgrade
Amount Requested:  $1,536,000
Intended Recipient: Wareham Fire District, 
Location: Wareham, Plymouth County, MA
Project Purpose:  The purpose of this water infrastructure project is to make improvements to the water distribution system, specifically the water mains. This project would add 3,050 feet of 12-inch water main, which will have a dual purpose of water transmission and localized distribution. Improvements in drinking water quality, quantity, pressure, system resilience, and therefore public safety and well-being will be realized for a variety of customers' existing needs:  residential/domestic, commercial, and industrial.

Above and beyond these fundamental benefits, the project additionally is in a location where the adjacent community of Rochester connects to Wareham. Rochester and Wareham have an Inter-Municipal Agreement (IMA), wherein Wareham provides Rochester with drinking water. This proposed water main is critical to ensuring sufficient water is delivered to the neighboring community.

This project is progressive in that it works to harness economies of scale. It's helping to establish a regional water system through the consolidation of resources. This high-impact project will serve both communities of Rochester and Wareham and leverage resources to the maximum extent possible. It additionally will improve the water service connection of an MBTA facility.

Yet another aspect of this high-impact project is the existing MBTA facility's expansion that will be completed in FY24, ahead of this proposed water main upgrade. The MBTA facility is located on Kings Highway in Rochester; it serves the Middleborough/Lakeville commuter rail. The MBTA facility services and maintains commuter rail cars here which are used in the transportation corridor that Rochester is an adjacent community. In FY24 ahead of this proposed project, the MBTA is extending a 12-inch water main on Kings Highway 1,700 feet from County Road to their facility. This is precisely the point (County Road) where Wareham will extend its proposed 3,050 feet of 12-inch and connect to.

In summary, this proposed 3,050-foot 12-inch water main upgrade would ensure that sufficient water will be available to the MBTA facility, residents, and businesses in Wareham and Rochester, and therefore that water system resources are optimally consolidated and economies of scale are leveraged.

Project Name:  Wayland Permanent Drinking Water Supply Connection to MWRA
Amount Requested:  $1,016,000
Intended Recipient: Town of Wayland Department of Public Works
Location: Wayland, Middlesex County, MA
Project Purpose:  This project will be the critical first phase in the Town of Wayland establishing a new permanent connection to the MWRA to improve water quality and restore lost capacity and resiliency of the Town's drinking water supply for the long term. This project consists of the application for admission to the MWRA, permitting, and design of a new pumping station and new pipelines to convey MWRA water to Wayland. The project is primarily to support existing Town water supply needs.   

Project Name:  Westfield, MA: PFAS Medical Monitoring (pilot)
Amount Requested:  $1,047,286
Intended Recipient: University of Massachusetts Lowell (UML)
Location: Lowell, Middlesex County, MA
Project Purpose: Widespread PFAS contamination has led to elevated blood PFAS levels in several communities, including Westfield, as documented by a recent CDC/ATSDR report. National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) have put forth a set of recommendations for medical screening and surveillance of people with elevated blood PFAS levels for several health endpoints. Implementation of these recommendations on a large scale poses multiple challenges to state and local health departments and healthcare providers for which they are under-resourced to address. To date, there is no systematic medical monitoring of PFAS-impacted communities in Massachusetts, although the Commonwealth has promulgated some of the most comprehensive and stringent drinking water standards in the US. The proposed medical monitoring program will enroll Westfield residents, and collect and analyze blood and urine for PFAS and health biomarkers associated with documented health effects of PFAS, per the National Academies recommendation. The project will provide a rigorous, scientifically defensible framework of methodologies and tools to connect the residents' exposures to PFAS with their health biomarker data. The proposed project is designed to pilot and implement NASEM-recommended medical monitoring and could be used to inform the design of a larger-scale longitudinal program at the state and/or federal level.

Project Name:  Westport Trunk Sewer and Water
Amount Requested:  $5,500,000
Intended Recipient: Town of Westport
Location: Westport, Bristol County, MA
Project Purpose:  Build the critical first phase connection to the Fall River regional sewer system. Unlock the long-term North Westport water and sewer service area.

Project Name:  23-24 Sewer Improvements - Marblehead MA
Amount Requested:  $2,420,000
Intended Recipient: Marblehead Water & Sewer Commission
Location: Marblehead, Essex County, MA
Project Purpose: The purpose of this project is to protect local water quality by reducing the volume of infiltration and Inflow entering the sanitary sewer system and avoid future sanitary sewer overflows (SSOs).

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Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies

Link to FY24 Financial Certification Letter

Project Name: Achieving a Thriving Future for All – Revolutionizing Conservation Education
Amount Requested: $400,000
Intended Recipient: Commonwealth Zoological Corporation, Zoo New England, The Franklin Park Zoo and Stone Zoo, 
Location: Boston, Suffolk County, MA
Project Purpose: This project will provide current climate change scientific content along with mechanisms and techniques for conservation engagement across all learning opportunities. Graphics, guest encounters, and school curriculum will be updated with more interactive components such as touch, sight, audio, and other learning activities providing a richer understanding of climate change and nature-based solutions to protect ecosystems and species.

This project will also encourage people to actively engage in conservation and other environmental initiatives and work to change attitudes and perceptions about the environment and the need to protect it. Our strategic goal is to develop greater conservation ethics in visitors and inspire conservation/environmental action. Students (MA school students receive free admission) and general audiences will be connected emotionally and intellectually through meaningful experiences that enhance their ability to connect to calls to action.

The scientific community and environmentalists have been educating the public for decades, and yet we find ourselves in an ever-spiraling situation where the health of the environment continues to degrade, extreme storms, heat, floods, and other weather events continue to increase with devastating results, including loss of species, habitats, and loss of human life. Knowledge alone does not change behavior. ZNE's graphics and interpretation will include messaging that fosters an appreciation for wildlife and result in changed conservation behavior. This will be accomplished both person-to-person and through graphics by using visuals and visual descriptions, communicating clear and feasible actions, and sharing stories and support for conservation action.

Project Name: Atlantic White Shark Conservancy
Amount Requested: $190,000
Intended Recipient: Atlantic White Shark Conservancy
Location: Chatham, Barnstable County, MA
Project Purpose: Over the past decade, Cape Cod has emerged as the newest great white shark hotspot. Great whites hunt for seals along popular swimming beaches in the summer and fall, and interactions between sharks and humans are on the rise. As part of ongoing efforts to mitigate the growing potential for shark-human conflict in Massachusetts, this proposal will support scientific studies designed to improve understanding of shark occurrence and behavior off our coastline. The results of the supported studies will be directly provided to local officials to inform public safety practices and will be incorporated into outreach efforts to educate beachgoers.

Project Name: Blue Economy Center
Amount Requested: $987,000
Intended Recipient: Massachusetts Maritime Academy
Location: Buzzards Bay, Barnstable County, MA
Project Purpose: Expansion of the Blue Economy Center (BEC) within Massachusetts Maritime Academy's (MMA) Marine Science, Safety, and Environmental Protection (MSSEP) program.

Project Name: Brockton Police Radio Communication Infrastructure Project
Amount Requested: $1,000,000
Intended Recipient: City of Brockton
Location: Brockton, Plymouth County, MA
Project Purpose: The Brockton Police Department's existing radio communication infrastructure is 10 years beyond its useful life. Overall the communication infrastructure is over 25 years old and requires parts that are no longer manufactured. In a situation that requires an immediate repair, the Brockton Police Department must either use spare parts or utilize portable radios. Portable radios are very limited in terms of range and bandwidth needed for the entire City and spare parts. The typical life of radio communication infrastructure, in general, is only 10-15 years.

Project Name: Burlington Life Sciences Innovation Center Equipment
Amount Requested: $1,106,400
Intended Recipient: Northeastern University
Location: Boston, Suffolk County, MA
Project Purpose: This funding will support the creation of a new shared state-of-the-art wet laboratory and Biosafety Level 2 (BSL2) facility. The facility will be made available for community-oriented workforce training and education programs, shared community use, and as a resource to assist early-stage life sciences and biotech companies in their development and to facilitate new pathways for job training and job creation. Specifically, this investment would facilitate the creation of a shared wet lab and BSL2 facility to enable new early-stage life sciences companies to develop and be part of an established vibrant innovation ecosystem. These new companies would be co-located on the Innovation Campus at Burlington, MA (ICBM) alongside Northeastern's Biopharmaceutical Analysis and Training Laboratory (BATL) and Life Sciences Training Center, which are enabling innovative biopharmaceutical education, global regulatory convergence, industry partnerships, and use-inspired research for the benefit of patients worldwide. In addition, BATL's intellectual and capital equipment resources would be made available to these early-stage companies to help advance their innovations. This new space will also enable our defense research partners to interact with small companies working at the cutting edge of biomedical sciences-a critical priority for defense agencies. The shared wet lab model has proven successful, in the case of ICBM's existing Barracks Venture Creation Center (VCC), which houses early-stage companies that require research chemistry wet lab space (e.g., specifically equipped with chemical fume hoods). Overall, this proposed wet lab and BSL 2 project would significantly bolster Massachusetts' ability to grow its capacity within the life sciences industries, in particular by expanding opportunities near but outside Cambridge/Kendall Sq.

Project Name: Central Massachusetts Watershed Project
Amount Requested: $1,111,458
Intended Recipient: Worcester State University
Location: Worcester, Worcester County, MA
Project Purpose: Urbanization can strongly impact the quality and biodiversity of streams and lakes, with important implications for ecosystems and adjacent communities. This project will examine the temporal and spatial variability in water quality and biodiversity in the

Tatnuck Brook watershed. It will continually monitor various aspects of water quality (temperature, pH, dissolved oxygen, salinity, light, turbidity) in water bodies along an urbanization gradient, from headwaters to urban locations. Periodic sampling will measure ions and dissolved organics. Sediments will be analyzed for organics, metals, and flux rates. This work will be conducted in collaboration with the City of Worcester, community groups, and-most importantly-Worcester State students. It will promote the health of our waterways (see letters of support) and will also provide students with high-impact learning experiences that highlight the diverse interests, values, and perspectives about watersheds.

This project offers broader benefits as well. The data collected by this project will guide decision-making around future water and land use issues, thus impacting hundreds of thousands of people who live in the Blackstone River watershed. Their enjoyment of this backyard natural resource is hampered when poor water quality closes beaches on Coes Reservoir and other water bodies.

The work proposed here aligns directly with NOAA's mission to improve measurement science in ways that improve our quality of life. The multifaceted research proposed here will implement an innovative network of spatially distributed water quality measurements along an urbanization gradient. Having accurate water quality data is paramount to allowing policymakers to make decisions that improve water resources in a densely populated urban area, improving the quality of life for the hundreds of thousands of people in the area. Further, we propose developing new methods for measurements where needed, once again fulfilling a NIST mission. The STEM education activities will reach students from K-12 through college, engaging diverse students in hands-on community-engaged experiences.

Project Name: Coskata-Coatue Resiliency Barrier Beach Project 
Amount Requested: $364,000
Intended Recipient: The Trustees of the Reservations
Location: Boston, Suffolk County, MA
Project Purpose: The Trustees of Reservations seek $364,000 in FY24 Congressionally Directed Spending to support the Coskata-Coatue Resiliency Barrier Beach Project in the Town of Nantucket, Massachusetts. The project would take place on the Coskata-Coatue Wildlife Refuge, an ecologically valuable 1,117-acre barrier beach system that hosts fish and wildlife habitat, including several federally threatened and endangered plants, shorebirds, and migratory birds; and a red cedar savannah and woodland which is the largest of its kind in New England. 

The refuge is owned and managed for conservation purposes by several partners including The Trustees and the Nantucket Conservation Foundation, as well as the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS). The US Coast Guard owns the Great Point Light House, which sits on National Wildlife Refuge owned by USFWS.  

The Coskata-Coatue barrier beach systems protect the Town of Nantucket and Nantucket Harbor from storms, storm surge, tidal flooding, and sea level rise and yet remains increasingly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. Without strategic and targeted intervention to restore, protect and conserve these critical natural buffers and build resilience to climate impacts, the losses faced will have tremendous local and regional impacts on biodiversity and the community. 

$364,000 in Congressionally Directed Spending would be used to support feasibility studies, design development, and permitting to strengthen and restore two highly vulnerable coastal sites along the barrier beach system of Nantucket, Massachusetts. The two sites are known as “Coskata Pondâ€? and the “Haulover.â€? (See Figure 2 and See Figure 3, attached in supplemental documents). A Climate Vulnerability Assessment conducted in 2022 determined that these two sites are highly susceptible to breaching; a breach would allow flow between the open ocean and Nantucket Harbor, threatening harbor infrastructure and downtown Nantucket. Feasibility studies, design, and federal, state, and local permits will lead to innovative nature-based climate adaptation solutions that will provide critical resiliency benefits for the region, including the protection of cultural institutions, historic resources, businesses, and homes from storms, storm surge, tidal flooding, and sea level rise. It will also maintain access to the refuge and the Great Point Lighthouse, owned by the US Coast Guard. Using nature-based resilience techniques will help to protect, strengthen, and restore state and federal threatened and endangered species habitat. The Trustees' proposed project will have far-reaching impacts on the region as the innovative project design approach will utilize nature-based techniques that can be replicated on similar barrier beach systems.  

Project Name: Creating Digital Infrastructure to Expand the Healthy Air Network
Amount Requested: $370,000
Intended Recipient: Partners for a Healthier Community, Public Health Institute of Western MA
Location: Springfield, Hampden County, MA
Project Purpose: The Healthy Air Network (healthyairnetwork.org) will expand its reach through:

• development of an app and website upgrades to provide greater access and better usability to the hyperlocal air quality data on particulate matter and ozone collected by the Healthy Air Network. This will be done through a community-driven design process to ensure that the data is presented in a way that is useful and actionable for community residents.

• adding 50 air sensors, 10 sensors in each of 5 communities, tracking hyperlocal air quality in MA, and calibrating and monitoring the sensors to ensure research quality data.

 Project Name: Demonstrating and Inspiring Sustainable Actions for Children and Families
Amount Requested: $535,500
Intended Recipient: Discovery Museum, Inc.
Location: Acton, Middlesex County, MA
Project Purpose: For the Demonstrating and Inspiring Sustainable Actions project, Discovery Museum will draw upon its industry-leading sustainability practices as content for a comprehensive series of new learning experiences designed to motivate the next generation of environmental stewards. Unlike a typical exhibit, the Museum's entire campus and its extensive sustainability work will become the center of learning for this unique initiative. The Museum has taken highly visible, concrete actions to reduce its carbon footprint in recent years, including installing a solar array that generates enough electricity to fully power its facilities and implementing a first-of-its-kind carbon offset program for commuting staff and Museum members. Congressionally Directed Spending funds will support the Museum in achieving two parallel goals: taking additional steps to measurably reduce its carbon emissions and, with the understanding that children learn more from what we do than from what we say, using these actions to educate and inspire.

Project Name: eWHALER project:"Extracting Weather data: Historical Analysis of Logbooks for Environmental Research"
Amount Requested: $1,800,000 
Intended Recipient: University of Massachusetts Dartmouth (Department of History)
Location: North Dartmouth, Bristol County, MA
Project Purpose: A collaborative cross-disciplinary project in which historians & oceanographers extract/analyze weather data from whaling ships' logbooks going back over 250 years (1760s-1920s). This data helps scientists understand weather patterns over centuries, which is useful for modern ocean navigation, agriculture, commerce, supply chain planning, coastal management, and national defense. Providing a long-term context for shifting global wind patterns is one of the main goals of this project, to better understand and anticipate changing wind and pressure systems in a warming climate, with implications for ocean navigation, and for aiding vulnerable communities to plan for changing weather conditions in the future.

Project Name: Fishing for Data: Massachusetts Cooperative Fisheries Research
Amount Requested: $2,000,000
Intended Recipient: Coonamessett Farm Foundation, Inc.
Location: East Falmouth, Barnstable County, MA
Project Purpose: Coonamessett Farm Foundation is proposing a program that will provide Massachusetts fishers with the necessary equipment and training to further develop their ability to collect and disseminate oceanographic and fisheries data. This will utilize their ecological knowledge to advance our understanding of climate change. The program also serves to collect and analyze the data, producing products that will inform fishers on existing and projected oceanographic and ecological trends. In turn, this will provide fishers with a broad range of support, enabling them to be more intimately involved in the process, and increasing the industry's adaptability and resilience.

Project Name: Framingham State University's McAuliffe Center for Integrated Science Learning
Amount Requested: $999,500
Intended Recipient: Framingham State University
Location: Framingham, Middlesex County, MA
Project Purpose: This is a request by the McAuliffe Center for Integrated Science Learning (McAuliffe Center) at Framingham State University (FSU) to acquire a suite of innovative technology for the newly created McAuliffe Simulation Lab (MSL). MSL will help address the growing demand for STEM jobs in Massachusetts by providing cradle-to-career learning experiences designed to leverage NASA's portfolio of STEM engagement opportunities and activities through the use of innovative high-resolution visualizations and virtual reality simulations. MSL programming will complement learning experiences in the McAuliffe Center's recently upgraded Challenger Learning Center and refurbished digital planetarium. The integration of programming in these three discrete environments will establish the McAuliffe Center as a unique STEM learning hub in the Commonwealth, well-positioned to pursue goals articulated in the NASA Strategy for STEM Engagement. High-resolution visualizations and shared virtual reality simulations will be used to design STEM learning experiences that provide powerful connections to NASA's mission and work, and that attract and spark the interest of diverse groups of students. These experiences will contribute to building a diverse future STEM workforce, and thus contribute to meeting Massachusetts' STEM workforce demands, by engaging students in authentic learning experiences with people and content from NASA's space and earth science missions. Located on the campus of Framingham State University, the McAuliffe Simulation Lab will equip the university with modern technology to provide innovative learning experiences to its increasingly diverse student population and thus contribute to diversifying the Commonwealth's STEM workforce. Access to innovative NASA-themed STEM experiences will especially benefit an increasing number of MetroWest K-12 students who, due to economic barriers and lack of transportation, would not have access to similar resources otherwise.

Project Name: FY24 Boston Medical Center Violence Intervention Advocacy Program (VIAP)
Amount Requested: $380,652
Intended Recipient: Boston Medical Center (BMC) Corporation
Location: Boston, Suffolk County, MA
Project Purpose: The Boston Medical Center (BMC) Violence Intervention Advocacy Program (VIAP) was founded in 2006 to respond to the needs of victims of community violence and the families of those impacted by violence and homicide to recover from physical and emotional trauma. With the knowledge that violent injury is the strongest predictor of future violent injury, VIAP's mission is to assist victims of violence and their families to recover from physical and emotional trauma and empower them with skills, services, and opportunities so they may return to their communities, make positive changes in their lives, strengthen others who have been affected by violence, and contribute to building better communities.

VIAP takes an innovative approach to holistic healthcare by utilizing a trauma-informed care model of service delivery. The innovation in this program is that the intervention with the patient begins in the hospital, providing a unique opportunity to support victims in a safe environment. Victims are paired with a case manager (Violence Intervention Advocate), a mental health clinician, and a family support advocate who, as a team, facilitate access to mental health, longer-term health care, and family support as needed. Victims are provided wrap-around case management services, and job and educational training that, in many cases, provide the impetus and guidance that they need to re-direct their lives and avoid future violence. VIAP services remain ongoing, in the hospital, in the victim and family's home, and in the community for a period ranging from a few weeks to a year or more, as needed by the individual.

VIAP is a state and national leader in victims of violence advocacy efforts and is a founding member of The Health Alliance for Violence Intervention (HAVI). To heal communities affected by violence, The HAVI fosters hospital and community collaborations to advance equitable, trauma-informed care and violence intervention and prevention programs.

Project Name: Managing Trauma in Corrections - A Demonstration Project
Amount Requested: $921,520
Intended Recipient: Roca, Inc.
Location: Chelsea, Suffolk County, MA
Project Purpose: Managing Trauma in Corrections (MTC) is a Demonstration Project designed to address both the trauma faced by incarcerated individuals and the staff who are hired to work with them, helping to break the cycle of incarceration for our most heavily impacted residents. MTC will address a growing need across MA and nationally, appropriately, and effectively addressing not only sentenced but pre-trial populations in correctional institutions. 

Roca knows that many of the young people engaged in the criminal justice system have experienced significant trauma that ultimately impacts their behaviors. These young people will be unable to create sustained behavior change without addressing this trauma and building critical tools that will allow them to act differently. Roca's reentry model is designed to do just that. Roca's work will build on key evidence-based practices - prison visitation, cognitive behavioral theory, and restorative justice practices using peacemaking circles behind the walls. And, because we know that behavior change takes time and that the transition from incarceration to the community is a critical period that requires support, whenever possible, Roca will continue to engage young people in its nationally recognized Intervention Model, after release, for a period of up to four years. Over time, we know this combination of services will support long-term, sustained behavior change for even our most traumatized, high-risk emerging adults.

Finally, because incarceration is a traumatic experience not only for those who are incarcerated but also for the staff who work with them, Roca will work with our correctional partners (as well as other correctional institutions across the Commonwealth) to provide their staff with the tools they need to manage their vicarious trauma, allowing them to better support themselves and their co-workers and serve the individuals in their custody, ultimately supporting long-term behavior change.

Project Name: Marshfield Coastal Academy and Hazard Laboratory
Amount Requested: $1,000,000 
Intended Recipient: Marshfield Chamber of Commerce, Marshfield Public Schools, Town of Marshfield, Northeastern University
Location: Marshfield, Plymouth County, MA 
Project Purpose: The Town of Marshfield, Marshfield Chamber of Commerce, Marshfield Public Schools, and Northeastern University propose to develop a technology hub and laboratory, the Marshfield Coastal Hazard Lab (MCHL) to study coastal hazard events and develop coastal hazard mitigation and construction solutions. This unique partnership between local government, community, local industry, and academia will drive technology, innovation, and partnership, thus promoting local economic development.

Project Name: medVR Medical XR Longwood Accelerator Lab
Amount Requested: $4,250,000
Intended Recipient: Grassroots, Developer Education, Inc, Mass Ch 180 non-profit, 501 (c) 3 medVR Accelerator Lab
Location: Braintree, Norfolk County, MA
Project Purpose: The application in healthcare of immersive technology (commonly referred to as Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) is accelerating globally. The medVR immersive medical Accelerator Lab located in the Longwood medical area acts as a catalyst on top of the world-leading Massachusetts medical cluster. medVR will be a nexus between the Longwood medical experts, interdisciplinary technical teams, and resources to translate clinical ideas into products that improve patient health and hospital efficiency and keeps pace with the global competition. Longwood medical institutions have innovation departments but do not have product development staff. medVR will be the Longwood immersive product-development center.

Immersive technology is included in the 10 strategic technologies in the Chips and Science Act because of its importance to the country. The most significant support for funding medVR is with Massachusetts leadership in NIH research funding since 1994. The state should lead this nationally important program in the immersive medical technology development segment. 

medVR will bridge the medical and technical communities orchestrating product development, catalyzing growth in healthcare, and revitalizing the technical community with new technology challenges. Regional success depends on investment, hiring, and product development activity. This is often measured as an ecosystem. For example, looking back at the development of today's ubiquitous mobile platform, beginning with the iPhone in 2007, California, and Massachusetts, with rich technical clusters adopted, invested, hired, and built products early that created a mobile ecosystem, gaining a lead over the rest of the country and world. Similarly, by combining Massachusetts's significant medical and technical clusters, the medVR accelerator lab will contribute to the organic development of the medical immersive development ecosystem, spinout companies, large company development projects, and jobs. Funding medVR will maintain the Massachusetts medical cluster's leadership and create companies and jobs. During 2022, 17 companies received $281 Million in equity investments[i] but only one in Massachusetts due to an underdeveloped ecosystem and low investor familiarity. This proposal will correct this underrepresentation.

medVR's commitment to making patient populations used in studies representative of the communities will be an example to other fields.

Project Name: NASA STEM Engagement at the EcoTarium
Amount Requested: $856,000
Intended Recipient: Worcester Natural History Society (EcoTarium)
Location: Worcester, Worcester County, MA
Project Purpose: NASA STEM Engagement at the EcoTarium will create and deliver educational programs that provide youth and adults opportunities to discover and explore the scientific universe within and beyond our atmosphere. The project will bring updated scientific educational content to the full-dome planetarium, install an updated telescope in the outdoor observatory, and engage diverse groups of students in STEM learning and NASA's mission.

Project Name: New England Aquarium
Amount Requested: $3,500,000
Intended Recipient: New England Aquarium Corporation
Location: Boston, Suffolk County, MA
Project Purpose: The Aquarium's project updates two exhibits to better communicate the increasingly urgent need for ocean conservation action. By enhancing our ability to educate and inspire ocean conservation, NEAq can help to build a more informed and engaged public that is better equipped to act to protect our ocean and ensure its long-term sustainability. Updating these exhibits will ensure they continue to provide visitors with a meaningful and engaging learning experience. Funds will support the development of new educational interpretations, visitor interactions and engagements, conservation-based messaging, educational carts and other delivery techniques, and aquatic habitats that enhance animal wellbeing.

Project Name: Nubian Ascends BATL Community Laboratory
Amount Requested: $1,681,621.75
Intended Recipient: Northeastern University
Location: Boston, Suffolk County, MA
Project Purpose:  This request will support the acquisition of state-of-the-art laboratory equipment for Northeastern University's Nubian Ascends Biopharmaceutical Analysis and Training Laboratory-located within the Nubian Ascends development project in Nubian Square-which will bring vital workforce development, training, and research opportunities to underserved populations in Roxbury.

Project Name: Population Studies of Humpback Whales in Support of Modern Management Concerns
Amount Requested: $200,000 
Intended Recipient: Center for Coastal Studies
Location: Provincetown, Barnstable County, MA
Project Purpose: The requested funding will provide much-needed support for the Center for Coastal Studies' Humpback Whale Research Program. In recent years, with the reduction of federal funding, the Center has raised support for its work through private donations and foundation grants which is no longer sustainable. In addition, there are now critical federal management issues and decisions that involve humpback whale populations for which federal financial support for key work like the Center's population studies is warranted.

Project Name: Project Engage: Public Safety through Public Health
Amount Requested: $1,447,795 
Intended Recipient: Project Engage: Public Safety through Public Health
Location: Boston, Suffolk County, MA
Project Purpose: The Suffolk County Sheriff's Department's (SCSD), the goal is to transition an existing 700-bed secure facility in downtown Boston to a state-of-the-art model in the delivery of behavioral health care for criminal justice-involved individuals. SCSD envisions a system that will reimagine the correctional model by establishing an industry-unique collaboration intended to leverage energy and expertise from the fields of health, advocacy, education, and government in an equal voice partnership to create and sustain a framework of care unencumbered by carceral convention.

Project Name: Salem Police Innovative Mental Health Clinician Co-Response Collaborative
Amount Requested: $286,580 
Intended Recipient: Salem Police Innovative Mental Health Clinician Co-Response Collaborative
Location: Salem, Essex County, MA 
Project Purpose: The Salem Police Department (SPD) is uniquely positioned with the public/private industry to expand our Innovative Mental Health Clinician Co-Response Collaborative. The need for an expansion of our mental health response team is critical. Our proposal increases our co-response team from two part-time clinicians to three full-time clinicians. This will serve several valuable points: it will increase the availability of clinical diversion services to the community and surrounding towns, assist more officers on calls, contribute to training expansion, as well as provide increased coordinated referrals to treatment services and providers to those in need. 

Project Name: Science on the Fly
Amount Requested: $250,000
Intended Recipient: Woodwell Climate Research Center
Location: Falmouth, Barnstable County, MA
Project Purpose: The requested amount of $250,000 would be used by Science on the Fly to purchase equipment and increase staff capacity to expand its data collection and analysis of water samples. This project is a good use of taxpayer dollars because it provides low-cost water monitoring and watershed data in over 350 locations around the US and 6 countries each month. Access to clean water is increasingly scarce across the country for health, food production, and recreation, among other needs. Science on the Fly seeks to protect and improve our under-monitored water resources.      

Project Name: Single Particle Analysis Microscope System
Amount Requested: $1,750,000
Intended Recipient: Northeastern University
Location: Boston, Suffolk County, MA
Project Purpose: This request will fund the purchase of a state-of-the-art electron microscope to allow for high-level structural analysis and data collection related to pharmaceuticals and drug discovery, enabling better access to effective treatments for patients, job growth and economic development for the region, and robust workforce development and educational opportunities for the community. 

Project Name: Software to democratize and accelerate utilization of genomics in medical and biological sciences
Amount Requested: $2,500,000
Intended Recipient: Skygenic NFP Inc.
Location: Watertown, Middlesex County, MA
Project Purpose: Genomics, transcriptomics, microbiomics, proteomics, and other omics are one of the most innovative technologies available to biological research, medical research, and precision medicine. They can advance our understanding of relevant biological mechanisms. The barrier to utilizing omic technologies for most translational physician-scientists and biological scientists is the lack of immediate access to a bioinformatician to perform the data management and analysis which requires a skill set that most scientists don't possess. This project is for the continued research, development, and deployment of technology that incorporates the knowledge and decision-making process of a bioinformatician for the most common analysis strategies in software. This has the potential to reduce the waiting time from 4-6 months to 3 hours, accelerating the understanding of biological systems and discovery. With a common platform used throughout the nation, it can standardize quality control methods, analysis strategies, and algorithms as well as facilitate a collocated environment for combining datasets from multiple institutions and global collaboration. 

Project Name: The Phoenix 
Amount Requested: $650,000
Intended Recipient: The Phoenix
Location: Boston, Suffolk County, MA
Project Purpose:  The Phoenix requests $650,000 to promote and expand its behavioral health programming, provide therapeutic resources and equipment, and reduce community stigma within the Middlesex County criminal justice system for individuals suffering from substance use disorder. The Phoenix will work with law enforcement employees of Middlesex Sheriff's Office, Billerica House of Corrections, and the New Justice Center to offer accessible, free fitness, and social activities that build resiliency for inmates within jails and prisons, as well as those returning from incarceration. This funding will provide a continuum of care for those battling an addiction to reenter their communities while lowering rates of recidivism.

Programming and training efforts bridge the divide between individuals suffering from addiction and law enforcement officials. Whether it be a person battling addiction facing arrest or an officer making the arrest, both parties are subject to a cycle of stigmatization and misunderstanding. This funding addresses this social problem by promoting a continuum of care model that guides individuals within and outside of the prison system, resulting in lowered rates of recidivism and the promotion of a healthy, sober, and active future.

Project Name: The Year of Energy Transition
Amount Requested: $1,500,000
Intended Recipient: Museum of Science
Location: Boston, Suffolk County, MA
Project Purpose:  The Year of Energy Transition at the Museum of Science will engage relevant, interesting, and curiosity-sparking content in Museum, in classrooms, and online that inspire the next generation of the Commonwealth's STEM learners and workforce and directly connect Museum efforts to broader national initiatives including decarbonizing our energy infrastructure, emphasizing the importance of global collaboration, and reinforcing that energy sources have tradeoffs allowing visitors, students, and online audiences to explore the complexity and opportunity of a diversified, sustainable energy system.

Project Name: Unique Multilingual Interactives for Biomes Around the World
Amount Requested: $500,000 
Intended Recipient: Springfield Museums Corporation
Location:  Springfield, Hampden County, MA
Project Purpose: We seek support for important additions made to "Biomes Around the World," an educational exhibit in the Springfield Science Museum comprised of live animals. Upon receiving stakeholder feedback and vendor consultations, we have determined that building upon this project is a worthwhile investment for the many visitors and students our Museum serves. This project will update our animal environments to their natural habitats, allowing them to exhibit natural behaviors. Funding in this request will add educational interactive components, important wayfinding from the Welcome Center to the Live Animal Center, and provide multilingual signage throughout the permanent exhibit. 

Project Name: UTEC Emerging Adult Justice Training Center
Amount Requested: $1,000,000 
Intended Recipient: UTEC Inc.
Location: Lowell, Middlesex County, MA 
Project Purpose: Emerging adulthood is defined as the phase of life between ages 18-25. Research indicates the brain is still developing into the mid-twenties, even though the legal marker of adulthood is 18 . In Massachusetts, 52% of all young adults who are arrested are re-arraigned within one year. Emerging adults have unique needs and challenges within the justice system and necessitate a different approach to accountability. UTEC has been working on varied policies that have helped establish an appreciation for a new field known as Emerging Adult Justice. UTEC has received hundreds of requests from practitioners and governmental leaders on how to best share our practices and learn from others. With the requested funding, UTEC will respond to the needs in three key areas:

• Advancing the field of street outreach through the development of curriculum and other learning tools to serve Streetworkers and their organizations.

•  Developing new program models during the pre-release stage for young adults confined in correctional facilities, as well as key aspects of post-release programming in the community.

• Launching a national convening that will expand this Training Center to create more jobs in the Merrimack Valley, while also creating a hub for learning and sharing of best practices across the country.  Recidivism will be reduced for young adults who have past histories of serious gang and criminal involvement.  Through launching a new mini-grants program, various other partners throughout the local community will become involved in emerging adult justice and spotlighting community-based innovations throughout the state.

Project Name: William Street: Stimulating Learning through STEAM
Amount Requested: $500,000
Intended Recipient: Old Dartmouth Historical Society, New Bedford Whaling Museum
Location: New Bedford, Bristol County, MA
Project Purpose: Building on NBWM's strength in marine mammal, climate, and environmentally-based instruction for students K-12, the Museum will create a new learning model centered on geography and environment that allows for enhanced instruction and training through Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math (STEAM). It would include a digitally-enhanced multimodal tool that shows overlays of expansion and growth from pre-contact to today emphasizing the geography of the region, ecosystems, and environment. Funds will upgrade learning spaces with digital interactives and programs offering cohesive training for instructors and develop an education model that deploys educators to Massachusetts classrooms.

Already established as a bastion for learning by thousands of students annually, the Museum's campus expansion to William Street, increased programming, and development of science-based instruction will greatly assist local schools to address the significant learning loss experienced by students over the last three years. Through an expanded campus, increased programming, and an investment in digital technologies, the Museum will be able to create learning spaces offering tailored and differentiated learning models-both in the museum and classrooms. The ability to enhance our out-of-museum offerings means deeper, complimentary science-based learning within classrooms. The ability for museum educators to travel to schools most immediately benefits local school districts.

Beyond the educational benefit to local students, the Whaling Museum is also a driver of the local economy. An independent economic research firm, Springline Research Group completed a review of the Museum's contributions to the local economy noting that the Museum delivers more than $10M in impact annually. The ripple effect of 100,000 visitors to the city of New Bedford cannot be understated. Restaurants, retail stores, and hotels all see positive results as a result of the Museum's ability to attract strong tourism. The Museum serves our local community, but is the only attraction in the SouthCoast of Massachusetts to pull 60% of visitors from outside of Bristol County and drawing tourism dollars that significantly increase the outlook and operations for our neighbors. The Museum's ability to increase programming through growth in its campus will offer significant gains to the local community.

 

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Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing, Urban Development, and Related Agencies

  

Link to FY24 Financial Certification Letter

 

Project Name:  2Life Communities Brooke House Village Center

Amount Requested:  $1,000,000 

Intended Recipient: 2Life Communities

Location: Brighton, Suffolk County, MA

Project Purpose:  For the creation of the Brooke House Village Center. This 8,000 square foot multi-generational community space located on the ground floor of the Brooke House will welcome all members of Olmsted Village and the greater Mattapan community.

     

Project Name:  Northeastern University Parsons Field

Amount Requested:  $1,551,165 

Intended Recipient: Northeastern University

Location: Boston, Suffolk County, MA

Project Purpose:  This funding will support necessary improvements and upgrades to the Parsons Field fieldhouse structure and baseball dugouts. These facilities are widely utilized by youth sports and community organizations in Brookline, including the Town of Brookline Public Schools, and are in significant need of repairs and upgrades. These repairs and upgrades will also allow Northeastern University to enhance its community offerings at Parsons Field. 

 

Project Name:  Accessibility and Infrastructure Improvements to 19-20 Maple Street Property

Amount Requested:  $750,000 

Intended Recipient: Town of Acton, Massachusetts

Location: Acton, Middlesex County, MA

Project Purpose: The objective of this project is to implement accessibility and infrastructure improvements to facilitate the productive reuse of 19-21 Maple Street and to improve commuter parking and access to the South Acton MBTA Commuter Rail station.

 

Project Name:  Acquisition of Leominster Days Inn Hotel to Provide Emergency Shelter and Housing

Amount Requested:  $4,850,000 

Intended Recipient: South Middlesex Opportunity Council, Inc.

Location: Framingham, Middlesex County, MA

Project Purpose: SMOC seeks funding to assist in its acquisition of the Days Inn Hotel located at in Leominster, MA. SMOC began operating emergency shelter out of the Days Inn at the start of 2021 in response to the need for increased shelter due to the COVID-19 Pandemic, serving low- to mediam-income persons exclusively and located near predominantly LMI neighborhoods.

     

Project Name:  Adams Garage Modernization

Amount Requested:  $2,000,000 

Intended Recipient: City of Brockton

Location: Brockton, Plymouth County, MA

Project Purpose: Modernization of the Adams Garage, originally built in 1982, to include: New "Smart Parking" garage inventory management system with overhead vehicle detection system, new "pay on foot" revenue control system to allow for 24-hour use, new LED lighting system, update signage, update elevator and stairwells, new emergency call buttons, and CCTV safety system, publicly accessible EV Charging Stations. On-street modernization to include: replacing old fashion coin meters with new "pay by plate" revenue control system. 

 

Project Name:  Affordable Housing Preservation & Land-Acquisition Project Proposal Main Middle – Worcester 

Amount Requested:  $2,654,000 

Intended Recipient: Centro Las Americas, Inc.

Location: Worcester, Worcester County, MA

Project Purpose:  The purpose of this project is to acquire 6 currently underutilized or blighted key properties in the city’s poorest neighborhood, Main Middle. These lots/properties will give way to the redevelopment and or construction of approximately 112 units of affordable rental housing and 32 first-time.

     

Project Name:  Argilla Road Reconstruction, Ipswich MA: Building a New Model for Climate Resilient Coastal Roads

Amount Requested:  $4,400,000 

Intended Recipient: Town of Ipswich MA

Location: Ipswich, Essex County, MA

Project Purpose: The Town of Ipswich, in partnership with The Trustees of Reservations and supported by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, seeks Highway Infrastructure Improvement (HIP) funds for the Argilla Road reconstruction project. Argilla Road experiences periodic flooding from high tides and storm surges, and by 2030 Argilla Road is projected to be chronically inundated with water nearly every day during high tides and negatively impact the town and region's economies. This resilient road redesign will improve access for more than 500,000 residents and visitors to Crane Beach and the Crane Estate every year. The beach parking lot holds approximately 1,450 vehicles and there is a shuttle from the MBTA station.

 

Project Name:  Arlington's Veterans Memorial Park

Amount Requested:  $2,000,000 

Intended Recipient: Town of Arlington

Location: Arlington, Middlesex County, MA  

Project Purpose: The redevelopment of a centrally located park in Arlington. This project will address ADA accessibility, measures to insure climate resiliency, and revitalization of the central business district following the COVID pandemic, and this park will serve as a major focal point and attraction in the town. The project will include an "Honor Roll" with the names of 12,000+ Arlington residents that have served in the military.

Project Name:  Believe & Become Boys & Girls Club of Greater Lowell

Amount Requested:  $2,477,500 

Intended Recipient: Boys & Girls Club of Greater Lowell

Location: Lowell, Middlesex County, MA

Project Purpose: This project will allow the Boys & Girls Club of Greater Lowell to create access to the programs and opportunities needed to have a better future. It will increase the capacity to 600 youth and teens per day. It will address current space constraints as well as facility issues that require repairs

 

Project Name:  Blessed Sacrament Redevelopment

Amount Requested:  $1,000,000 

Intended Recipient: Hyde Square Task Force

Location: Boston, Suffolk County, MA

Project Purpose:   The redevelopment of the Blessed Sacrament Church will bring new life to a historical landmark, increase access to much-needed affordable housing, and provide a new community hub for Bostons Latin Quarter district, located in the Hyde Square neighborhood.

 

Project Name:  Border to Boston Trail - design and engineering

Amount Requested:  $840,000 

Intended Recipient: Essex National Heritage Commission, Inc (Essex Heritage)

Location: Salem, Essex County, MA

Project Purpose:  The Border to Boston Trail is a 70-mile, shared-use trail that links 20 communities from the New Hampshire border to Boston. The trail is being built for non-motorized uses including walking, bicycling, and more. Receiving Community Project Funding FY24 will greatly assist in the planning, design, and engineering of several complicated, unbuilt segments of the trail in Swampscott, Salem, Peabody, and Topsfield including wetlands and engineering surveys, design studies, and the development of cost estimates. These design/engineering projects are ready to go if these funds are awarded. 

 

Project Name:  Boston Community Gardens Rehabilitation, Revitalization and Acquisition 

Amount Requested:  $985,300 

Intended Recipient: The Trustees of Reservations

Location: Boston, Suffolk County, MA

Project Purpose: The Trustees is the largest owner of community gardens in Boston, hosting 10,000 gardeners and providing open space access for the 125,000 residents living within a quarter mile of the gardens.

 

Community gardens have a positive impact on residents' physical, mental, and social well-being. The CDF request will allow for the acquisition of a new community garden in Mattapan and critical infrastructure repairs at 17 of the 56 community gardens owned by the Trustees across 7 neighborhoods in Boston. With these investments, The Trustees will be able to remediate deteriorating sites, revitalize important Boston neighborhoods, and benefit low-and moderate-income communities.

 

Project Name: Boys & Girls Clubs Collaborative - Investing in Summer Child Care Infrastructure

Amount Requested: $6,000,000 

Intended Recipient: Boys & Girls Clubs of Metro South, Inc.

Location: Taunton, Bristol County, MA

Project Purpose: Boys & Girls Clubs of Metro South, Boys & Girls Club of Fall River, and Boys & Girls Club of Pawtucket are three of the preeminent youth development organizations serving Southeastern Massachusetts. Our high-quality before and after-school and summer camp enrichment programs form an essential service network of support for working families who require safe, affordable out-of-school-time enrichment activities for their children in order to participate in the workforce and contribute to our local economy. Our three Boys & Girls Club organizations collectively serve youth from nearly 70 communities in Southeastern Massachusetts & Northern Rhode Island, positively impacting nearly 10,000 low-to-moderate income youth per year! Together, our summer camp properties protect and conserve nearly 400 acres of recreational green space in the Metro South and Southcoast regions which serve as true summer havens for the youth and families we serve. 

As proud as we are of our current individual and collective impact, we could be serving many more kids and families - and serving them much better - with additional investments in the facilities and infrastructure at our summer camp properties. For each of our organizations, additional indoor/enclosed programming space (recreational lodges and/or dining halls, restrooms, “classroom" spaces, etc.) would have a transformative impact on both the quantity of youth we can serve daily as well as the quality of our programming for the youth in our care. While we spend the vast majority of our summer days outside engaged in nature, on extremely wet and/or hot days, indoor space is in short supply and presents a number of logistical and safety challenges for our camp communities. Especially for our youngest campers, spending a full day in the summer sun and heat can be a significant challenge, even with access to swimming pools, splash pads, boating, and other water activities. Further, our licensed camp capacities are determined by the square footage of qualifying enclosed spaces that can provide shelter from the elements in the event of inclement weather. While we have considerable acreage to serve additional youth each summer - and time-sensitive opportunities to acquire additional acreage - without considerable investments in constructing new buildings and rehabbing existing structures on our campuses we cannot realize our shared vision to reach even more of the most vulnerable youth in our region and to serve as critical support systems to the working families in our communities in need of the strength of their villages to support and care for their children. 

Our Clubs jointly seek FY24 congressional funding of $6M in total to support several critical capital improvement projects at our three respective summer camp properties in Taunton, Assonet, and Rehoboth, MA. Our overall project budget is $10M. The projects will have a transformational impact on our daily capacities to serve more youth as well as to improve the quality of our programming, and increase the amenities available to our communities at large on summer weeknights and weekends and during our shoulder seasons in the spring and fall.

 

Project Name:  Boys & Girls Clubs of Dorchester

Amount Requested:  $1,500,000 

Intended Recipient: Boys And Girls Clubs of Dorchester, Inc.

Location: Dorchester, Suffolk County, MA

Project Purpose: The Dorchester Field House is constructing a community center for the children, teens, and families of Boston. Dorchester is Boston’s most diverse neighborhood, and it is also one of its most under-resourced. The Field House’s impact will replicate what Boys & Girls Clubs members achieve nationwide.

 

Project Name:  Bridges to Moms Program of the Division of Women's Health, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA

Amount Requested:  $600,000 

Intended Recipient: Bridges to Moms Program of the Division of Women's Health, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA 

Location: Boston, Suffolk County, MA

Project Purpose:  Bridges to Moms (BTM) is an existing program of the Brigham and Women's Division of Women's Health that helps vulnerable pregnant women access housing, food, safety, and ongoing mental health and primary care. This results in better birth outcomes, shorter hospital stays, and less crisis care.  BTM currently relies on philanthropic support. To gain long-term sustainability, BTM is asking for $600,000 to pay architecture/engineering costs towards a planned building near the hospital that will provide short-term stability, billable clinical and mental health monitoring to up to 20 high-risk pregnant and post-partum, housing insecure women at a time (rolling admissions) until their health risks have passed.

 

Project Name:  Broad Street Improvements

Amount Requested:  $220,000 

Intended Recipient: City of Lynn

Location: Lynn, Essex County, MA

Project Purpose:  The project includes upgrades to traffic signal equipment and minor intersection improvements at seven (7) intersection locations along the Broad Street and Lewis Street corridor. These upgrades will replace antiquated traffic signal equipment with new technology to improve traffic operations along the corridor, improve safety for all roadway users, and include transit signal priority technology to optimize bus transit service.

 

Project Name:  Building Futures: Downtown Inner-City Urban Brockton, MA Youth Center Revitalization

Amount Requested:  $1,500,000 

Intended Recipient: Old Colony YMCA

Location: Brockton, Plymouth County, MA

Project Purpose: This funding investment will support renovation of a youth center in Brockton, MA to help expand our programming to increase our capacity to serve at-risk children and teens encouraging them to enroll and use free academic, health and wellness and educational community programming.

 

     

Project Name: Building & Reunification of Women Post Recovery with their Children

Amount Requested:  $2,500,000

Intended Recipient: Victory Programs Inc.

Location: Boston, Suffolk County, MA

Project Purpose: This is a building project in the Boston area to ensure women in need of substance use recovery have equal access to residential recovery services while still being able to live with and care for their children. Based on the successful models including recovery, behavioral health, workforce development, life skills programming, trauma-informed care, continued help with the legal process, and child protection services while encouraging parenting skills and the importance of parenting, family engagement, and keeping families together, this project will increase critical access in the Boston area.

 

Project Name:  Cambridge Community Center Resilience Hub

Amount Requested:  $1,000,000 

Intended Recipient: Cambridge Community Center, Inc.

Location: Cambridge, Middlesex County, MA

Project Purpose: Cambridge Community Center (CCC) plans to install a resilient, clean energy system to ensure that it can operate independently of the regional electric grid during and after disruptions, particularly if there is a power outage. This will include solar panels, generators, and battery storage.

     

Project Name:  Cedar Hill Past, Present, & Future

Amount Requested:  $1,000,000 

Intended Recipient: Girl Scouts of Eastern Massachusetts

Location: Waltham, Middlesex County, MA

Project Purpose: Girl Scouts of Eastern Massachusetts (GSEMA) is requesting $1,000,000 to support critical, overdue accessibility improvements, repairs, and renovations at Camp Cedar Hill in Waltham, MA.

 

Project Name:  Children's Services of Roxbury Center for Family Well-being

Amount Requested:  $5,000,000 

Intended Recipient: Children's Services of Roxbury

Location: Roxbury, Suffolk County, MA

Project Purpose: Children's Services of Roxbury (CSR) will transform three buildings (50,000 square feet) into a Center for Family Well-being, creating 107 new permanent jobs for people of color, scaling statewide services for low-income children and parents by 25% and housing three economic development initiatives:

        The LaunchPad is an innovative workforce training center for young adults of color healing from trauma, providing hands-on training in behavioral health, tech, biotech, and green engineering, apprenticeships, employment, and culturally attuned mental health care;

        The Front Porch provides barrier-free access to mental health services, workforce development, vital services, and other needs as identified by young adults and parents to support their personal and family goals. Individuals and families engaged through the Front Porch are low-income, at risk of eviction, and/or experiencing trauma;

        Trauma-focused Early Education and Care is an expansion of our center-based Early Education and Care program. CSR will expand the Center by 40% with an intentional focus on Boston Public Schools (BPS) Universal Pre-Kindergarten that provides district-aligned curriculum and training and school choice for families when they enter BPS kindergarten.

     

Project Name:  Coalition for an Equitable Economy

Amount Requested:  $260,000 

Intended Recipient: Coalition for an Equitable Economy

Location: Boston, Suffolk County, MA

Project Purpose:  This project funding is to build professional capacity at The Coalition for an Equitable Economy (CEE).

CEE was initially formed by a steering committee of small business support organizations and leaders seeking to convene and partner with a broad cross-sector coalition of stakeholders from across Massachusetts aligned around a shared commitment to building an equitable small business ecosystem and to the values of racial equity, collaboration, and shared leadership.

CEE seeks to examine and dismantle structural and institutional barriers that continue to prevent businesses owned and led by Black, Latinx, immigrant, and low-income entrepreneurs from accessing the capital they need to be successful.  CEE will contribute to closing the capital gap by providing the platform and assistance for active collaboration among an expanding group of concerned and intentional capital providers.

 

Project Name:  Community Action Agency of Somerville 

Amount Requested:  $350,000 

Intended Recipient: Community Action Agency of Somerville

Location: Somerville, Middlesex County, MA

Project Purpose:  The Community Action Agency of Somerville's Community Organizing & Advocacy Program (CO&A) works with residents to eliminate the root causes of housing, racial, and economic injustice. We are dedicated to educating, organizing, and empowering residents who are the most oppressed from accessing power and at risk of displacement from Somerville, especially low-income and immigrant renters. CO&A takes a comprehensive approach that leverages five FTE organizers, our internal anti-poverty resources, strong community partnerships, and deep relationship-building and leadership development with impacted residents. The proposal seeks to solidify funding for this program and add the capacity of a new Senior Tenant Organizer position who will oversee tenant casework and anti-displacement campaigns, allowing CAAS to participate in statewide coalitions to advocate for policies that will positively affect all Somerville residents, such as lifting the ban on rent control, a real estate transfer fee that will provide funding for affordable housing, and tenant opportunity to purchase.

 

Project Name:  Community Center Project

Amount Requested:  $2,500,000 

Intended Recipient: City of Medford

Location: Medford, Middlesex County, MA

Project Purpose: The City is without a community space dedicated to residents' needs during an emergency response. We are also seeking to develop community-based resiliency hubs for residents during climate emergencies in strategically placed locations throughout the city. To ensure that Medford has an accessible, resilient, and safe facility that can be utilized for sheltering and informing community members during an emergency, an appropriations request to properly equip and renovate an underutilized facility is needed. 

 

Project Name:  Dana-Farber Cancer Institute Therapeutic Food Pantry

Amount Requested:  $235,000 

Intended Recipient: Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Inc.

Location: Boston, Suffolk County, MA

Project Purpose:  This project would create a therapeutic food pantry at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute to serve pediatric patients and their families.

 

Project Name:  Early Childhood Science Learning Center 

Amount Requested:  $2,500,000

Intended Recipient: Worcester Natural History Society EcoTarium

Location: Worcester, Worcester County, MA

Project Purpose: The Early Childhood Science Learning Center (ECSLC) will provide over 40,000 young children up to age 8, and their parents or caregivers, opportunities to engage in hands-on, interactive science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) learning year-round. ECSLC content will focus on fundamental concepts in science needed for children to succeed in school, known as the Seeds of STEM. ECSLC will make an impact on a generation, inspiring and engaging children, youth, and families from all backgrounds in STEM learning, and offering STEM programs for childcare centers, youth groups, parenting groups, and early childhood educators.

 

Project Name:  Expanding Affordable Homeownership in the Merrimack Valley

Amount Requested:  $159,000 

Intended Recipient: Merrimack Valley Housing Partnership

Location: Lowell, Middlesex County, MA

Project Purpose:   The Merrimack Valley Housing Partnership (MVHP)'s overall goal is to expand pathways to homeownership as a way for people to build equity and wealth for themselves and their families for future generations. Our programs are designed to ensure that households of all income levels can become homeowners within our region and to mitigate longstanding racial disparities in homeownership opportunities. 

MVHP's home buyer education is essential as the current market makes first-time homeownership increasingly challenging for even moderate-income households. We go beyond the class-only model with individualized support from the organization's certified housing counselors and a suite of programs to help first-time and first-generation home buyers leverage resources and retain some of their liquid assets. 

About 40% of participants purchase a home within two years. This is notable since about 80% of participants have incomes at 80% or less of the area median income.  

 

Project Name:  Fall River Performing Arts Center Rehabilitation Project

Amount Requested:  $4,000,000 

Intended Recipient: City of Fall River

Location: Fall River, Bristol County, MA

Project Purpose:  The Robert J. Nagle Auditorium is part of the former B.M.C. Durfee High School building. Built in 1978, this building was less than thirty years old when structural and design concerns (i.e., cracking walls, a lack of air conditioning or functional windows, severe roof leaks, and an open-concept layout that forced four classes to be taught in a single room) sparked public outcry calling for its replacement. The building was only 43 years old when it was officially closed upon the grand opening of a new school building on the same parcel of land to house B.M.C. Durfee High School. The City of Fall River proposes to rehabilitate the aging Robert J. Nagle Auditorium of the former Durfee building into a community performing arts center that will host concerts, plays, orchestral performances, and dance competitions to support local arts and culture in Fall River and the surrounding area. This rehabilitation will include replacing the roof, which is currently in disrepair and actively jeopardizing the integrity of the building by allowing water damage to occur, upgrading restroom facilities and related plumbing to current standards, and replacing the doors for security- and weather-related purposes. This project will: (1) directly support local arts and culture in Southcoast Massachusetts by allowing Fall River's largest performing arts space to remain open; (2) preserve a piece of Southcoast Massachusetts' history and culture by preserving the auditorium original to the former B.M.C. Durfee High School building, which saw tens of thousands of Fall River residents through their high school years as the City's only public high school from 1978 to 2021; and (3) allow the City to rent out this performing arts center for concerts and community events, thereby creating a self-sustaining source of Municipal income. 

 

Project Name:  Fall River Pleasant Street Neighborhood Stabilization Plan

Amount Requested:  $5,000,000

Intended Recipient: City of Fall River

Location: Fall River, Bristol County, MA

Project Purpose: Pleasant Street and the surrounding Flint neighborhood comprise approximately 860 acres. Peasant Street is the center of the Flint and has maintained a longstanding reputation among Fall River residents as the City's second downtown. This area has a strong sense of community pride and local culture; several long-term businesses with a regional draw are located along this stretch. 

While the Flint has a rich history and many assets, it has suffered from rapid urban decay in the past twenty-five years. The buildings along Pleasant Street are old and in need of substantial rehabilitation, with over 70% of housing stock built before 1939. This stretch contains numerous vacant storefronts and several deteriorating and even condemned buildings, creating an overwhelmingly unwelcoming sense of neglect and blight. 

These challenges have been a sizable deterrent to the economic revitalization that Pleasant Street and the Flint so desperately need. As such, the City of Fall River has partnered with MassHousing, the Fall River Redevelopment Authority, the Fall River Community Development Agency, a citizens advisory group, and a city working group to develop a comprehensive urban renewal plan that will identify strategies to upgrade existing housing stock and identify specific properties for rehabilitation, redevelopment, and new construction. One of the first suggestions proposed by this collaboration was to implement significant streetscape improvements, which is the subject of this proposal.

The City proposes to implement a streetscapes improvement project along Pleasant Street to beautify and improve existing infrastructure in the Flint, thereby supporting community activation and economic development by making the neighborhood more welcoming to residents, visitors, customers, and businesses. This will be accomplished via the installation of new roads, new sidewalks, new lighting, improved wayfinding signage, trees, public art, and stormwater mitigation infrastructure.

 

Project Name:  Fitchburg Arts Community

Amount Requested:  $1,000,000 

Intended Recipient: NewVue Communities

Location: Fitchburg, Middlesex County, MA

Project Purpose: NewVue Communities is redeveloping three vacant, blighted historic municipal buildings (the former BF Brown School, High School Annex and the City Stables) into 68 units of mixed-income artist-preference housing. housing. The Fitchburg Arts Community is a vital project in the City’s efforts to create affordable housing

 

Project Name:  Fitchburg Public Library Building Project

Amount Requested:  $1,000,000 

Intended Recipient: Fitchburg Public Library

Location: Fitchburg, Worcester County, MA

Project Purpose:  The Fitchburg Public Library's Building Renovation is an ambitious project to upgrade the existing facility to create a state-of-the-art library that will continue to serve the residents of Fitchburg, draw people to downtown Fitchburg, and provide economic and cultural benefits that will substantially enrich and enhance the quality of life for all in the City. The project will create an environment where programming can take place simultaneously in open and welcoming spaces. This project encompasses two major changes: renovating the Wallace Library to create an improved interior space and creating an entirely new children's library and learning center.

 

Project Name:  Franklin County's YMCA Aquatics Capital Improvements

Amount Requested:  $746,000 

Intended Recipient: Community YMCA of Greenfield

Location: Greenfield, Franklin County, MA

Project Purpose: Our pool is a vital resource for safety around water in Franklin County, especially for the education and development of skills necessary to prevent drowning and other water-related tragedies among children and teens.

The purpose of our project is to maintain critical and necessary access to the Franklin County YMCA's pool by completing repairs on our deteriorating pool deck. Additionally, to be compliant with chemical handling regulations and to improve safety and oversight in our pool area, we would build both a chemical storage closet and an Aquatics office.

Franklin County's YMCA pool and pool deck were built in 1950 and since then have had only minor patches and repairs. Our pool deck has experienced serious deterioration due to water infiltration. It now requires immediate attention. Without immediate attention, our pool deck is likely to fail which would result in the long-term closure of the pool.  We also need to build an OSHA-compliant chemical closet with proper ventilation. Thirdly, we need to build an Aquatics office next to our Observation Deck to improve oversight of pool activities and enhance safety.  Our current aquatics office is out of sight from the pool area and requires staff to go through an accessible locker room to oversee staff and members in the pool and hot tub.

     

Project Name:  Franklin Field Modernization

Amount Requested:  $1,000,000 

Intended Recipient: Boston Housing Authority

Location: Boston, Suffolk County, MA

Project Purpose:  The BHA is seeking to modernize and repair residential units at the Franklin Field public housing community. This project will address aging heating and mechanical systems, upgrade building wiring and make improvements to windows and ventilation. This project will support the long-term viability of the rental units in an area experiencing rising housing costs and inadequate housing supply. Most importantly, the project will support extremely low-income families in accessing and maintaining stable and dignified housing. The investment is matched by other commitments made by the BHA and the City of Boston.

 

Project Name:  Fresh Space for a Safe Haven

Amount Requested:  $400,000 

Intended Recipient: Meryl's Safe Haven

Location: Worcester , Worcester County, MA 

Project Purpose:  There are many abandoned buildings in the city of Worcester. These funds will allow us, a new non-profit, shelter program to acquire property and create housing for families in need of shelter.

 

Project Name:  Germantown Food Pantry Expansion

Amount Requested:  $1,000,000 

Intended Recipient: South Shore Young Men's Christian Association

Location: Quincy, Norfolk County, MA

Project Purpose: Our project budget includes $200,000 for soft costs/design of a new 2,000 square foot food pantry on the rear façade of our existing facility and the reconfiguration of the current food pantry space for use as early education/childcare space.

 

Project Name:  Get Up, Get Out & Get Healthy: Accessibility Programming and Equipment to Support Adults with Autism

Amount Requested:  $434,395

Intended Recipient: Cape Cod Village. Inc.

Location: Orleans, Barnstable County, MA

Project Purpose: Cape Cod Village is seeking $434,395 to create long term, sustainable, community accessible, self-guided therapeutic recreation and physical exercise activities on our campus. Rather funding is used to enhance community development, to provide access to recreational opportunities for impaired persons,

 

Project Name:  Grand Army of the Republic Hall and Museum Capital Improvements - EIC

Amount Requested:  $1,000,000 

Intended Recipient: Trustees of the Grand Army of the Republic Hall and Museum, Lynn , Essex County 

Project Purpose:  The Grand Army of the Republic Hall and Museum is a city-owned building managed by the Trustees of the G.A.R.  The Trustees and the City are working together on capital improvements to make the building universally accessible, repair its deteriorating façade, and ensure its long-term preservation.

 

Project Name:  Greendale Revitalization Initiative

Amount Requested:  $1,500,000

Intended Recipient: New Garden Park, inc.

Location: Worcester, Worcester County, MA

Project Purpose:  Funds will be utilized to assist in site preparation, including abatement and demolition of existing industrial structures, as well as necessary infrastructure work to create pad-ready sites for development. Funds will assist in converting a single-owned, 130 year old industrial campus into a modern campus.

 

Project Name:  Habitat for Humanity of Greater Plymouth, Affordable Housing Development

Amount Requested:  $2,300,00 

Intended Recipient: Habitat for Humanity of Greater Plymouth, Inc.

Location: Carver, Plymouth County, MA

Project Purpose:This project will result in the production of ten new affordable homes for low-income residents in Plymouth, Carver, Kingston, Middleboro and Plympton, all of which are critically lacking in affordable housing stock to support our workforce and low-income households.

 

Project Name:  Haverhill Downtown Gateway Redevelopment

Amount Requested:  $2,200,000 

Intended Recipient: City of Haverhill

Location: Haverhill, Essex County, MA

Project Purpose: The City of Haverhill is seeking federal funding to help support the Downtown Gateway Redevelopment Project. As part of a larger mixed-use economic development and community enhancement project, the City seeks support to construct a multi-season public plaza that complies with ADA standards.

 

Project Name:  Heart of The Community ~ A Campaign To Build an Upper Cape YMCA

Amount Requested:  $5,000,000

Intended Recipient: Young Men's Christian Association of Cape Cod

Location: Hyannis, Barnstable County, MA

Project Purpose:  The YMCA Cape Cod has been serving the Upper Cape for 60 years as a Y without walls utilizing community partners' locations as our platform for delivering diverse programming to meet community needs. Today we are ready for a permanent home to offer more programs and services that support a vibrant quality of life for people of all ages and backgrounds. Our project will create a modern, vibrant gathering hub for all, providing wellness, recreation, and a safe place for youth on the Upper Cape. The design features welcoming social gathering areas and space for community activities and programs.

 

Project Name:  Highland Avenue Streetscape Project

Amount Requested:  $1,736,953 

Intended Recipient: City of Somerville

Location: Somerville, Middlesex County, MA

Project Purpose:  The Highland Avenue Streetscape Project will create a vibrant, vital streetscape that enhances economic development by moving more residents more quickly and safely to businesses along this major thoroughfare. 

 

Project Name:  Hope Grows Here Facility Enhancement Project

Amount Requested:  $1,200,000 

Intended Recipient: Center of Hope Foundation, Inc.

Location: Southbridge, Worcester County, MA

Project Purpose: The Center of Hope Foundation is seeking funding to renovate and modernize its facilities including Day and Employment Programs and Independent living Support Units with upgrades to safety, security, HVAC systems and more to better serve 500+ individuals with developmental and other disabilities

 

Project Name:  Huntington Theatre renovation project

Amount Requested:  $1,000,000 

Intended Recipient: Huntington Theatre Company Inc

Location: Boston, Suffolk County, MA

Project Purpose: Funding will pay for phase 2 of the Huntington Theatre renovation includes 14k square feet of expanded lobby and public spaces and a permanent new entrance in the adjoining residential tower when it is complete, allowing the Huntington to better serve the community

     

Project Name:  Latham Centers, Inc. Kitchen Renovation

Amount Requested:  $450,000 

Intended Recipient: Latham Centers, Inc.

Location: Yarmouth Port, Barnstable County, MA

Project Purpose:  The Latham School kitchen renovation project is a priority initiative amplified by the Covid-19 pandemic. Latham School food service staff prepares over 210 meals and 100 snacks daily in a poorly ventilated 428 sq ft kitchen with an aging epoxy floor glued to plywood. This project will allow Latham to safely and efficiently prepare meals to meet the unique nutritional needs of all students at Latham School and the protocols set in place since the start of the pandemic. The new space will accommodate social distancing and reduce energy and food costs. In addition, we plan to use the expanded, renovated kitchen space to prepare meals for our adult residential population living in 11 group homes across rural Cape Cod. Like many human service agencies, especially those in Barnstable County where there has been a dramatic increase in the cost of living and housing costs post-pandemic, we are facing a staffing crisis. The Cape has seen a mass exodus of young people and those who no longer can afford to live here. This change in the population has significantly impacted our ability to recruit and retain direct care staff. Our residential programs have been operating at a 37% vacancy rate. Preparing meals to deliver to our group residences will reduce staff time spent shopping and preparing meals for our adult residents, increasing time spent supporting and engaging our individuals.

 

Project Name:  Leominster East Side Community Center

Amount Requested:  $750,000 

Intended Recipient: City of Leominster

Location: Leominster, Worcester County, MA  

Project Purpose: The City is proposing to build a 2500-square-foot community center in the heart of our environmental justice neighborhood. The center will serve as a nexus for general meeting space for organizations that serve the EJ area, after-school programs, employment, and training opportunities, first-time homebuyers and rental assistance and city services would all be under one roof.  The plan calls for a large meeting space with breakout rooms and a kitchen and bathroom that would all be handicap accessible.  The Center will have a full build-out for technology for use by all ages.

     

Project Name:  Love to Play: Soccer & Youth Development Facility

Amount Requested:  $1,664,072 

Intended Recipient: Boston Scores

Location: East Boston, Suffolk County, MA

Project Purpose: Boston Scores has an incredible opportunity to transition from an after-school program into a community anchor organization in East Boston. Scores plan to build a world-class recreation and education campus which will include: a multi-field turf soccer facility, mini-dash pitch, community gardens, outdoor classroom, playground, and related facilities; Upgraded classrooms, coach training facilities, and offices; Environmental and infrastructure upgrades including ADA accessible and groundwater drainage.

 

Project Name:  Lower Cape Housing & ADU Resource Center

Amount Requested:  $1,100,000

Intended Recipient: Lower Cape Cod Community Development Corporation, Community Development Partnership 

Location: Orleans Barnstable County, MA

Project Purpose: This funding request will provide for the development of year-round housing on the Lower and Outer Cape and provide additional support for the unprecedented level of need in our community. Seven of these 8 towns are considered rural communities by the US Dept of Agriculture.

     

Project Name:  Madison Park Redesign 

Amount Requested:  $4,000,000 

Intended Recipient: Boston Public Schools

Location: Boston, Suffolk County, MA

Project Purpose: As the cornerstone of the Green New Deal for Boston Public Schools, the City of Boston has committed to generational investments in Madison Park Technical Vocational High School. Madison Park not only opens doors for Boston's young people but also supports the economic vitality of our entire City.

Over the last several months, BPS and the Public Facilities Department have been engaging with students, families, educators, and community partners to envision the future of Madison Park and develop an updated education plan with an expanded 7-12 grade configuration; new and expanded, integrated competency-based Chapter 74 vocational programs; standards-based academics; and social emotions learning and wrap-around support and all deeply embedded in Roxbury and the broader community. Based on this updated educational program, the City of Boston will pursue design services for a large-scale renovation of the Madison Park complex on Malcolm X Boulevard.

This will be a transformational project for Boston, connecting young people and adult learners alike with vocational education and workforce development programs connected to green jobs and emerging Boston industries.

 

Project Name:  Malden Hospital open space acquisition

Amount Requested:  $1,500,000 

Intended Recipient: City of Malden

Location: Malden, Middlesex County, MA

Project Purpose:  Malden plans to purchase a 6.7-acre portion of the former Malden Hospital property from Tufts Medical and turn it into a new park for city residents. This new public open space will connect with the beautiful Fellsmere Park, which was designed by Fredrick Law Olmstead in the 1890s, and improve the neighborhood's climate resiliency. Tufts Medical will use the remainder of the property to build a 144-bed behavioral health facility, with beds reserved for pediatric and geriatric care. This land purchase will play an important role in supporting the creation of this new and badly needed facility.

 

Of the 144 beds, 58 will be relocated from other regional facilities and 86 will be new. The facility will have specialized wings for pediatric and geriatric care, and practitioners there will be trained in treating dual-diagnosis patients, who experience co-occurring mental health and substance use disorder, and neuroatypical patients.

 

Malden's purchase of this parcel as an open space will not only benefit the surrounding environmental justice community but also provide financial support to Tufts Medical and their partner in this venture, Acadia Healthcare, to make the proposed facility a reality. Many hospitals have experienced significant financial trouble since the onset of the pandemic, and for Tufts, this has meant that they are no longer able to donate the land to Malden as originally planned; instead, the sale has become a necessary part of the agreement.

 

The 6.7 acres of proposed open space are made up of about 2/3rd wooded, hilly land that might be most appropriate to provide walking trails and connectivity to Fellsmere Pond. The other approximately 1/3 is sufficiently flat to allow for the creation of additional passive recreation space that fits the community's needs. Figuring out the use of the flat area, walking trails, and connectivity to the Fellsmere pond will be a community-led effort.

 

It is also an enormous driver of community support for Tuft's proposal. This site has been vacant for over twenty years, and numerous plans have been proposed and ultimately languished for want of community support.

 

The proposed hospital will have incalculable benefits for behavioral health patients and families in the region, and the City's purchase of the adjacent open space is an important part of making the hospital a reality.

 

Project Name:  Malden River Works Construction

Amount Requested:  $1,560,000

Intended Recipient: City of Malden

Location: Malden, Middlesex County, MA

Project Purpose: The Malden River Works project will transform Malden’s Department of Public Works yard on the Malden River to incorporate a public, climate resilient riverfront park. This project will create the first ever public park on the Malden River and incorporate nature-based climate mitigation measures.  

 

Project Name:  Marriner Commercial Project

Amount Requested:  $1,000,000

Intended Recipient: Lawrence CommunityWorks, Inc.

Location: Lawrence, Essex County, MA

Project Purpose: The Marriner Commercial project is part of a 450k square foot mill along North Broadwaw and adjacent to an exciting planned Rail Trail. LCW has sold a portion of the building to a developer creating 98 affordable units, and is partnering with The Community Builders to create nearly 150 more.

     

Project Name:  Mashpee Childcare Center

Amount Requested:  $1,000,000 

Intended Recipient: Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe 

Location: Mashpee, Barnstable County, MA

Project Purpose: This project proposes the construction of a 6,650 square foot (sf) childcare facility. This project will address the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe’s desperate need to make available to its citizens early childhood education for children ages six weeks to five years old.

 

Project Name:  Massachusetts Festival of the Arts (MIFA)

Amount Requested:  $4,000,000 

Intended Recipient: Massachusetts International Festival of the Arts, Inc.

Location: Holyoke, Hampden County, MA

Project Purpose: This project proposes the construction of a 6,650 square foot (sf) childcare facility. This project will address the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe’s desperate need to make available to its citizens early childhood education for children ages six weeks to five years old.

 

Project Name:  Massport Worcester Electrical

Amount Requested:  $1,000,000 

Intended Recipient: Massachusetts Port Authority (Massport)

Location: Worcester, Worcester County, MA

Project Purpose: This will be a comprehensive study of the electrical service for the Terminal and Field Electrical Vault at Worcester Regional Airport and the design and construction of other improvements.

This program will address resiliency, the long-term growth of the airport, and the electrification of ground service equipment.  This electrification will in the long-term support all ground service equipment, personnel vehicles, rental cars, and ride app services.  The first phase of this project will bring a much needed new 13.8-kilovolt (kV) service to the airport.

     

Project Name:  Merrimack College Hands to Help Food Recovery Network Expansion

Amount Requested:  $200,000 

Intended Recipient: Merrimack College

Location: North Andover and Lawrence, Essex County, MA   

Project Purpose: Merrimack College seeks to expand the Hands to Help Food Recovery Network by increasing the size and functionality of our existing kitchen space, which currently provides 160 meals per week to families and individuals in the Lawrence and greater Merrimack Valley community who are food insecure. Funding for this project would allow us to increase our food preparation capacity from 160 per week to 500 meals per week and would put us on a path to increase our capacity and outreach over the next two years to 1000 meals per week.

 

Project Name:  MetroWest YMCA Regional Early Learning Center

Amount Requested:  $5,000,000 

Intended Recipient: MetroWest YMCA

Location: Framingham, Middlesex County, MA

Project Purpose:  To build a Regional Early Learning Center to serve as a key component of a new regional YMCA for the communities of Ashland, Framingham, Hopkinton, Holliston, Sherborn and beyond. Funding would create an Early Learning Center providing affordable full-day/year, licensed and accredited childcare. 

 

Project Name:  Microgrid Feasibility Analysis at Boston Logan International Airport (BOS)

Amount Requested:  $1,900,000 

Intended Recipient: Massachusetts Port Authority

Location: East Boston, Suffolk County, MA                                                                                                                                            

Project Purpose: A Microgrid Feasibility Study would add needed resiliency to the Logan Airport and build off recent planning and carbon reduction efforts. The key objective of AIP's Airports Climate Challenge is a net-zero aviation sector by 2050. Massport's goal is to be net zero for sources under their direct control by 2031. The completion of this study will detail how a microgrid might lead to energy independence and continued airport resiliency and sustainability. The proposed analysis provides a unique opportunity for Logan Airport to assert its commitment to regional and local resilience in planning a transition to renewable greener energy sources. 

     

Project Name:  Mill Street Complete Street Planning and Design

Amount Requested:  $2,000,000 

Intended Recipient: City of Worcester

Location: Worcester, Worcester County, MA

Project Purpose: The 2.5-mile Mill Street Planning and Design project will complete 100% design for a complete reimagining of Mill Street, a 2.5-mile arterial corridor of local and regional importance that is located in an Environmental Justice neighborhood and an Area of Persistent Poverty. This corridor today has an excessively wide four-lane cross-section with substandard pedestrian and no bicycle accommodations. The present configuration contributes to very high rates of excessive speeding, with 15 percent of drivers traveling at 15 mph or more over the legal speed limit. High speeds contribute to a corridor-wide crash rate of 4.4 crashes per million-vehicle miles, which is 26% higher than the statewide average. Pavement and sidewalk condition is poor to very poor, and the entire roadway needs significant rehabilitation. 

The project will transform the corridor to address safety, expand travel options, enhance public spaces, and improve sustainability. Project plans include a road diet to calm traffic and reduce impervious surfaces, as well as the introduction of bicycle facilities, sidewalks, and open spaces. The centerpiece of this plan is the introduction of a greenway with a shared-use path, linking Coe's Park, Coe's Pond Beach, residences, businesses, and athletic fields at Logan Field to create a 1.8-mile-long recreation and transportation corridor.

The project is an important piece of a multi-modal transportation network that will help the city achieve its goals of improving health and safety, correcting long-standing mobility inequities, improving environmental sustainability, and creating access to recreation, commerce, and jobs with a strong focus on equity and vulnerable roadway users.  Located in an Environmental Justice neighborhood, the project will increase pedestrian, bicycle, micro-mobility, and public transit transportation choices for people who have a greater need.

 

Project Name:  MWRTA CNG Vehicle Infrastructure

Amount Requested:  $6,800,000 

Intended Recipient: MetroWest Regional Transit Authority

Location: Framingham, Middlesex County, MA

Project Purpose:  This project will provide MetroWest Regional Transit Authority (MWRTA) with ten 30' foot CNG vehicles to support a continued transition to no-low emission vehicles while also providing the authority with additional passenger capacity for routes nearing or exceeding capacity under current smaller cutaway vehicles being used to provide service. This project will also provide the necessary workforce development training and initial spare parts inventory to support this new fleet type for the agency. This project aligns closely with Senator Warren's goals to reduce carbon emissions while also procuring emission-free, clean energy products while also taking advantage of MWRTA's on-site CNG fueling infrastructure.

 

Project Name:  NewMo Transportation System

Amount Requested:  $939,296 

Intended Recipient: City of Newton

Location: Newton, Middlesex County, MA

Project Purpose:  Funding will support and expand Newton's affordable, inclusive public transportation system: NewMo. NewMo uses state-of-the-art micro transit technology to cost-effectively deliver dynamically routed shared rides anywhere in Newton and just beyond. This project will support the expansion of NewMo, adding vehicles to meet increasing demand, serving new destinations including key transit hubs in Watertown and Waltham, and transitioning the fleet to electric vehicles. Additionally, one-time support provided by Congressionally Directed Spending will help leverage significant future private money to sustain NewMo. The City of Newton is in discussions with the developer of the largest development in the history of Newton to provide ongoing funding for NewMo as part of their Transportation Demand Management Plan.

Riders book trips in real-time by app or phone and can travel anywhere in Newton for $2 (or $.50 for individuals with low incomes). Drivers pick up one or more passengers in electric and hybrid vehicles, within 20 minutes on average, providing both a sustainable service and social experience. Service is available from 7:00 AM and 6:30 PM on weekdays and 9:00 AM and 12:00 PM on weekends.

NewMo has provided 115,000 trips to 4,029 riders to date and is on track to provide 100,000 trips in FY24. The system continues to grow rapidly with a 76% growth in riders and a 200% increase since Q12022. 

NewMo sees significant ridership by low-income individuals, seniors, commuters, students, people with disabilities, and individuals who cannot drive or do not have access to a personal vehicle. NewMo has become a lifeline for these users, helping them get to medical appointments, access transit, and commute to work and school.

Low-Income Users: 39% of riders come from households earning <50% of the AMI. 25% of NewMo trips are taken by riders qualifying for public assistance. Seniors: 25% of Newton seniors have registered for NewMo and take 1800 trips per month. 49% of trips by seniors are for medical appointments. Car-Free Households: 27% of NewMo users live in households without a car. Transit and Commuting: 23% of non-senior trips connect to transit; 32% of non-senior trips are to jobs or employment.

 

Project Name:  North Adams Adventure Trail Design/Engineering

Amount Requested:  $1,265,000 

Intended Recipient: City of North Adams

Location: North Adams, Berkshire County, MA

Project Purpose: Completion of the North Adams Adventure Trail that completes the missing link between existing regional trails in neighboring communities. The Trail addresses the community needs of economic vitality, safe and equitable alternative transportation, intra-neighborhood connectivity, public health and wellness and climate resilience.

 

Project Name:  North Shore Community College Lynn Campus Science Lab Expansion and Renovation

Amount Requested:  $1,000,000 

Intended Recipient: North Shore Community College

Location: Danvers, Essex County, MA

Project Purpose: North Shore Community College (NSCC) requests funding to modernize and expand science labs on our campus in the Gateway city of Lynn, MA.  This proposed project will fund the renovation of an existing physics lab into a new life sciences lab, and increase capacity by renovating rooms adjacent to the current labs into a modernized physics lab. These two new lab spaces will enable NSCC to enhance its curriculum, add capacity for Early College and our Frederick Douglas Academy (FDA), and develop workforce programming in Life Sciences.  The FDA provides students an opportunity to complete high school while earning college credits.

 

Project Name:  NorthStar new Early Education and Community Center

Amount Requested:  $2,000,000 

Intended Recipient: NorthStar Learning Centers LLC

Location: New Bedford, Bristol County, MA

Project Purpose: NorthStar is building a new 17000 square foot, Early Education & Community Center will be built on an abandoned lot in New Bedford’s South End; groundbreaking July 2023. This Center will consolidate two early education sites into one, improve operational/financial efficiencies, reduce blight, expand NorthStar’s enrollment.

 

Project Name:  Old Bridgewater Town Hall Restoration

Amount Requested:  $2,000,000 

Intended Recipient: Town of Bridgewater

Location: Bridgewater, Plymouth County, MA

Project Purpose:  The Town will be performing extensive renovations to the Old Town Hall to create a community Arts & Cultural Center.

 

Project Name:  Oriol Drive Permanent Supportive Housing

Amount Requested:  $5,000,000 

Intended Recipient: Worcester Community Housing Resources, Inc

Location: Worcester, Worcester County, MA

Project Purpose: This project proposes to convert the Quality Inn in Worcester into 90 permanent supportive housing units for formerly homeless individuals. It will serve tenants at less than 30% AMI and less than 60% AMI.

 

Project Name:  Pine Tree Village – Water Distribution System 

Amount Requested:  $2,000,000 

Intended Recipient: Cooperative Development Institute

Location: Northampton, Hampden County, MA

Project Purpose:  Pine Tree Village is a 185-home manufactured housing community in Carver, MA, which is owned and operated as a not-for-profit resident-owned housing cooperative (ROC) by the Pine Tree Village Residents Association (PTVRA). Pine Tree residents own their homes individually and collectively own the land beneath the homes, as well as all common infrastructure. They have a voice in ensuring their community has good services and participate in annual budget votes, elections for the volunteer Board of Directors, and regular, open meetings to conduct business in a transparent, participatory manner. ROCs are prohibited by their articles of incorporation from profiting on the resale of the community; this limited-equity model thus removes the profit motive from the operation of the community, and all surplus operating funds are re-invested into the community. As a result, lot rents in ROCs are lower than in privately owned communities, increasing by just 25% the rate. There are currently 305 ROCs across the country (21,563 homes); not a single one has failed or been foreclosed on.

On behalf of the residents of Pine Tree Village, the Cooperative Development Institute (CDI) seeks funding for a water distribution system replacement project to benefit the health, safety, and sustainability of their community.

The 350+ residents of Pine Tree Village face significant health and safety challenges due to their community's deteriorating water distribution system. The community's current drinking water is unsanitary because it is drawn from shallow, substandard wells and runs through aging pipes. The wells and water distribution system, installed by the previous owner, are beyond their useful life and do not meet current standards. On average, PTVRA spends over $20,000 a year in emergency repairs to the water system (leaking pipes, pump repairs, well cleaning), and the water pulled from the current shallow wells has frequently been contaminated. In the last year alone, the MA Department of Environmental Protection has issued three noncompliance notices for contaminants in the water: nitrate exceedance (January 2022), manganese (July 2022), and coliforms (November 2022). Each of these contaminants poses a serious threat to the health of babies, elderly people, and residents with chronic health conditions. Members of the community's volunteer Board of Directors have had to make emergency runs to the grocery store for pallets of water bottles to distribute to neighbors; the situation is simply not sustainable. 

PTVRA is seeking grant funding to defray the costs of this critical project for the health and safety of the low-and-moderate income families who call the community home.

 

Project Name:  Program Expansion through Building Expansion 

Amount Requested:  $960,000 

Intended Recipient: Associação Cabo Verdiana de Brockton, Inc/the Immigrant Assistance Center of Greater Brockton

Location: Brockton, Plymouth County, MA

Project Purpose: The Association is 45 years old and in need of a major expansion. Our build is only 25% ADA accessible.  The lack of an elevator makes it impossible for clients to reach an area where most services occur. The expansion as well as renovation of the building will enable the Association expansion of services such as a Youth Tutoring Center, enlargement of the Resource and Community Room, and Clinical Services. Overall, the goal of the expansion and renovation is to expand the quality of social services, increase the number of culturally appropriate after-school and summer programs; instill skills and choices in youth so they can become successful adults, and provide them with the necessary tools so the immigrant population can achieve prosperity. The following are the objectives of each initiative: The goal of the Youth Tutoring Center is to improve performance in school in the areas of English, Math, and Science, decrease the truancy rate, and improve the secondary graduation rate by twenty percent. The expansion of the Community Room will facilitate the process of acculturation so the immigrant population can become full participants of mainstream society through community gatherings, job training, and social forums. And for the adult initiatives, the objective is to help people recover from their addiction and individual problems, deliver resources for family unity and create venues for stabilization as well

 

Project Name:  REC Worcester Center for Urban Farming and Food Security

Amount Requested:  $3,000,000 

Intended Recipient: Regional Environmental Council, Inc.

Location: Worcester, Worcester County, MA

Project Purpose:  REC will acquire and develop an established urban farm and adjacent mill building in the city of Worcester, MA, creating a regional Center for Urban Farming and Food Security. Proposed facility improvements include an office, warehouse, greenhouse, classroom, market, kitchen, and gardening spaces. The Center will showcase innovative approaches to addressing community food security and will significantly increase the number of individuals and families in Central Massachusetts with access to healthy, affordable, culturally appropriate, local food. The Center will enable REC to expand existing programs, including mobile farmers' markets, youth and adult urban farming workforce development, and community and school gardening.

 

Project Name:  Redesign and Construction for Safety Improvements to Main St/Rt 27 & Hayward Road Intersection

Amount Requested:  $1,500,000

Intended Recipient: Town of Acton

Location: Acton, Middlesex County, MA

Project Purpose: This project will reconstruct the roadway infrastructure and install a traffic signal at the intersection of Hayward Road and Main Street/Route 27. This project will catalyze community development by improving safety for all pedestrians, cyclists, and vehicles in an area that is near a major route to the nearby Middle and High School campus in addition to Main Street being a major commercial corridor for the area. This project is near three existing projects: the infrastructure work that is being done at nearby infrastructure projects and housing developments under construction.

 

Project Name:  Renovating Old Colony YMCA Facilities: Ensuring Kids and Youth Have Summer & Year-Long Education and

Amount Requested:  $2,500,000

Intended Recipient: Old Colony YMCA

Location: Brockton, Plymouth County, MA

Project Purpose:  This funding investment will support the renovation of youth-based Old Colony YMCA facilities located in the Brockton, MA region to help expand our summer and year-long programming to increase our capacity to serve at-risk children and teens encouraging them to enroll and use free academic, health, and wellness and educational community programming. This request will serve approximately 1,000 additional individuals.

This funding will support building and renovations with youth-based Old Colony YMCA facilities located in Stoughton, Middleboro, East Bridgewater, and Plymouth, MA. This funding will allow for infrastructure upgrades that would allow for year-round and inclement weather programming. This funding for the renovation of facilities will allow for increased summer programming for hundreds of children from the greater Brockton, MA area. This funding for the renovation of facilities will support low-income children and their families, with over 50% of a child on subsidized fees. Programming focus includes summer education, literacy and learning loss, leadership development, health and wellness, and science and nature.

 

Project Name:  Renovation and Expansion of Hospital Services Unit at the Bristol County Sheriff's Office

Amount Requested:  $1,905,325 

Intended Recipient: Bristol County Sheriff's Office

Location: Bristol, Bristol County, MA

Project Purpose: The Bristol County Sheriff's Office is requesting Congressionally Directed Spending (CDS) for the cost of a renovation and expansion of an existing Hospital Services Unit (HSU) at the Dartmouth House of Correction and Jail.  Adding four individual cells and renovating four existing cells provides increases safety for high-risk individuals who need the medical and/or mental health services provided by the HSU staff.  This not only serves the individual's needs, but aids in preventing suicide, and the spread of disease within the facility, and to reduces the need to take an inmate or detainee to a clinic or emergency room.

 

Project Name:  Revere RiverFront Resiliency Gibson Park

Amount Requested:  $2,000,000 

Intended Recipient: City of Revere

Location: Revere, Suffolk County, MA

Project Purpose:  Revere designed a resilience and recreation plan for Gibson Park, the future Community Boating Center (CBC), and Mills Ave located in the Riverside Neighborhood. Flooding issues in the area occur during high-tide storm events when outfalls are submerged. Due to the nature of adaptation, do not harm, the resiliency work encompasses the adjacent vulnerable areas including the CBC and the Riverside neighborhood specifically Mills Ave. 

 

Project Name:  Revitalization of Historic High School

Amount Requested:  $5,325,000

Intended Recipient: City of Everett

Location: Everett, Middlesex County, MA

Project Purpose:   The City of Everett requests funds for a High-Impact Roof Replacement Project at the Old Everett High School on 548 Broadway in Everett. The project team consists of the City of Everett, Everett Public Schools, Ameresco, and National Grid, who are working diligently to address a centralized building that is a vital, multipurpose, historic community building. The existing stone ballasted roof has failed, and there are several leaks through it and the heating and cooling equipment. With funding for a roof repair, we will invest in repairing, preserving, and sustainability, retrofitting this building into a learning and resources center that is clean, efficient, and safe. We request $5,325,000 for roof repair and installation to address a roof in disrepair that is jeopardizing the integrity of the building. This renovation will provide educational spaces to address an expanding, high-need school district at capacity while protecting its current essential uses. 

The building is an expansive four-story masonry historic building built in 1922 as Everett's first high school located in central Everett. During the late 1970s, the facility expanded to include additional classrooms, an auditorium, and a large fieldhouse. Today that newer addition houses a public wellness center, nonprofit, food pantry, city services offices, vocational classrooms, and the Webster-Extension School. The building in its entirety contains classrooms, computer labs, music rooms, a gymnasium, science rooms, and 20 computer rooms. As a high school, the original structure fit, on average, 1,800 students comfortably, excluding the expansion. The entire building site is approximately one city block in size, totaling 248,092 sq/ft.

The older section of the high school has remained empty and unoccupied for years. Meanwhile, teachers and students in Everett Public Schools are struggling to find classroom space to learn. Forced to sit on floors, attend classes in hallways, or with multiple teachers instructing two different lessons in one classroom, students are currently learning in an environment compromised due to the City's lack of classrooms and insufficient space to meet the demand. With few parcels left of municipally owned land, the City is turning towards the Old Everett High School for answers. Investing in the infrastructure of this building will provide a spacious learning environment and accessible community resources for our students and residents. 

We must act now to repair and sustainably upgrade this historic building for the sake of our City's well-being, and we need this funding to find the solutions.

 

Project Name:  Solimine House Village Center

Amount Requested:  $1,000,000 

Intended Recipient: 2Life Communities

Location: Brighton, Suffolk County, MA

Project Purpose: For the creation of the Solimine House Village Center (SHVC) -- a community space located on the ground floor of the building, where 2Life will deliver its award-winning programs and services including care coordination, fitness classes, life-long learning, arts and cultural programming, and front desk staffing to residents living at the Solimine House and throughout the broader Lynn community.  

 

Project Name:  Springfield Jewish Community Center 

Amount Requested:  $1,000,000 

Intended Recipient: Springfield Jewish Community Center

Location: Springfield, Hampden County, MA

Project Purpose: This project will provide funding for facility renovation and expansion of early childhood and K-8 childcare spaces. As a result of facility expansion, we'll serve about 35 more pre-school children (some of whom are from traditionally underserved communities) and their families/caregivers.

 

Project Name:  Steamship Authority- Electric Bus Program

Amount Requested:  $2,000,000

Intended Recipient: The Woods Hole, Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket Steamship Authority  Location: Falmouth, Barnstable County, MA

Project Purpose: The Steamship Authority has launched a shuttle bus replacement program to convert its entire diesel-powered shuttle bus fleet to electric shuttle buses. The Authority intends to annually replace two or more diesel-powered buses with two or more electric buses until the entire fleet of 35 vehicles is replaced. The Authority is requesting $2 million to replace four buses instead of two in the next year, making good progress toward an all-electric fleet.

 

Project Name:  Stonebridge Road Bridge

Amount Requested:  $1,500,000

Intended Recipient: Town of Wayland

Location: Wayland, Middlesex County, MA

Project Purpose: The purpose of the project is to rehabilitate and preserve the bridge that carries Stonebridge Road (Potter Road) over the Sudbury River and between the towns of Wayland and Framingham.  This bridge is an important link between the towns and is especially important for the Town of Wayland.  The bridge was constructed in 1957 and needs rehabilitation to keep the bridge in service.   The required repairs include the replacement of the existing bridge bearings, substructure repairs to the existing abutments and piers, and deck repairs including the replacement of the expansion joints to prevent leakage and future deterioration. If the bridge is not rehabilitated soon, future inspections may deem that the bridge needs to be closed.  This application will cover the construction and construction administration of the project, allowing it to be fully completed.

 

Project Name:  Supported Housing for Veterans with Services - Malden

Amount Requested:  $800,000.00 

Intended Recipient: Volunteers of America Massachusetts, Inc.

Location: Jamaica Plain, Suffolk County, MA

Project Purpose: This project will create permanent supported housing for formerly homeless veterans in the City of Malden. Our overall goal is to develop a limited network of VOAMASS-owned and operated subsidized housing properties

 

Project Name:  The Grandfamilies Housing Village of Worcester 

Amount Requested:  $3,000,000 

Intended Recipient: Central Massachusetts Agency on Aging, Inc.

Location: Worcester, Worcester County, MA

Project Purpose: The GrandFamilies Housing Village of Worcester (GHVW) will be an affordable 40 mixed units of rental apartments. (15) of these will be two-bedroom apartments, (15) of these will be Three-bedroom apartments, and (10) of these will be 4-bedroom apartments for Grandparents raising Grandkids, also known as "GrandFamilies."

 

Project Name:  Town of Leicester Bouger Building Elevator Installation

Amount Requested:  $1,200,000

Intended Recipient: Town of Leicester

Location: Leicester, Worcester County, MA

Project Purpose: This project for the Borger building provides accessibility within one of Leicester's newly acquired buildings, formerly belonging to the Becker College Leicester campus. An elevator installation amends an identified accessibility issue, which limits the usage of the town-owned building. The proposed improvement will make the property compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 and thus suitable for town, school, and overall public usage. Currently, only grades 11 and 12 have transitioned over to the former Becker Campus. The Borger building will allow grades 9 and 10 to be fully integrated into the newly established high school campus. This project paves the way for future economic growth for usability by the public for potential events, seminars, and teachings. As an example, the Borger Building was once used as a movie set.

 

Project Name:  Urgent & Transformative Renovation of Shelter Program Serving Young Women of Color & Their Children

Amount Requested:  $1,500,000 

Intended Recipient: St. Mary's Center for Women and Children

Location: Dorchester, Suffolk County, MA

Project Purpose: FY2024 CDS funding available through HUD's Community Development Fund for Economic Development Initiatives will support the $8.9M gut-renovation of St. Mary's Center for Women and Children (SMC)'s oldest program, Young Parenting Living Program (YPLP), located at 90 Cushing Avenue, Dorchester. YPLP serves those most vulnerable in our community; young mothers of color ages 13-22 and their children experiencing homelessness in Massachusetts, 100% of whom have a history of multi-generational trauma including neglect, domestic violence, and human trafficking. YPLP provides young mothers and their children with an integrated model of care, building protective factors to increase economic mobility, break cycles of multi-generational poverty, and establish two generations of stable futures. Founded in 1993, YPLP provides services for pregnant and parenting young mothers and their children including behavioral health services, education and employment supports, independent living and parenting skills mentorship, and family medicine through on-site partner Boston Healthcare for the Homeless. 100% of YPLP residents have experienced trauma, and in FY22 100% of young mothers were people of color. 

In stark contrast to the comprehensive, trauma-informed services families receive, YPLP's physical spaces are institutional and rapidly deteriorating. The site of the former St. Margaret's Hospital, YPLP is housed in a 114-year-old grandfathered-in, retro-fitted maternity hospital wing, offering residential spaces that are ill-equipped for family use and lack critical life-safety systems. Currently, young mothers and their children live in grandfathered-in 160 sq. ft rooms (the size of a walk-in closet) for an average length of two years that were designed for one mother and a baby to reside in for 2-3 days postpartum. In addition to the spatial limitations hindering SMC's ability to provide a place of dignity for families experiencing homelessness, there are serious safety risks given the fact that the buildings are grandfathered-in and not 100% up to code. Residential spaces are not sprinkler-ed, causing significant fire safety risks. All YPLP residents have children under the age of four, the majority of whom are infants. The deteriorating building has had ten major floods in the last five years. Most recently, on 2/26/23, a burst water main caused flooding across three floors, causing significant damage and displacing families from their living spaces.

SMC is in the design and planning phase of this project with a fully established project team including the Planning Office for Urban Affairs, CBRE, Nixon Peabody, The Architectural Team, Weston and Sampson, and Suffolk Construction. SMC has the full support of YPLP's contractor agency, the Department of Children and Families (DCF), and anticipates construction beginning in early 2024. There is currently no public funding available for construction through the program's contractor, DCF, however, SMC has secured $1M thus far in private funding, with an additional $3-5M currently being solidified with committed private funders.

 

Project Name:  Veterans Inc. - Housing for Homeless Veterans

Amount Requested:  $2,500,000 

Intended Recipient: Veterans Inc.

Location:  Worcester, Worcester County, MA

Project Purpose: Veterans Inc. is requesting $2,620,000 for the renovation of the shelter and transitional housing for homeless veterans on Grove Street in Worcester, the second largest city in New England. The facility provides residential programs for at least 100 homeless veterans.

 

Project Name:  West Broadway Vision Zero Implementation Project

Amount Requested:  $801,400 

Intended Recipient: City of Somerville

Location: Somerville, Middlesex County, MA

Project Purpose:  The West Broadway Vision Zero Implementation Project will create a vibrant and diverse streetscape with improved access to shopping and community services for residents, business owners, bicyclists, pedestrians, motorists, and others.

 

Project Name:  WiFi Hubs for Boston's Low-Income Neighborhoods

Amount Requested:  $1.7 million

Intended Recipient: Action for Boston Community Development, Inc.

Location: Boston, Suffolk County, MA

Project Purpose:  Action for Boston Community Development, Inc. (ABCD) and its partners will establish 12 WiFi hotspots at its Neighborhood Service Centers. Each of these hotspots will be located in one of Boston's highest-need communities. HotSpot Centers will provide staff-supervised access to high-speed internet, access to basic hardware at the Center, instruction in the use of the internet and of computers more generally, and access to federally-support broadband subsidies. The Center will continue to offer wrap-around family services, with an emphasis on education, workforce development, civic participation, and basic needs, and assisting participants in the use of the internet to obtain these resources. In addition, three of ABCD's HotSpot Centers will develop a WiFi zone that provides high-speed internet service in Boston's large concentration of BIPOC residence and commerce, Nubian (formerly Dudley) Square.

 

Project Name:  Worcester Housing Authority: A Place to Live

Amount Requested:  $500,000 

Intended Recipient: Worcester Housing Authority

Location: Worcester, Worcester County, MA

Project Purpose:  This request for funding from the Worcester Housing Authority (WHA) will help support the operational budget of its "A Place to Live" Project. Located at 38 Lewis Street, the WHA's "A Place to Live" Project will feature 24 studio apartments that will serve as permanent housing to reduce the number of chronically homeless individuals in the City of Worcester. Individuals who reside at the 38 Lewis Street development will also receive wraparound services to help them realize their greatest potential. The project's operational budget includes items such as furniture (for each of the 24 units), a perimeter fence, and a gazebo.

 

Project Name:  Worcester Housing Authority: Economic Opportunity Center

Amount Requested:  2,000,000 

Intended Recipient: Worcester Housing Authority

Location: Worcester, Worcester County, MA

Project Purpose:  This funding would be used by the Worcester Housing Authority (WHA) to construct its Economic Opportunity Center (EOC). To be located in Worcester's Great Brook Valley community, the EOC will be the epicenter of self-sufficiency programming and other services for nearly 1,000 housing authority residents. At 32,000 square feet, the EOC will feature a state-of-the-art computer lab, a branch of the Worcester Public Library, and will be home to the WHA's Family and Resident Services Department. With the construction of the EOC, WHA residents will be able to take advantage of the services they need to achieve economic independence.

 

Project Name:  Worcester Housing Authority: Food Matters Meal Delivery Program

Amount Requested:  $250,000 

Intended Recipient: Worcester Housing Authority

Location: Worcester, Worcester County, MA

Project Purpose:  This request will support the Worcester Housing Authority's (WHA) Food Matters Meal Delivery Program (Food Matters). Launched in Fall 2022, Food Matters provides free, healthy, shelf-stable, and culturally diverse meals to public housing residents at six developments located throughout the City of Worcester. Initially focusing on elderly and disabled residents due to their limited mobility, lack of transportation, and merely health (45% reporting some major health issues in the last 12 months), Food Matters aims to address food insecurity by providing meals when obtaining food is notably difficult.

 

Project Name:  Worcester Housing Authority: Lakeside Administrative Building

Amount Requested:  $2,000,000

Intended Recipient: Worcester Housing Authority

Location: Worcester, Worcester County, MA

Project Purpose:  This request will support the construction of the Worcester Housing Authority's (WHA) Lakeside Administrative Building.

 

Project Name:  Work INC and IBEW Local 103 Master Planning Grant

Amount Requested:  $14,190,000 

Intended Recipient: Work Incorporated and International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 103

Location: Dorchester, Suffolk County, MA

Project Purpose:  Funding will provide Work Inc and IBEW Local 103 with the necessary resources to redevelop a jointly-owned five-acre property located in Dorchester, beginning with community outreach and collaboration to ultimately determine the best use for these properties.

 

Project Name:  YMCA Mystic Community Free Food Market and Medford Youth Center Relocation

Amount Requested:  $2,500,000 

Intended Recipient: Mystic Valley Young Mens Christian Association/Mystic Valley YMCA

Location:  Malden, Middlesex County, MA

Project Purpose: The Mystic Valley YMCA is requesting $2,500,000 to fund the relocation of both the Mystic Community Free Food Market and Medford Youth Center to a new, shared location in Medford that will create a centralized, convenient hub of family programs including free food resources, school-age childcare, early childhood education, and additional resources from the Y and other community providers that will support economically disadvantaged individuals and families in the Mystic Valley (Medford, Malden, Everett, and surrounding communities). These programs currently collectively reach a diverse population of over 28,500 individuals of whom 98% self-identify as low-income and over 75% identify as BIPOC.   

 

 

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Subcommittee on Homeland Security

Link to FY24 Financial Certification Letter

Project Name: Cambridge Community Center Resilience Hub
Amount Requested: $1,000,000
Intended Recipient: Cambridge Community Center, Inc., 
Location: Cambridge, Middlesex County, MA
Project Purpose: The City of Cambridge has been working with the Cambridge Community Center (CCC), a non-profit organization founded in 1929 to serve the Coast neighborhood, to develop a Resilience Hub. A key element of the Resilience Hub project is to provide CCC with a clean, resilient energy system to ensure that it can operate independently of the regional electric grid during and after disruption events, particularly if there is a power outage. During disruptions, this system would provide CCC with the capacity to operate all of its equipment including lighting, computers, space conditioning, and kitchen equipment for 5 to 12 days. With no cooking, the system endurance would be at least 9 days and probably more than 14 days. The system would also strive to enable residents to charge mobile devices to facilitate communications. During normal times, the system would reduce operating costs for CCC, as well as its environmental impact, which will enhance the resilience of the organization.

 

During periods of disruption, a clean, resilient energy system would enable the Cambridge Community Center to respond to community needs with food services, communications, safe shelter, and space for other response actions. Since CCC already has an established, trusted relationship with community members, it is a natural fit for the role of a Resilience Hub and will benefit greatly by having a clean, reliable energy system in place.

Project Name: Chelsea Creek Resilience Program
Amount Requested: $750,000
Intended Recipient: City of Chelsea, 
Location: Chelsea, Suffolk County, MA
Project Purpose: The City of Chelsea, North Suffolk Office of Resilience and Sustainability (a regional partnership between Revere, Chelsea, and Winthrop), GreenRoots, and the Mystic River Watershed Association are overseeing a comprehensive resilience program along Chelsea Creek to enhance public waterfront access while safeguarding vulnerable communities. 

Project Name: Christopher Columbus Park & Long Wharf
Amount Requested: $1,875,000
Intended Recipient: Boston Parks and Recreation Department
Location: Boston, Suffolk County, MA
Project Purpose: This proposed project would result in completed designs for climate resilience and park improvements located at a critical maritime transportation hub. These resilience improvements would protect against a key flood entry point into Downtown Boston, a key driver of New England's economy, and help secure this area against the impacts of climate change.

Project Name: City of Brockton Emergency Operations Center 
Amount Requested: $2,500,000
Intended Recipient: City of Brockton
Location: Brockton, Plymouth County, MA
Project Purpose: The Emergency Operations Center project will create a new state-of-the-art facility to assist the City of Brockton with local disaster response. Development of the overall facility will be incorporated into the Public Safety Facility for Brockton Police Department, Brockton Fire Department, Brockton Emergency Management Agency, and City IT Department. Finally, the project will allow Brockton to monitor critical infrastructure during emergency or disaster events.  

Project Name: Downtown Clinton Stormwater Improvements Project
Amount Requested: $9,689,298
Intended Recipient: Town of Clinton
Location: Clinton, Worcester County, MA
Project Purpose: The Downtown Clinton Stormwater Project will mitigate hazards associated with the Counterpane Brook drainage system. The repeated failure of this system in recent years has affected vital economic activity, essential community services, transportation, and private property. The Project will re-direct portions of contributory stormwater flows to the adjacent Nashua River basin; increase underground storage capacity, and; divert culverted brook flows and stormwater downstream to a less congested segment of an existing culvert system. The existing system is archaic, with certain segments more than 170 years old.

Project Name: Lebanon and Sylvan Streets Stormwater Management Design and Construction
Amount Requested: $1,000,000
Intended Recipient: City of Melrose
Location: Melrose, Suffolk Country, MA
Project Purpose: The City of Melrose is looking for funding to manage significant flooding in the EJ neighborhoods that run from Melrose into Malden. This location is Melrose's #1 concern for flooding during high-intensity storms, however, flooding occurs even during 1-yr storms. Residents have lost cars parked in driveways, finished basements, boilers, and furniture in these storms. Melrose, with support from Malden, is applying for approximately $1 million in funding through a CDS grant to support the final design and construction of stormwater improvements to protect priority populations that are especially vulnerable to the impacts of flooding in our cities.

Project Name: New Bedford Port Security Vessel 
Amount Requested: $1,700,000
Intended Recipient: New Bedford Port Authority
Location: New Bedford, Bristol County, MA
Project Purpose: This proposal is for a new 44' Diesel Electric Hybrid Harbor Safety Police Vessel for the Port of New Bedford. This vessel will perform the primary function of port safety and security in the nation's most valuable commercial fishing port and the first port supporting the installation of large-scale offshore commercial wind. The vessel will replace the existing outdated vessel that was put in service in 2001.

Project Name: Watershed Lane Culvert Replacement Project
Amount Requested: $1,275,000
Intended Recipient: Chelmsford Water District
Location: Chelmsford, Middlesex County, MA

Project Purpose: Replacement of two 66-inch diameters reinforced concrete culverts. 

Project Name: Scituate Harbor, MA 
Amount Requested: $10,000,000
Intended Recipient: Town of Scituate
Location: Scituate, Plymouth County 
Project Purpose: The Cedar Point Seawall is in poor condition and in danger of failing in a coastal storm. Additionally, should the existing wall fail, there is the possibility that there could be a breach, isolating Cedar Point from the rest of the community. A new wall would significantly reduce flooding and damage to property in the subject area. Funds would be used by the Town and Army Corps of Engineers to design a replacement. 
Updated Certification Letter

 

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Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies

Link to FY24 Financial Certification Letter

Project Name: ACCESS
Amount Requested: $50,000
Intended Recipient: American Chinese Christian Education and Social Services
Location: Boston, Suffolk County, MA
Project Purpose: The purpose of this project is to help establish a new afterschool program in Quincy, Massachusetts. ACCESS has been serving the community in Boston since 1991 and has expertise in serving the Chinese immigrant community. We specialize in helping Chinese immigrant families communicate and understand their children as they grow up in the United States. We also help parents understand the American education system and help them with translation services when needed.

Project Name: Acquisition of 20 Meadowbrook Rd to Further Community Based & Prevention Work
Amount Requested: $1,900,000 
Intended Recipient: High Point Treatment Center, Inc.
Location: Brockton, Plymouth County, MA 
Project Purpose: High Point is seeking $1.9 million for a capital improvement project to purchase one of the organization's currently leased buildings to house a Community Outreach Center in Brockton, MA. Formerly an adolescent treatment center, this 10,000-square-foot building is located on High Point's Brockton campus and will now be home to a variety of services focused on prevention, family support, and recovery.

 Project Name: Advocates 2023
Amount Requested: $588,036 
Intended Recipient: Advocates, Inc.
Location: Framingham, Middlesex County, MA
Project Purpose: MetroWest Care Connection (MWCC) is a community care hub that helps people of all ages effectively link to needed health and social services [AP1] through a single point of access. This project is a lifeline for vulnerable community members who are often overwhelmed by the system and unable to find the right supports to meet their unique needs promptly. MWCC has robust partnerships with local service providers across the MetroWest region to help residents connect to the support they need faster and ensure services are well coordinated across the domains of behavioral health (mental health and substance use)[AP2], primary health care, and social needs that affect health including housing and food. Connecting a broad range of resources and streamlining access through one phone number, one website, and one cross-agency team is the mission of MWCC. 

Project Name: Anna Maria College - Clinical Lab Upgrades
Amount Requested: $1,236,565 
Intended Recipient: Anna Maria College
Location: Paxton, Worcester County, MA
Project Purpose: Anna Maria College (AMC) requests funding to upgrade the clinical simulation lab for nursing, paramedic, and other health professional training and education. Funding will primarily go toward the purchasing of technology and equipment such as high-fidelity simulators, exam equipment, vital sign monitoring equipment, and other needs that will be necessary to ensure an optimal training experience for the future health professional workforce of Massachusetts. With AMC serving as a leader in the region for training and producing qualified health professionals, this funding request will benefit the community in ensuring that we can continue serving the region's growing medical workforce needs. 

Project Name:Project Name: Bay Path University
Amount Requested: $2,000,000
Intended Recipient: Bay Path University
Location: Longmeadow, Hampden County, MA
Project Purpose: The shortage of healthcare providers, particularly nurses, is impacting equitable healthcare delivery in western Massachusetts, especially in Medically Underserved Areas hardest hit by the COVID-19 pandemic. In these communities, low-income individuals face barriers to accessing higher education programs that serve as an entry point into upwardly mobile and well-paying careers in healthcare. Bay Path University proposes to use Community Project Funding to develop associate degree programs in nursing and allied health as affordable entry points to career pathways for low-income workers, in close partnership with area hospitals, community health centers, and other healthcare organizations. These healthcare organizations, which have a state-wide reach, will help to scale and replicate the project throughout Massachusetts beyond the project period. The project is aligned with MassHire Hampden County Workforce Board initiatives, and the Pioneer Valley Regional Labor Market BluePrint.

The power of this proposed Community Project Funding lies in the collaboration between Bay Path University and healthcare employers in Western Massachusetts and across the state to develop academic programs with integrated clinical training designed to fill immediate gaps in high-demand front-line jobs, while providing pathways for low-income individuals to well-paying careers in healthcare that can change a family's trajectory for generations. The project also addresses broader issues of healthcare inequities by increasing the diversity of providers who can best serve the communities they represent. Hampden County, where the University is located and where many students undertake clinical training, is ranked last among the 14 counties in Massachusetts for poor health outcomes, such as mental health and substance abuse issues, and contributing factors, including low levels of educational attainment, high unemployment, and extreme poverty that contribute to those outcomes.

Bay Path students reflect the diversity of these communities. The majority of Bay Path's students (64%) are Massachusetts residents, and, of these, more than half (51%) reside in Western Massachusetts, with the majority remaining in the region to live and work upon graduation. As noted, 39% of our undergraduates are women of color, 40% are first-generation, and 53% are Pell Grant recipients. Our success in graduating this diverse student body is a direct result of the unique support systems we have in place to ensure that, academically and experientially, from mentoring and tutoring to career counseling, Bay Path students will excel in their chosen pursuits. This model of support will be foundational to the development and delivery of academic programs leading to careers in healthcare and is a direct response to the regional demand for healthcare providers who are prepared to address compelling healthcare needs.

Project Name:Baystate Health Springfield Community Health & Wellness Center
Amount Requested: $2,000,000
Intended Recipient: Baystate Health
Location: Springfield, Hampden County, MA
Project Purpose: Baystate Health seeks Congressional support in realizing our vision to combine several existing community health centers in a flagship Community Health & Wellness Center in the heart of Springfield, Massachusetts. This new and modern health and wellness center facility will deliver comprehensive preventive, primary, and specialty care to families in the Springfield community. It will increase access to underserved community members, and provide on-site ancillary services and a touchdown space for community partners who provide support services to families. The health center will serve as an incubator for technology and will optimize team-based care for academic training and population health.

The planned Baystate Springfield Community Health & Wellness Center will combine several existing Baystate health centers to deliver comprehensive preventive, primary, and specialty care to Springfield families:

•  Baystate High Street Health Center Adult Medicine

•  Baystate General Pediatrics

•  Baystate Mason Square Neighborhood Health Center

•  Baystate Wesson Women's Clinic

The Baystate Springfield community health centers are licensed under Baystate Medical Center. The High Street (which houses both the adult and General Pediatrics practices) and Mason Square Community Health Centers are currently located less than a mile apart and serve the same community through these two locations. Deteriorating physical conditions at the High Street location necessitate a change in location for the adult and pediatric practices as soon as possible. The High Street building is currently listed for sale and we are operating under a short-term lease for those practices. Early planning suggested that co-locating these practices would not only bring efficiencies but would allow Baystate to provide enhanced and coordinated services in an anchor location to address social determinants of health and healthcare disparities within the existing neighborhoods and community.

With this new consolidated Springfield Community Health & Wellness Center, Baystate's vision is to improve care delivery for the community in a more accessible and efficient way through team-based care. One feature of the new center is an on-site integrated community space for events, meetings, and other gatherings with and by community members and organizations. We plan for a prominent pharmacy to be located in the front entrance area of the health center for the convenience of patients while on-site, making prescriptions easily accessible in an area where transportation is a major social determinant of health. Many Baystate patients benefit from the 340B drug discount program. Recognizing that the neighborhoods served by the health centers are also within a food desert, we plan to support continued conversation and planning about helping to address the nutritional needs of our patients via a food pantry (the High Street health centers feature an on-site food pantry and Mason Square health center is adjacent to a vibrant food pantry program at Martin Luther King Family Services) and/or other support for food justice and access in the community.

Project Name: Behavioral Health Center
Amount Requested: $1,000,000
Intended Recipient: Robert F Kennedy Community Alliance, Inc.
Location: Lancaster, Worcester County, MA
Project Purpose: RFK Community Alliance is requesting $1 million in Community Project Funding to construct a multi-use, outpatient behavioral health and training facility to provide and support mental health treatment, create space for training, increase access to licensing opportunities for emerging clinicians, and expand capacity in Central Massachusetts at a time when mental and behavioral health needs have increased dramatically. In addition to supporting RFK Community Alliance programs, the training space will be a resource for other Central Massachusetts agencies we currently work with through Advance, a partnership aimed at enhancing training in clinical and therapeutic services and providing CEUs to clinicians. 

Project Name: Behavioral Health College Partnership
Amount Requested: $3,000,000 
Intended Recipient: Higher Education Consortium of Central Massachusetts, Inc.
Location: Worcester, Worcester County, MA
Project Purpose: Our Behavioral Health College Partnership (BHCP) will provide state-of-the-art, evidence-based evaluation, and treatment to address the behavioral health issues impacting undergraduate and graduate students enrolled in Massachusetts public and private colleges. We will provide care to address student psychiatric crises and their aftermath which will include emergency transport, psychiatric assessment, inpatient services specializing in the college population, outpatient services post-hospitalization, and protocols to aid in the transition back to college. This will relieve the burden on regional mental health facilities, and create new jobs in the field while aiding college student retention in the Commonwealth.

Project Name: Big Brothers Big Sisters Youth Mentoring
Amount Requested: $1,020,440 
Intended Recipient: Big Brothers Big Sisters of Eastern Massachusetts
Location: Boston, Suffolk County, MA
Project Purpose: BBBS of Eastern Massachusetts will expand our Mentor2.0 program, adding a new school site and serving over 200 new at-risk high-school youth. BBBS of Eastern Massachusetts will also create over 250 new one-to-one mentoring matches for at-risk children ages 7-14 in eastern Massachusetts' Gateway Cities - including Brockton, Fall River, Lowell, Lawrence, New Bedford, Chelsea, Attleboro, Everett, Lynn, Revere, Salem, Taunton, Quincy, and Barnstable. 

Project Name: Boston Alliance Football Club
Amount Requested: $300,000 
Intended Recipient: Soccer Unity Project
Location: Boston, Suffolk County, MA 
Project Purpose: Boston Alliance Football Club seeks to continue to build out premier-level teams for girls in Boston at every age group. The vision of this program is to have 6 premier level teams for girls in the City. Currently for any girls to play at the club level, their family must first pay the club fee, and then continue to pay for all travel costs throughout their seasons.

Project Name: Boston Ballet Community Programs 
Amount Requested: $1,335,000
Intended Recipient: Boston Ballet
Location: Boston, Suffolk County, MA
Project Purpose: To restore, enhance, and increase access to dance education programs and experiences for school-age children and historically underserved communities in Boston's most racially and ethnically diverse and/or economically-disadvantaged neighborhoods. 

Boston Ballet proposes to do this by strengthening existing education and community programs with the capacity to grow through increased numbers served and deepened impact on participants. Congressionally-directed funding will support the teaching, access, and equity that we strive to bring to classrooms and community sites throughout Boston.? 

Boston Ballet School's division of Education and Community Initiatives annually delivers programming to over 3,000 children and teens in partnership with the Boston Public Schools (BPS) and other community partners. The district demographic is 80% Black, Asian-American, and Latinx. Over 70% of student families qualify for Federal food stamps or other state-administered benefits. A 2019 report indicated English as a second language for 45% of BPS students and that 21% had a diagnosed disability. 

We intend to reach our target populations through four programs that focus on mental and physical well-being and positive self-expression through access to cultural programming. Our objectives include restoring enrollment lost during the pandemic; increasing Adaptive Dance to a full-year program; increasing the number of sensory-friendly performances; and increasing equitable arts access in general. 

1) Citydance brings dance workshops into public school classrooms, where Boston Ballet School faculty lead students in a one-hour interactive movement class, offering a basic introduction to dance and explaining how choreography, costumes, music, and scenery come together in a ballet production. 350 students later participate in a 10-week, tuition-free series of 90-minute dance classes at Boston Ballet's home facility. The culturally responsive curriculum aligns with state/national dance education standards and helps integrate the arts within the core academic curriculum.? 

2) Education and Community Initiatives on Location brings dance classes, taught by Boston Ballet School faculty, to the city's Boys & Girls Clubs, centers providing youth with safe after school environments for learning, sports, and cultural activities. The partnership offers neighborhood proximity, a key advantage to participants. 

3) Adaptive Dance is designed for neuro-diverse students with Down Syndrome, Autism, and physical disabilities. The widely-admired curriculum, developed in collaboration with health professionals at Boston Children's Hospital, is taught and disseminated state and nationwide through teacher training workshops that are organized and led by Boston Ballet each summer.? 

4) Community Engagement Initiatives improve broad access and encourage the core belief that dance is for everyone. Sensory-friendly performances enable inclusive audiences to enjoy ballets like The Nutcracker that are adapted to meet their unique needs. Designated performances include lighting and sound adjustments that help make the theater a welcoming space for neurodiverse individuals or those with physical disabilities. An ASL interpreter, narration for the vision-impaired, large-type programs, designated quiet spaces, and relaxed seating policies are featured.

Project Name: Brandeis University-Operation Benjamin Research, Archive, and Education Project
Amount Requested: $500,000 
Intended Recipient: Operation Benjamin
Location: Monticello, Middlesex County, MA
Project Purpose: Brandeis University's Hornstein Jewish Professional Leadership Program in Waltham, Massachusetts will partner with Operation Benjamin to expand research on Jewish American soldiers killed in the line of duty in World War II who were mistakenly buried overseas under the Latin cross; create a digital archive of this research which will be made available to students, scholars and the general public; and develop educational programming at Brandeis University and in the Waltham community (local high schools, libraries, and community centers) to tell the stories of these American soldiers.

Project Name: Breaktime Workforce Initiative - Expanding Equitable Workforce Pathways for Young Adults Experiencing Housing Insecurity
Amount Requested: $500,000 
Intended Recipient: Breaktime Unlimited, Inc.
Location: Boston, Suffolk County, MA
Project Purpose: A proposal for the expansion of Breaktime's job skills training and behavioral support program to homeless young adults ages 18-25 in the Greater Boston area. We aim to expand our existing model across key communities in Suffolk county and Middlesex county. Our model currently provides stable employment and financial empowerment to nearly 100 young adults experiencing housing insecurity in Greater Boston. Our ultimate goal is to break the cycle of young adult homelessness in the Commonwealth by equipping young adults with the job and financial stability they need to establish housing security. 

Project Name: Briarcliff Early Elementary Education Center
Amount Requested: $1,658,200 
Intended Recipient: City of Lynn
Location: Lynn, Essex County, MA
Project Purpose: The Congressionally Directed Spending (CDS) would be used to expand early childhood educational opportunities for our youngest and most vulnerable residents. Specifically, funding will allow Lynn Public Schools to expand its early childhood education program by adding an additional five fully integrated pre-kindergarten classrooms. These classrooms will provide a supportive and healthy learning environment to foster the children’s developmental needs.

Project Name: Bridge Vouchers for Child Care in Job Training Programs
Amount Requested: $1,100,000 
Intended Recipient: Action for Boston Community Development, Inc.
Location: Boston, Suffolk County, MA
Project Purpose: In this initiative, ABCD will utilize gap-filling child care vouchers to eliminate eligibility barriers to support and training, while addressing other family support needs which can prevent single parents from benefiting from job training. Vouchers will be generated and managed by Child Care Choices of Boston (CCCB), the region's Child Care Resource and Referral agency, and will support training programs supported by local Workforce Investment Boards. The "bridge" vouchers will allow time for each training candidate to complete the application and approval process for a traditional voucher, which will then provide long-term support. At the same time, ABCD will assist with transportation, appropriate clothing, and other family needs which may interfere with training, acquisition of a credential, and employment. ABCD will seek to promote long-term systems change while implementing this plan for immediate remediation of the problem.

Project Name: Bridging & Reunification of Women Post Recovery to Their Children; A Victory for Families, the Child
Amount Requested: $1,000,000
Intended Recipient: Victory Programs Inc.
Location: Boston, Suffolk County, MA
Project Purpose: This demonstration project supports the expansion of the successful Victory Programming model including recovery, behavioral health, workforce development, life skills programming, trauma-informed care, continued help with the legal process, and child protection services while encouraging parenting skills and the importance of parenting, family engagement and keeping families together. Women have often experienced great levels of stigmatization around substance use because of their traditional societal roles as caregivers, mothers, and often the central factor in their family units.

Women suffering from substance use disorder will have unique experiences and challenges, displaying different issues and needs that may be essential to address for them to achieve and maintain long-term recovery. 

Project Name: Brockton Neighborhood Health Center equipment
Amount Requested: $1,007,221
Intended Recipient: Brockton Neighborhood Health Center, Inc.
Location: Brockton, Plymouth County, MA
Project Purpose: Brockton Neighborhood Health Center (BNHC) is partnering with Father Bill's and MainSpring to provide comprehensive services to homeless and housing-insecure individuals and families in Brockton. Father Bill's is renovating a building that will enable it and BNHC to greatly expand the services we offer. For BNHC, this involves expanding from the current limited medical services we offer at the current shelter to full primary care services in an expanded space. Even more critical, we will be adding behavioral health and substance use disorder services that we cannot routinely offer in the current space as there is no space available. Father Bill's has funding for all of the construction, including BNHC's new space. Furnishing and equipping the clinical space is BNHC's responsibility and we are requesting funding to cover that cost.

In addition, BNHC is requesting funding for its main site to turn 2 rooms into negative pressure rooms and to add a Sterile-Aire filtration system to our current ventilation system. During the pandemic, when BNHC became a major hub for COVID testing and treatment, the lack of these systems made it much more difficult to maintain a safe environment throughout the building. We moved much of our testing and treatment to a trailer outside the building to protect our patients and staff. With negative pressure rooms and the Sterile-Aire system, we will be able to handle future infectious disease outbreaks much more efficiently and safely.

Finally, we are requesting funding to replace the flooring on the second floor of our main site. The second-floor houses most of our adult primary care services and the space has borne the brunt of the huge influx of adult patients we have seen over the past 3 years. The current flooring has deteriorated to the point that it is difficult to maintain infection control standards. Replacing flooring, including sealed vinyl in the exam rooms, will not only look more professional but will also facilitate our adherence to infection control standards.

Project Name:  BSU Chemistry
Amount Requested: $896,900
Intended Recipient: Bridgewater State University
Location: Bridgewater, Plymouth County, MA
Project Purpose: Through this Congressionally Directed Spending, Bridgewater State University (BSU) will better prepare students to be part of a dynamic, climate-ready workforce with the skills, knowledge, and confidence to address regional, national, and global sustainability issues. BSU's Chemical Sciences Department will play a vital role in training a diverse and inclusive workforce that can help address pressing sustainability problems, such as access to clean air and water, microplastic pollution, the need for bio-based pharmaceuticals and nanomaterials, and mitigating greenhouse gas effects. New instrumentation, along with continually evolving inquiry-based curricula, will also serve as a catalyst for a new major in “Green and Sustainable Chemistry".

Project Name: Bunker Hill Community College
Amount Requested: $805,268
Intended Recipient: Bunker Hill Community College
Location: Boston, Suffolk County, MA
Project Purpose: BHCC is proposing to utilize Congressional Directed funds to supply and upgrade laptop computers for part-time adjunct faculty.

Project Name: Cambridge Promise Pilot
Amount Requested: $150,000 
Intended Recipient: City of Cambridge
Location: Cambridge, Middlesex County, MA
Project Purpose:In Cambridge, access to higher education is not distributed equally. To improve higher education retention and completion for Cambridge Rindge and Latin students, the Office of Mayor Sumbul Siddiqui and the City of Cambridge's College Success Initiative is proposing the creation of a Cambridge Promise Scholarship Pilot, allowing low to moderate-income residents to receive free tuition to Bunker Hill Community College and provide students with a college success coach through the College Success Initiative. 

While Cambridge's per-pupil, public school expenditure is among the highest in the state. Black and Latinx students continue to lag behind their white and Asian peers in college success. Eighty percent of white and Asian residents in Cambridge hold bachelor's degrees. Compared to 59.5% of Latinx and 38.4% of African American adults.

College completion for Cambridge Public School students is also lagging due to financial barriers. For the graduating class of 2010, by 2017 - seven years after graduating from high school - only about 1/3rd of African American and Latinx grads had obtained any post-secondary degree (34%, 31,7%) compared to more than half of white and Asian grads (52.6%, 56.8%).

To address these inequities in educational attainment and earnings and the rising cost of college, the Office of Mayor Sumbul Siddiqui and the City of Cambridge's College Success Initiative is proposing a Cambridge Promise pilot to provide tuition and a college success coach for eligible students. For the first year, the pilot will fund 30 students enrolling at Bunker Hill Community college with tuition for up to three years. Following the evaluation of the pilot, the program will expand and grow, allowing more residents in Cambridge to benefit. Below is the structure of the Cambridge Promise Pilot:

• Funding: This is a last-dollar program that pays for the costs of tuition, mandatory fees, and school-related expenses that are not covered by a Pell grant.

• Age Group: Cambridge residents who have received their high school credentials within 12 months of starting the plan, thus particularly geared towards teenagers and young adults.

• Partner Institutions: Students who enroll at Bunker Hill Community College will receive tuition for 3 years for the pilot years.

• Enrollment Intensity: Students are required to attend full-time and partner with the College Success Initiative to receive mentorship and coaching for participating students.

• Eligibility Criteria: Students who have low to moderate household income (per HUD guidelines). Students do not need to be eligible for FAFSA to apply.

The average expected family contribution for Cambridge students attending Bunker Hill Community College is $1,554. It will cost approximately $150,000 to provide 30 students tuition for three years at Bunker Hill. On average it takes a student three years to graduate from Bunker Hill. Although, several students are unable to graduate due to financial barriers. 

Project Name: Cambridge Public Health Commission Outpatient Health Care Center (Facilities and Equipment)
Amount Requested: $6,200,000
Intended Recipient: Cambridge Public Health Commission d/b/a Cambridge Health Alliance
Location: Cambridge, Middlesex County, MA
Project Purpose: The HRSA Health Facilities Construction and Equipment appropriations request of $6.2 Million will support a portion of the facilities and equipment costs toward Cambridge Public Health Commission's planned new outpatient health care center in Medford, Massachusetts. It will preserve and promote regional and equitable access to primary care and preventive services, dental services, pharmacy services and a range of medical specialties, for underserved communities and vulnerable populations served. 

Project Name: Cape Abilities EV Community Transportation
Amount Requested: $1,617,675 
Intended Recipient: Cape Abilities Inc.
Location: Hyannis, Barnstable County, MA
Project Purpose: Cape Abilities provides an extensive transportation service for hundreds of adults with disabilities across Cape Cod. The Cape Abilities fleet helps individuals get to and from their day programs, employment, community activities, and homes. Cape Abilities will replace 15 aging, gas-consuming, transportation vans with fully-electric transportation vans. The new vans will provide reliable, environmentally-friendly, transportation for hundreds of individuals who are looking to connect with their communities. The 15 new electric vans, one of which will be a wheelchair van, will focus on routes under 150 miles, and reduce carbon emissions, maintenance, and fuel expenses, helping Cape Abilities become more environmentally and fiscally sustainable while continuing to provide safe and accessible opportunity transportation.

Project Name: Cape Cod Community College’s Cradle to Grave Simulation Technologies across the Health Sciences
Amount Requested: $1,896,040 
Intended Recipient: Cape Cod Community College
Location: West Barnstable, Barnstable County, MA
Project Purpose: The College offers a wide range of health sciences programs, meeting the healthcare needs of our region. CCCC requests funding for simulation technologies that significantly benefit students, applying these technologies as techniques for practice and learning, replacing and highlighting real experiences with guided, immersive learning. This greatly enhances our future health professionals' knowledge, skills, and attitudes, while protecting patients from unnecessary risks. This will update and expand our current simulators, meeting workforce, and educational needs. Across these health sciences programs, simulation offers broad scope for the training of interdisciplinary care provided through our cradle-to-grave approach for integrating these technologies.

Project Name: Center for Industrial Pharmacy
Amount Requested: $3,792,000
Intended Recipient: Western New England University
Location: Springfield, Hampden County, MA
Project Purpose: This project will support the university's ability to establish a Center for Industrial Pharmacy, to train a diverse and skilled workforce to develop, manufacture, market, and distribute pharmaceutical goods. This center will also incubate start-ups, providing access to equipment, laboratory space, and expert consultation.

Project Name: CESJ Program Funding
Amount Requested: $3,000,000
Intended Recipient: Roxbury Community College
Location: Roxbury Crossing, Suffolk County, MA
Project Purpose: Roxbury Community College requests $3 million to develop new programs, offered through The Center for Economic and Social Justice (CESJ), formerly known as the Dudley House. The CESJ will provide wealth and racial-equity-focused programming ensuring students and community members have access to jobs in growing industries, including Green Energy, that currently do not reflect racially diverse populations. The CESJ will engage in civic engagement, research, and reporting opportunities to ensure forward mobility for generations of BIPOC communities.

Project Name: Champion Plan: Police Assisted Recovery Program
Amount Requested: $1,000,000 
Intended Recipient: City of Brockton
Location: Brockton, Plymouth County, MA
Project Purpose: The proposed earmark will continue to fund the operating costs of the Champion Plan. The Champion Plan (CP) was launched in 2016 to respond to the high rate of opioid overdose deaths but is open to anyone suffering from a substance use disorder. CP offers individuals at risk of overdose or who are seeking treatment to have immediate access to services and support without fear of reprisal from the police or court systems. 

Project Name: Children's Advocacy Center of Franklin County and North Quabbin
Amount Requested: $193,050 
Intended Recipient: Franklin County and North Quabbin Children's Advocacy Center, Inc.
Location: Greenfield, Franklin County, MA
Project Purpose: The Children's Advocacy Center of Franklin County and North Quabbin is a nationally accredited Children's Advocacy Center (CAC) that minimizes secondary trauma to child victims by streamlining the handling of cases of child sexual abuse, serious physical abuse, and child exploitation. The CAC provides trauma-focused therapies to children and youth, non-offending caretakers, and their families. Funding will be used to support the expansion of mental health services in the North Quabbin region for 75 children and families through the establishment of specialized clinical services providing evidence-based trauma therapy to children and families that are not currently available in these communities.

Project Name: Codman Square Health Center
Amount Requested: $1,000,000
Intended Recipient: Codman Square Health Center
Location: Dorchester, Suffolk County, MA
Project Purpose: Codman Square Health Center (CSHC) seeks to replace and upgrade dental equipment and make minor alterations to its dental clinic at 637 Washington Street in Dorchester. CSHC's dental suites require new equipment, including chairs, lights, handwashing stations, and equipment storage units that are all past their useful life. Our equipment is 20 years old, repair is difficult as parts are no longer available due to equipment age. We are also seeking to create a four-suite pediatric dental clinic that can support the needs of children with special healthcare needs.

Project Name: Community Art Center School Aged Youth and Teen Programs
Amount Requested: $300,000
Intended Recipient: Community Art Center, Inc.
Location: Cambridge, Middlesex County, MA
Project Purpose: The mission of the Community Art Center (and the purpose of its school-age, teen, mental health, and wraparound social services programs) is to cultivate an engaged community of youth whose powerful artistic voices transform their lives, their neighborhoods, and their worlds. The Art Center believes in the power of young people, in the power of artistic expression, in taking care of oneself and each other, and in creating positive change in its home neighborhood and beyond. The Art Center was founded in 1937 by a group of parents who resided in Newtowne Court, one of the first public housing developments in the U.S., in Cambridge's Port neighborhood as a localized community center designed to provide comprehensive human services to residents. It has grown tremendously throughout the years, but it maintains its grassroots identity; mutual aid model; and foundation in providing equitable, inclusive, and diverse access to the arts as a catalyst for holistic youth development and future success. CAC's programs for youth aged 5-12 include childcare, after-school arts enrichment programs, and summer camps designed to teach youth to become creative problem solvers through hands-on arts curricula. Classes involve facilitated discussions about race, gender, immigration, identity, and social and economic inequity; yoga; meditation; mindfulness; movement; and multimedia arts programming. Junior leadership groups and intermediate art classes prepare pre-teens for success in high school and beyond. All students participate in sequential, semester-long focus classes and present their work four times each year, including at an outdoor summer event and a spring show. At least 60% of registrations are reserved for low-income families, and most families access the program for free or at a steep discount. Most participating families are from Black, Brown, indigenous, and other racial and ethnic minority groups; recent immigrants; and/or in limited-income situations. Youth aged 13-19 can take part in the Art Center's Teen Programs, including the Teen Media Program, through which youth become creative technology users by engaging in media arts and leadership activities, the Do It Your Damn Self!! Film Festival, the Port Arts Festival, the Mural Masters event, various arts-based exhibitions and fundraisers, and the Teen Public Art Program (in which teens collaborate with local businesses, residents, civic leadership, and mural artists to create works of public art which invite public discourse and celebrate the lives, stories, and community in the Port neighborhood). Through its in-house Mental Health Clinician, the Art Center provides access to essential counseling and early intervention services to its school-age and teen students on a walk-in and referral basis and collects actionable data about their mental, behavioral, and emotional health needs and concerns. Finally, Port ARISE is a collective impact program that the Art Center runs in conjunction with the Margaret Fuller Neighborhood House and Tutoring Plus focused on streamlining resources and stabilizing families. A cohort of 10 Port neighborhood families with critical and unmet social needs is supported by dedicated staff members and translators in navigating applications for food, housing, childcare, and other emergency assistance.

Project Name: CONNECT stronger together
Amount Requested: $1,000,000 
Intended Recipient: Girls Incorporated of Greater Lowell
Location: Lowell, Middlesex County, MA
Project Purpose: CONNECT stronger together will guarantee that Girls Incorporated of Greater Lowell campus will be a place of learning and a safe haven for girls of the community and surrounding communities. A place of program opportunities to inspire and empower girls to achieve much more beyond their imagination. A place that will connect girls with leaders in the community through mentorships and promote healthy, long-term relationships. CONNECT stronger together will unite the community in advocating for our youth through solid partnerships. 

Project Name: Creative Exchange Program
Amount Requested: $150,000 
Intended Recipient: Arts Foundation of Cape Cod
Location: Hyannis, Barnstable County, MA
Project Purpose: The Creative Exchange is a professional development program of the Arts Foundation of Cape Cod (AFCC) which supports established and emerging artists of all backgrounds and mediums as well as arts leaders, creatives, and staff at cultural organizations on Cape Cod and the Islands. 

The Creative Exchange achieves this through: Capacity-Building Grant Program: In partnership with MASS MoCA's Assets for Artists, the AFCC is supporting an inaugural cohort of 12 artists on Cape Cod, identifying ways for them to meaningfully grow and expand their creative practice. Through a peer-to-peer model, the cohort has access to off-Cape artists throughout the Northeast who have achieved financial sustainability. They are sharing their expertise with the 12-artist cohort through a mix of virtual workshops and one-on-one mentorship to help them identify career goals, a pathway to achieving those goals, and the practical steps they can take to financial sustainability. Each artist receives a $1,000 capacity-building grant to help them towards supporting their creative practice. Along with the 12 artists in the cohort, another 11 Cape Cod artists are participating in virtual small business technical assistance workshops provided by Assets for Artists. Federal funding will help us grow and strengthen this program within the Creative Exchange. 

Creative Exchange Meetups: Every month, the AFCC holds an in-person meetup throughout the Cape. These meetups, which have been held since last February, are open to artists, arts leaders, individuals working in the creative sector, and arts supporters. The meetups feature an artist or art activity and are focused on creating connections, strengthening relationships, and boosting job opportunities. At the end of each meetup, attendees are given the chance to talk about projects they are working on; their upcoming events or performances; and needs they may have for their creative projects. Several attendees have landed jobs as a result of these meetups. 

Creative Exchange Conference: In October, the AFCC will hold its annual conference that is open to artists, arts leaders, individuals working in the arts sector, and supporters of the arts. The day-long conference will feature workshops aimed at professional development. Artists will receive practical strategies they can employ to achieve career sustainability and advancement; to grow their business and enhance their marketing; and connectivity and networking opportunities with other creatives to support one another professionally. Arts leaders and individuals working for arts organizations on the Cape will receive similar professional development aimed at helping cultural nonprofits recover from the pandemic while taking meaningful steps in their growth. 

With the high cost of living, lack of affordable and attainable housing, and seasonal economy, the region's arts sector is facing several significant external challenges which make it difficult for artists and arts organizations to survive on the Cape. The pandemic and inflation have only added to these challenges. The Creative Exchange is focused on giving participants the practical skills, connections, and support they need to overcome these challenges while ensuring they can remain here and contribute to the vibrancy of our region.

Project Name: Disability Workforce Renewal
Amount Requested: $1,635,000
Intended Recipient: Arc Massachusetts Inc.
Location: Waltham, Middlesex County, MA 
Project Purpose: The project addresses the shortage of direct support staff to assist persons with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Over 3,000 adults I/DD have limited or no access to employment or day services, experiencing isolation, regression of skills along with increased burnout on the part of caregivers.

This project focuses on the retention and recruitment of this workforce. It funds a statewide recruitment marketing campaign for 17 non-profit chapters of The Arc which will be replicable for other entities. The campaign will showcase the role as "more than" just a job, but a calling. 

Project Name: Early Childhood Mental Health Center
Amount Requested: $400,000 
Intended Recipient: Walker, Inc. (dba Walker Therapeutic & Educational Programs)
Location: Needham, Norfolk County, MA
Project Purpose:Walker Therapeutic & Education Programs seeks funding to respond to surging early childhood mental health (ECMH) needs in Boston. Specifically, Walker would use funds to launch an ECMH Center to provide comprehensive services to children, families, and early education and care providers, including:

• Developmentally appropriate behavioral and mental health assessments and treatment plans for children, ages 0-6 

• Outpatient / home-based therapy and skill-development

• Training and coaching for providers in child development, positive behavior guidance, and addressing challenging behaviors

• Stabilization of preschool classroom(s) to support full assessments, model effective practice, and provide respite to children and families in crisis

• Family/ parenting workshops

Project Name: Early Intervention Training
Amount Requested: $2,000,000 
Intended Recipient: City of Boston
Location: Boston, Suffolk County, MA
Project Purpose: Boston seeks to improve our early intervention ecosystem and address developmental and behavioral delays by providing early educators with skills to meet the needs of young children and families. This project also builds the infrastructure necessary for future expansion to ensure all children thrive. 

Project Name: Eastie Farm Climate and Food Justice
Amount Requested: $1,000,000 
Intended Recipient: Eastie Farm
Location: East Boston, Suffolk County, MA
Project Purpose: This project cultivates food and climate justice in East Boston, an Environmental Justice community and recognized food desert. This project will grow the impact of Eastie Farm by reaching more families and farms as part of building an equitable food system; expanding environmental stewardship among youth; and creating climate-friendly green spaces for community benefit. 

Project Name: EBNHC Senior Care Program
Amount Requested: $3,500,000 
Intended Recipient: East Boston Neighborhood Health Center Corporation 
Location: East Boston, Suffolk County, MA
Project Purpose: East Boston Neighborhood Health Center (EBNHC) seeks to expand its geriatric care program to expand access to affordable, high-quality medical and social services for the older adults of East Boston and the surrounding communities. EBNHC will renovate its existing facility to establish a Senior Care Center to offer the elderly a safe and encouraging environment in which they can access daily elder care programming and clinical services within the community. EBNHC will also renovate its community kitchen and purchase equipment to expand its Community Food Programs to reach more food-insecure residents in its service area.

Project Name: EBSC-1
 Amount Requested: $1,916,921
Intended Recipient: East Boston Social Centers Inc
Location: East Boston, Suffolk County, MA
Project Purpose:  Every Child Shines (ECS) is East Boston's collaborative effort founded to ensure all of Eastie's children enter kindergarten joyful, thriving, and ready to learn. We are building on that foundation with the proposed program. ECS provides a continuum of targeted educational strategies for all, focusing on East Boston's diverse families including children from Latinx/o, North African, and other immigrant families that comprise a significant portion of East Boston's children. 

ECS is located at East Boston Social Centers (EBSC). EBSC is committed to identifying and scaling interventions that benefit the community most and offers to act as a policy "laboratory" to test responses, measure impact, and prepare to scale interventions. We continue to identify gaps and opportunities where additional services will result in learning gains for East Boston's children. This proposal is the result of this process.

The goal is to significantly improve the academic and developmental outcomes of children and youth living in East Boston including ensuring school readiness, school success, and access to a community-based continuum of high-quality services. This goal will be achieved through the following objectives and activities: 

• Increase child enrollment in early education

• Extensive outreach: Multilingual outreach about the vital importance of early education.

• Specialists for Family Child Care support (particularly for informal or unlicensed family child care): Ensure appropriate staffing by offering to host an early education practicum for people in related programs.

• Students in grades K-2nd will regain learning losses from the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

• High dosage tutoring: Provide school-based tutoring for specific students after school in Kindergarten through second grade in the schools with the highest needs in East Boston.

• Collaboration with early education partners (both organizations and private in-home daycare providers) to provide early literacy support for the future pre-Kinder and Kindergarten enrollees. Early literacy specialists will work with those caring for the youngest East Boston residents to offer a foundational literacy curriculum at an age-appropriate level.

• Mental health/mindfulness training will increase for children, educators, and parents 

• An MSW position will be dedicated to Social Centers' education programs including early education and Out-of-School-Time (OST) in response to the significant uptick in depression and anxiety among children post-pandemic. 

• All OST/Early Education staff will receive training from the MSW in best practices for serving children's mental health needs in the classroom/program space, and guidance regarding where to send referrals (for further care when needed) using ECS's referral database.

• Partner organizations' programs will provide mindfulness training to educators across organizations and schools in East Boston to promote staff's mental health. 

• Parents know school choice and how to choose the right school for their child's needs

• Parent education about school options: Contracting an expert marketing/communication firm to devise the most effective ways to communicate key information for parents including which of the early learning centers; and 11 public schools, the Catholic school, and two charter schools best suit them, providing assistance with registration, asking the right question, and how to navigate the educational system in general.

Project Name: Educator development to address shortages in special education, ESL and bilingual education.

Amount Requested: $1,844,793 
Intended Recipient: Lesley University
Location: Cambridge, Middlesex County, MA

Project Purpose:   This funding will be used by Lesley University to provide educator licensure, advanced certification, and critical training programs to address immediate educator shortages in special education, English as a Second Language (ESL), and bilingual education. Schools across the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and nationally have been facing significant hiring, licensure, and retention challenges predating and exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. By 2022, the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) issued over 7000 emergency teaching licenses (School and District Profiles, n.d.), an unprecedented number considering that none had been issued before the pandemic. To mitigate teacher shortages and address the dire need for accessible, just-in-time educator development to train and retain highly qualified teachers, Lesley University will work directly with school districts across the Commonwealth to offer 300 seats in ESL, bilingual education, and special education programs specifically designed to provide pathways to licensure, advanced credentials, and state-of-the-profession pedagogical practices for working educators. 

Lowering barriers to career advancement through fully funded licensure, advanced credentials, and training that can be put into practice immediately in classrooms, will play an important role in regrowing and diversifying Massachusetts' teacher workforce. The current teaching crisis has provided an unexpected opportunity to increase the diversity of Massachusetts' teacher workforce (Bacher-Hicks et al., 2022; Jung, 2021). Supporting both early-career and veteran teacher retention through high-quality, supportive, and accessible educator pathways will strengthen our teaching numbers in areas of critical need as well as welcome a new cohort of educators who reflect the rich diversity of the Commonwealth's communities. Lesley University's K-12 school partners need not look beyond their communities to train and sustain educators in areas of critical shortages.

Project Name: Empower Yourself Ltd.
Amount Requested: $300,000 
Intended Recipient: Empower Yourself ltd
Location: Brockton, Plymouth County, MA
Project Purpose: Our Global Economic Symposium is in its 9th year. Our goal is to teach and train the next corporate and Global Leaders. Our symposium works with middle and high school students in urban schools and communities across the country. They identify a Global problem or issue and use Economics, STEM, and critical thinking skills to solve the problem. Our students have to write a white paper and present their findings to a panel of judges. Our students learn at a young age, research skills, teamwork, oratory skills, writing, History & Geography. These skills translate into 21st-century skills needed

Project Name: Endicott College 
Amount Requested: $408,395
Intended Recipient: Endicott College
Location: Beverly, Essex County, MA
Project Purpose: Endicott College, located in Beverly, Massachusetts in the 6th Congressional District is requesting a Congressionally Directed Spending: Community Project to be included in the FY 24 Appropriations Bill. In particular, our project is well suited for the Labor, Health and Human Services bill and the Department of Health & Human Services- HRSA account. Endicott College is pleased to submit this proposal requesting a Congressionally Directed Spending of $408,395 for simulation equipment and technology to equip for the future Nursing Simulation and Clinical Learning Center in our Cummings School of Nursing & Health Sciences.

The Nursing Simulation and Clinical Learning Center, Center is an innovative teaching lab currently under construction (completion date August 2023), that is being constructed on our campus this year, will include four high-fidelity Simulation Labs referred to as Endicott Hospital. The Nursing Simulation and Clinical Learning Center will be a critical piece of an innovative, multi-pronged plan Endicott College is leading, with participation from strategic partners like Beverly Hospital and Addison Gilbert Hospital, to advance a critical public good: developing a replicable and scalable solution to the nursing shortage crisis that is threatening the stability of healthcare delivery at the local, regional, and national levels. With partnerships in both Beverly, and Gloucester, and beyond, this project will offer strong community benefits in the North Shore and Cape Ann regions of Massachusetts. 

The Nursing Simulation and Clinical Learning Center will be a self-contained, fully-equipped nursing training lab in the format of a hospital, unique on the North Shore. The primary impact of the Center's goal is to support increased enrollment in the School of Nursing by expanding the simulation environment, as permitted by accreditation. A second, very important impact goal is to address the dire nursing shortage in the area by providing access to simulation training and continuing education for both our students and Beverly Hospital and Addison Gilbert Hospital nurses. The partnership includes paths to post-graduation employment including employment of nursing students as patient care assistants, targeted training for high-need specialty areas such as peri-operative and the emergency department and both hospitals becoming officially preferred clinical sites for Endicott College students to perform their rotations. 

The Cummings School of Nursing & Health Sciences at Endicott College has made a philosophical decision to augment, not replace, clinical hours with simulation technology and curricula. The reason for this is that deeply woven within the philosophy of the SON is the concept of applied learning, which has been the hallmark of Endicott College. This applied learning at the SON takes place in the seven semester-long clinical courses and the Senior Internship experience in the community or acute care setting. We value our clinical partnerships and have been able to maintain these clinical experiences in the increasingly competitive environment to secure clinical sites against the background of growth in the number of students accepted into our undergraduate program.

Project Name: Endicott College Engineering
Amount Requested: $1,000,000
Intended Recipient: Endicott College
Location: Beverly, Essex County, MA
Project Purpose: The Request: Endicott College, located in Beverly, Massachusetts in the 6th Congressional District is requesting a Congressionally Directed Spending: Community Project to be included in the FY 24 Appropriations Bill. In particular, our project is well suited for the Department of Education bill and the FIPSE account.

The Need: Endicott College is requesting $1M in Community Project funding for new Engineering equipment and instrumentation. Endicott's General Engineering program, now in its third year, prepares students to make immediate contributions to the complex projects being performed under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. Graduates receive broad-based, multi-disciplinary training necessary to work on today's emerging infrastructure design challenges, ranging from transportation and power grid networks to environmental, resiliency, and homeland security systems in order to keep the region and the nation competitive, safe and secure. This request expands the teaching and learning capacity of Endicott's state-of-the-art labs and creates new laboratory and project-based capital equipment to better prepare engineering students for emerging challenges.

Due to partnerships with North Shore Community College and local school systems and increasing enrollment in the general engineering program., Endicott needs to expand its existing engineering laboratory resources. Furthermore, Endicott is committed to STEM education programming for underrepresented populations in the North Shore region, including a STEM summer camp for middle school students with the gateway city of Lynn, MA, and a recent NSF Collaborative Planning Grant with North Shore Community College, to increase engineering degree opportunities at Endicott for students of low-income. Thus, Endicott needs to expand its existing engineering laboratory resources. 

As enrollment increases, new instrumentation in emerging engineering disciplines, including autonomous aeronautics and innovative resiliency design, will be added to the students' learning experience. Endicott, through its internship, incubator space, and other programming with industry in the North Shore, introduces engineering students to emerging technologies, materials, and engineering methods that impact regional and national economies. Endicott is currently developing the following programs: training with a partnership with the Mass DOT to train the next generation of bridge inspectors for Mass Highway; a partnership with the Massachusetts Life Sciences Consortium to provide local biotech startups in the North Shore with access to DNA Sequencing instrumentation; and the design of an innovative hydroelectric turbine in Lawrence, MA while participating in the 2023 DOE Hydropower Collegiate Competition. 

Project Name: EPIC installation for Family Health Center Worcester
Amount Requested: $6,022,500 
Intended Recipient: Family Health Center of Worcester, Inc.
Location: Worcester, Worcester County, MA
Project Purpose:  Family Health Center of Worcester (FHCW) cares for nearly 40,000 patients, many of whom are among the Commonwealth's most medically and psychosocially challenged residents. Worcester is Massachusetts' largest immigrant resettlement city and we are located in the heart of the poorest parts of the city with its most vulnerable residents. We care for patients who speak more than 55 languages, a great many of whom live with the daily burden of multiple severe, chronic medical, and behavioral illnesses. 

Ours is a population desperately needing access to high-quality and affordable health care. Our health center is experiencing significant issues with our current electronic medical record system (EMR) and is requesting funding to help us migrate to a better, more integrated electronic medical record system (EPIC) that will allow us to solve the following problems:

• Inefficient data sharing and the resultant impact on the continuity of care with the local hospital system which is already on EPIC;

• Increasing provider dissatisfaction with the current EMR due to technical constraints and limitations on clinical productivity;

• Frequent electronic medical record system downtime caused by a system that can no longer meet the needs of our clinical services;

• The unfavorable patient impact is caused by delays in data sharing and inefficient system processes resulting in replication of work, increased wait times, missed referrals, and longer appointment times with providers.

Electronic medical record system inefficiencies will persist as our organization pushes the boundaries of the current medical record system configuration. Without federal support, our health center will not only continue to struggle to meet the clinical demands of our growing patient population but will also be adding cost to the overall healthcare system of the Commonwealth. Providers will grow increasingly frustrated, patients will see and feel the impact of that frustration, and the problems we are experiencing now will only become more severe.

Project Name: Expanded Children's Clothing Collection Project
Amount Requested: $269,620
Intended Recipient: Cradles to Crayons, Inc.
Location:  Newton, Middlesex County, MA 
Project Purpose: Cradles to Crayons (C2C) provides more than 350,000 packages of essentials annually to Massachusetts children experiencing Clothing Insecurity, including clothing, shoes, coats, and more. We provide these items free of charge by engaging communities, who collect new and gently used items on behalf of C2C.

Clothing donations are the backbone of C2C's efficient and effective model that gives high-quality recycled products a second life. Supporters can donate these items at collection units spread throughout the state. This project would support the addition of 20 new collection bins to increase C2C's distributions by 11% to further meet kids' needs.

Project Name: Expanding Access to Mental Health, Substance Use and Brain Injury Care for Massachusetts Veterans
Amount Requested: $2,000,000 
Intended Recipient: Home Base, a Red Sox Foundation and Massachusetts General Hospital Program
Location: Charlestown, Suffolk County, MA
Project Purpose: Home Base is dedicated to healing the invisible wounds of Veterans, Service Members, their Families, and the Families of the Fallen at no cost to them. Home Base will provide evidence-based care to Massachusetts Veterans, Service Members, their Families, and Families of the Fallen impacted by PTSD, TBI, depression, anxiety, co-occurring substance use disorder, military sexual trauma, complicated grief, and family relationship stress. The care is delivered at our National Center of Excellence located in the Charlestown Navy Yard and via telehealth. Clinical care includes individual and group treatment and an Intensive Outpatient Program for addiction.

Project Name: Expanding community-based health services for needy individuals throughout Southeast Massachusetts
Amount Requested: $525,000 
Intended Recipient: Southcoast Health System
Location: New Bedford, Bristol County, MA
Project Purpose: Southcoast Health respectfully requests $525,000 for portable diagnostic equipment to support nurses caring for patients in the patients' own homes throughout southeastern Massachusetts.

Project Name: Expanding STEM and Civics Programs for Massachusetts Students
Amount Requested: $125,000 
Intended Recipient: USS Constitution Museum
Location: Boston, Suffolk County, MA 
Project Purpose: The USS Constitution Museum (USSCM) requests $125,000 to expand access to onsite STEM, civics, and history programs for under-resourced students in Boston, neighboring communities, and Gateway Cities. USSCM is an award-winning history museum, currently serving thousands of students yearly. The USSCM will accomplish two goals: 1. Expand free access to educational programming to serve more Massachusetts students; 2. Increase its capacity for program delivery. This request directly supports students by covering comprehensive program fees, exhibit maintenance, and technology upgrades to transform the Museum interpreting the oldest active-duty US military ship into a living-learning lab for MA students.

Project Name: Expansion of No-Cost Services for Families and Individuals living with Dementia Diseases 
Amount Requested: $993,337
Intended Recipient: Alzheimer’s Family Caregiver Support Center,Inc
Location: Brewster, Barnstable County, MA
Project Purpose: The Alzheimer's Family Support Center (AFSC) provides a comprehensive array of evidence-informed cost-free services to families, individuals, and communities living with Alzheimer's and other dementia-related diseases (ADRD) Based on Cape Cod and serving the entire region, AFSC has expanded into the Plymouth area and is currently the largest ADRD direct service provider in the region. Funding would be used to expand services, increase access, and recruit and train service providers.

The primary mandate of the AFSC is to reduce the burden of managing Alzheimer's and other dementia-related diseases for caregivers, families, and people living with the cognitive disease. Founded by former caregivers, ours is a need-responsive organization, creating programs and services based on the particular needs of the people we serve. Since 2015 we have been providing services in all 15 towns on Cape Cod, including education, caregiver support groups, conversation groups for people with ADRD, care consultations, specialized bereavement services, cognitive health screenings, ongoing phone support, insurance support, and social and cultural programming. We partner with local COAs, assisted living, museums, libraries, and other public entities to have a region-wide presence.

In March 2021, all services were moved online in response to the heightened needs created by the COVID-19 pandemic. Now we are in the process of bringing services back into the community, once again utilizing easily-accessible public spaces, while continuing to maintain a robust roster of online supports and services. We have also opened the Alzheimer's Family Community Center in the Cape Cod Mall, a highly visible and accessible location that is the first of its kind in the US.

All the programs the AFSC provides speak directly to the day-to-day needs of those living with a dementia disease, connecting people back to their doctors through our cognitive screening program; to their families through our family consultation program; and to their communities through our social and cultural programs. By employing a team approach, we can reach a high volume of people because no one service provider is responsible for the care of any one individual or family. Utilizing a mobile, secure database, we can share information so that hand-off between supports is seamless and requires little extra effort for caregivers, who are more often than not exhausted and overwhelmed. This approach helps empower families to create their care teams, of which the AFSC is only a member. In all of our services, we are modeling best practices in how to interact and live with people with ADRD that reduce stress, increase communication, and improve the lives of both caregivers and people living with dementia diseases, allowing people with cognitive loss to remain safely and contentedly in their communities for as long as possible. If the "Silver Tsunami" that has hit our region is an indication of what may be coming down the road elsewhere in the country, by funding this request, the AFSC may be able to demonstrate that our comprehensive, no-cost community-based model might be at least one answer to the challenge.

Project Name: Food Link FY2024 CDS Application
Amount Requested: $100,000 
Intended Recipient: Food Link, Inc. 
Location: Arlington, Middlesex County, MA
Project Purpose: Food Link's mission is to create a more equitable food system throughout Greater Boston by rescuing and distributing high-quality, customized food to under-resourced communities and by advocating for systems change. Food Link envisions a world in which everyone has abundant nourishing food and a food system in which no edible food goes to waste. Food Link rescues high-quality surplus food - approximately 1.2 million pounds annually - from grocers, wholesalers, and farms. Food Link distributes nourishing food - the equivalent of over one million meals - to 70,000 Massachusetts residents - children, families, and individuals throughout 50 Greater Boston communities to alleviate food insecurity. Food Link contributes to the economic stability of underserved children and families by allowing them to use their scarce resources for other basic needs such as rent, fuel, and education.

Food Link's project aims to combat food insecurity in Greater Boston through systems change, and this funding request will support staff and resources to provide equitable access to fresh food and promote the well-being of underserved children and families in the region. With the support of a Program/Community Outreach Manager, Food Link's food distributions will have a positive impact on the financial stability and health of those experiencing the greatest need. According to Food Link's 2022 program review, 65% of food recipients served by recipient agencies were from very low-income households (i.e. at or below the Federal Poverty Level (FPL)), and 32% were from low-income households (i.e. under 200% of the FPL). By supporting Food Link's efforts, this project will help diverse populations disproportionately impacted by food insecurity throughout Greater Boston.

Project Name: Franciscan Children's FY24 Request
Amount Requested: $6,000,000 
Intended Recipient: Franciscan Hospital for Children
Location: Brighton, Suffolk County, MA
Project Purpose: Franciscan Children's is constructing a 7-floor, 249,000-square-foot state-of-the-art new building to transform its 74-year-old campus and enable critically important expansion of the medical and mental health services it provides. Amid a pediatric mental health crisis exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, there is simply not enough capacity in the Commonwealth to meet the urgent needs of children boarding in emergency rooms across the state awaiting treatment. Franciscan's new building will expand access to services by significantly increasing behavioral health capacity, housing world-class research and teaching programs, and serving as a magnet to recruit and train the next generation of healthcare workers. Franciscan Children's has widespread support for its campus modernization plans from local elected officials and community organizations. The hospital has been working in close collaboration with the Boston Planning and Development Authority on its planning efforts. An essential upfront cost of the building project is the establishment of a geothermal wellfield that will contribute to a carbon-neutral footprint, facilitate the reduction of greenhouse gases, and align with the City of Boston's environmental goals for construction projects. The geothermal system will enable environmentally sustainable heating and cooling of the building on Franciscan's campus. As the only pediatric post-acute care hospital in Massachusetts and one of the most significant providers of behavioral health services in Boston, Franciscan Children's receipt of Congressionally directed spending for the new building's geothermal system will have a significant local and statewide impact.

Project Name: Free Sports for All Kids Program
Amount Requested: $112,000 
Intended Recipient: Active Social Communities DBA Volo Kids Foundation
Location: Boston, Suffolk County, MA 
Project Purpose: Volo Kids Free Sports for All Kids in Boston is seeking $224,000 to run free sports programs in 2024 for East Boston children, with a focus on the Hispanic community. Program goals are: 

• Provide sports programming to 1,000 children aged 5-13 in the East Boston communities.

• Over 80% of participating families will report in post-season surveys that Volo Kids helped their child's character development, and that they would recommend it to a friend (post-program survey)

• Over 85% of participating families indicate that they will seek out more ways to continue learning and growing through sports (post-program survey)

Project Name: FY24 Boston Medical Center Climate Resiliency Project
Amount Requested: $5,000,000
Intended Recipient: Boston Medical Center (BMC) Corporation
Location: Boston, Suffolk County, MA
Project Purpose: The risk of losing electrical grid power as a result of natural disasters and grid failures is increasing and requires Boston Medical Center (BMC) to consider new ways to support the long-term resiliency and sustainability of its campus. BMC is seeking to modernize and relocate its aging primary electrical switch gear to an elevated location on the campus (above the highest potential flood level) to ensure utility resiliency. In addition, BMC is seeking to enhance its ability to sustain critical clinical operations during a blackout by automating the Black-Start/Islanding capability of its 2-megawatt cogeneration plant (installed in 2017).

Project Name: Grandparents Raising Grandchildren Resource Center Mobile Initiative
Amount Requested: $1,250,000
Intended Recipient: Central Massachusetts Agency on Aging, Inc
Location: Worcester, Worcester County, MA
Project Purpose: Expanding the Resource Center's services to South and North Central, MA communities will ensure that grandparents raising grandkids in these regions have equal access to these resources. Community Health Workers from the Black, Indigenous, and People of Color Communities are needed in South and North Central Massachusetts for GrandFamilies. They will connect grandparents and lead households to services such as translation, housing, transportation, financial literacy, mental and behavioral health, culturally competent and medically tailored food, and educational opportunities. They will collaborate with Councils on Aging, Public School Systems, and other Community-Based Organizations.

Project Name: Harrington Hospital – Intensive Care Unit Renovation & Expansion
Amount Requested: $497,400 
Intended Recipient: Harrington Memorial Hospital, Inc.
Location: Southbridge, Worcester County, MA
Project Purpose: Located in one of the poorest municipalities in Massachusetts (Southbridge), Harrington Hospital's 6-bed intensive care unit is insufficient to meet local demand. The hospital regularly is forced to overflow critically ill patients into medical units in the care of ICU-trained nurses, which is suboptimal for patients, families, and medical staff. According to a comprehensive needs assessment, Harrington is undertaking a $7,500,000 project to renovate its entire ICU and add 2 additional beds. While the total project cost includes construction, this funding request of $497,400 is solely for essential medical equipment.

Central Massachusetts has substantially fewer beds per-capita than other regions of the Commonwealth. Due to bed capacity challenges and high demand for its services, the region's sole academic medical center regularly is forced to decline transfer requests for high-acuity patients from community hospitals, including Harrington. Harrington's ICU renovation and expansion project will substantially improve access to intensive care for residents of Southbridge and surrounding towns in southwestern Worcester County and will decrease the frequency of its patient transfer requests. By expanding local intensive care capacity and upgrading from outdated medical equipment to state-of-the-art, this project will improve access to critical care for local patients in the Southbridge area, while also modestly improving overall bed capacity in the commonwealth's most under-bedded region. 

Project Name: HealthAlliance-Clinton Hospital Spectral CT equipment- improve screening access in North Central MA
Amount Requested: $950,000 
Intended Recipient: HealthAlliance-Clinton Hospital
Location: Leominster, Worcester County, MA
Project Purpose: HealthAlliance-Clinton Hospital requests funding for the acquisition and installation of a Spectral Computed Tomography (CT) system with 64-slice capabilities to replace an aging 16-slice CT equipment located on the Leominster Hospital Campus. The Hospital is committed to increasing access to those most vulnerable populations that historically do not access life-saving screening resources. Therefore, an important goal of this project is to reduce the health disparities of marginalized populations in Leominster, Massachusetts, and the surrounding area. 

Annually, HealthAlliance-Clinton Hospital performs over 30,000 CT exams. As the non-profit safety-net health provider serving North Central Massachusetts and the Southern New Hampshire area, we would be able to utilize this funding to provide high-quality imaging for the patients in our region. We are the lowest-cost provider in our region and would be able to utilize the lower internal capital expenditures to improve the social determinants of health in our community and to ensure our facility is stable for many years to come. As a member of UMass Memorial Health, our patients also benefit from the ability to access advanced medical technology and specialty services that are part of the region's academic medical center to further advance the equity of clinical care available to all members of our community.

The Spectral Computed Tomography (CT) system delivers high-quality spectral images for every patient on every scan 100% of the time to help improve disease characterization, and reduce rescans and follow-ups, all at the same dose levels as conventional scans. While not exactly color imaging, it allows images to be generated based on how the findings in the body absorb radiation at different wavelengths so that a more precise diagnosis can be made. The time-saving spectral workflow is fully integrated, enabling the technologist to get the patient on and off the table quickly - spectral chest scans and head scans take less than one second, and a full upper body spectral scan can be completed in less than two seconds - while still delivering high-quality imaging that allows the physician to rapidly deliver a confident diagnosis and effective treatment plan for each patient. 

Barriers to access, including transportation, insurance, and primary care access, can cause decreased screening and diagnostic imaging rates. In turn, this can lead to delays in diagnosis that cause increased morbidity and mortality due to breast cancer. To reduce geographic barriers and address health equity, the new CT equipment will be installed at the Leominster campus, a full-service, acute care hospital located on the public transportation route. To expand access to all patients, the scanner can image larger patients than the current scanners, allowing imaging of patients up to 660 pounds. The system also images patients faster than the current scanners. This is particularly important for patients that cannot hold still. In the past, a CT study on these patients would have an artifact from their motion, which could make the study unreadable. The new scanner will have fewer artifacts.

Project Name: Holyoke Health Careers Training Center
Amount Requested: $1,000,000
Intended Recipient: Holyoke Health Center, Inc.
Location: Holyoke, Hampden County, MA
Project Purpose: Holyoke Health Center, a Federally Qualified Health Center, seeks support to develop a workforce training facility to grow its integrated healthcare teams. The severe workforce shortage, which has only become more severe due to the Pandemic and the "Great Resignation", is a major obstacle to the health center's mission of caring for its patients in the surrounding community. Staff shortages regionally have led to salary gaps, making it difficult for the health center to retain and recruit core staff. The training facility will be developed on three vacant floors of an adjacent 4-story building the health center recently acquired. Workforce development will focus on career growth for existing health center staff as well as training for persons not currently employed in the healthcare sector. 

Project Name: Huntington Theatre Apprentice Program
Amount Requested: $550,000
Intended Recipient: Huntington Theatre Company Inc. 
Location: Boston, Suffolk County, MA
Project Purpose: The Huntington seeks funding to relaunch the Huntington Apprentice Program, investing in up to 12 emerging theatre administrative and technical production professionals of diverse backgrounds for a full season of hands-on, on-the-job training, professional development, and industry networking, providing practical experience to motivated individuals looking to build careers in the arts. A full-time, year-long professional program, this initiative creates pathways into the cultural sector for both traditional and non-traditional candidates who are diverse in age and background, and supports them in navigating this changing industry, while developing the workforce for the benefit of the entire sector.

Project Name: IBA Financial Empowerment Program and Moonshot Initiative
Amount Requested: $250,000 
Intended Recipient: Inquilinos Boricuas en Acción
Location:  Boston, Suffolk County, MA
Project Purpose: IBA's Financial Empowerment Program (FEP) supports the low-income, predominantly Latinx (49% of the resident population) and BIPOC (97% of the resident population) residents of Inquilinos Boricuas en Acción (IBA)'s affordable housing community and the surrounding South End and Lower Roxbury neighborhoods through financial empowerment programming.

To expand its impact and further support community members in setting and achieving their financial goals, IBA and FEP are launching its Moonshot Initiative alongside its day-to-day programming. The Moonshot Initiative is a multi-faceted and cross-disciplinary programming effort to disrupt the cycle of poverty amongst its residents, providing a range of tools to support residents in achieving socio-economic mobility and sustainable homeownership.

Project Name: Improving Comprehensive Access to Mental Health Services in Methuen, MA
Amount Requested: $35,000
Intended Recipient: Methuen Public Schools and Methuen Municipality
Location: Methuen, Essex County, MA 
Project Purpose: Methuen Public Schools in collaboration with the Methuen, MA municipality are seeking funding to support the acquisition of the Care Solace platform, a mental health services care coordination service for K-12 school districts, higher education institutions, municipalities, and employers. Care Solace provides 24/7/365 multilingual support for individuals to secure mental health services regardless of insurance type. Youth identified through the district's universal mental health screening program would have greater access to proactive and preventative services. Additionally, our acquisition of Care Solace would result in increased access to services across the entire municipality.

 Project Name: Improving Operations While Expanding Access
Amount Requested: $433,000 
Intended Recipient: Mental Health Association, Inc.
Location: Springfield, Hampden County, MA
Project Purpose: The requested support will be used to increase the capacity of Mental Health Association, Inc.'s clinical operations while simultaneously expanding services to address the critical need for mental health services. The requested support will permit the technological and office outfitting preparation of a larger, more accessible new facility (not construction) to meet the demand for programming for MHA's acquired brain injury program, more access to mental health services, capacity development, furnishings for homeless programs, and to provide the ability to acquire a new sober home. This proposal would also allow for cameras and wiring for youth programming. 

Project Name: Increasing Access to Health Care in Worcester County
Amount Requested: $1,500,000 
Intended Recipient: Edward M. Kennedy Community Health Center, Inc 
Location: Worcester, Worcester County
Project Purpose: Kennedy Community Health is seeking CDS funds to assist in expanding access to health care for marginalized populations and people of color in Central Mass. The funding will support a capital project to convert 13 dental operatories to primary care exam rooms at our flagship health center site at 19 Tacoma Street, Worcester, MA. The Worcester Regional Community Health Assessment noted two issues that must be addressed to improve health status and reduce existing disparities: racism, discrimination, and health equity and health system issues Our proposal to expand primary care services in Worcester will address these concerns.

Seizing the opportunity to almost double our footprint in Worcester, in 2021 we purchased 605 Lincoln Street, a half mile from our flagship health center at 19 Tacoma Street. Operating two large health centers will expand our capacity and increase access to vital healthcare services, especially for vulnerable populations. The new facility will house expanded dental, behavioral health, urgent care, a small pharmacy, and optometry practice. Our approach to expanding access was strategic in that the purchase of 605 Lincoln Street is allowing us to move and expand our dental and behavioral health practices while freeing up space in our flagship health center site at 19 Tacoma Street, Worcester to grow primary care and increase access to culturally and linguistically competent medical care for the citizens of Central Massachusetts. The extra space at our flagship health center will also support the growth of our 340b pharmacy and its move to the first floor for easy access, and the expansion of our Ryan White HIV Center. 

Project Name: Increasing the Nursing Workforce
Amount Requested: $831,420 
Intended Recipient: Emmanuel College
Location: Boston, Suffolk County, MA
Project Purpose: Building on Emmanuel College's strong nursing programs, we will develop a Dedicated Education Unit, where currently practicing nurses would be enrolled in Emmanuel's Master's Degree Nursing (MSN) program, supported by the funding, and thus be compliant with the Board of Registered Nursing Regulations to be able to assist in the instruction in our Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) undergraduate nursing program supporting increase enrollment, clinical sites, and a pipeline to increase the number of nursing faculty. Second, purchase equipment to support an increase in enrollment in the number of undergraduate nursing students, doubling our numbers from 50 students a year to 100 students each year within two years. 

Project Name: Innovating Main Street
Amount Requested: $750,000 
Intended Recipient: New England Farm Workers' Council
Location: Springfield, Hampden County, MA
Project Purpose: The New England Farm Workers' Council proposes to use these funds to revitalize/renovate property owned in the heart of downtown Springfield, Mass. Monies will be used to improve handicap accessibility and build out space. NEFWC envisions a state-of-the-art training space and small business incubator. Training space will be utilized to provide workforce education. A cutting-edge incubator space will offer office space, a conference room, breakout rooms, etc. for rent and use by minority-operated small businesses. This locale will bolster support for innovators, assist the under/unemployed and provide overall economic growth to the area. 

Project Name: Innovation in Monitoring Infection: MyHealthPal
Amount Requested: $468,500
Intended Recipient: Global Smile Foundation
Location: Norwood, Norfolk County, MA
Project Purpose: MyHealthPal will elevate the current ways that wound healing is monitored for postoperative patients. Undergoing surgery is relatively common for adults in the United States. The American College of Surgeons estimates that the average adult in the US will undergo an average of 9.2 surgical procedures in a lifetime. After leaving the hospital, one of the greatest concerns for patients is preventing a surgical site infection (SSI), which increases the risk of wound-related health issues, re-admittance to the hospital, and even death. From a financial perspective, the CDC estimates that SSI accounts for more than $3 billion in healthcare costs.

MyHealthPal is the first application that will be accessible via a smart device to connect patients and physicians in real time and provide predictive wound healing outcomes using artificial intelligence and machine learning. Patients will be able to easily submit images and data to physicians, who will be able to review this information and respond accordingly. With access to efficient and timely communication with physicians, patients will be less likely to visit emergency rooms or medical centers unnecessarily, minimizing the financial and emotional burden for them and their caregivers.

When a patient develops an infection or unwarranted outcome, MyHealthPal enables physicians to respond quickly by immediately alerting them of any postoperative complications from uploaded images, such as symptoms of infection at the surgical site. Early intervention and medical care improves patient recovery by lowering the risk of serious infections and preventing the development of chronic wounds.

 Project Name: Intergenerational Leadership Academy
Amount Requested: $655,000 
Intended Recipient: Massachusetts Women of Color Coalition, Inc. 
Location: Worcester, Worcester County, MA
Project Purpose: Massachusetts Women of Color Coalition is thrilled to present a proposal for funding our leadership academy that aims to empower and equip women and girls of color with the necessary tools, strategies, and insights needed to navigate systemic barriers and achieve their higher education goals and career aspirations. MAWOCC's Academy also aims to address the lack of women of color representation at the senior and executive levels and to develop the next generation of leaders. This project includes funding for a data collection system to capture, analyze and disseminate data to inform institutions, practices, and policies to combat systemic and institutional racism. 

MAWOCC Leadership Academy is an intergenerational Leadership Academy for women of color and girls of color in grades 9-12. This project will provide holistic leadership skills for women of color and girls of color who are more likely to experience marginalization, discrimination, and gendered and racial stress. This program also aims to have a special focus on strategies to address racial trauma through the intersectionality lens of gender and race which impacts overall health and well-being and our communities of color as a whole. Our leadership academy also pairs life-experienced WOC to help prepare and mentor graduates from this program. We believe strongly in providing resources with the necessary tools needed for sustainability and support. We will recruit women of color in leadership positions from all industries. (early leaders, mid-level to senior managers, and individual contributors interested in transitioning to leadership positions.)

Project Name: Investment in Youth and Families through Professional Youth Mentoring Services and Family Support
Amount Requested: $250,000
Intended Recipient: Friends of the Children-Boston, Inc.
Location: Roxbury, Suffolk County, MA
Project Purpose: Funds would support family stability for those facing the highest social and economic barriers and help each family thrive through 1:1 professional, youth mentoring interventions and whole-family supports around educational, social-emotional, mental health, housing, and food security, and additional services. This one-time investment will provide technology upgrades, organizational structure enhancements, and deeper supportive services to buttress families' stability and resiliency. It will allow the organization to expand to serve new families in East Boston while better serving all our families in the Greater Boston region. Funds, while short-term, will be catalytic - creating the framework for formal growth to additional communities such as Lynn, Lowell, and Brockton within three years and doubling the number of families served over five years.

Project Name: Island Health Care Rural Dental Center
Amount Requested: $1,650,000
Intended Recipient: Island Health Inc.
Location: Edgartown, Dukes County, MA
Project Purpose: In November 2020, a hospital-sponsored dental clinic on Martha's Vineyard serving Medicaid and the state's Health Safety Net patients closed abruptly, leaving the low-medium income population with extremely limited access to dental care and no access to a pediatric dentist. To meet this crisis of limited access to oral health and safety-net dental services for families and children on Martha's Vineyard, Island Health Care FQHC has purchased space and developed architectural and operational plans to build and equip a four-chair, full-service dental clinic.

Our proposed CDS project provides start-up funding for salary and housing support for dental clinic staff, support of an adult and pediatric residency training program, additional equipment, supplies, and other necessary expenses, including tele-dentistry for the center's first 12 months of operations. Start-up operational funds from the proposed project will greatly shorten the time it will take to meet the needs of the service area's 21,000 year-round residents, the majority of whom are presently without any access to oral health care and include most of the children who live on Martha's Vineyard.

As a federally-qualified community health center, Island Health Care is well-positioned to fill this gap in access to dental care. FQHC's can receive enhanced reimbursement rates from government insurers such as Medicaid (MassHealth) which has recently dramatically increased payments to health centers for medical and dental services. Once up and running with start-up funding support, the business model for staffing and operationalizing the rural dental center, and for partnering with Boston University's Goldman School of Dental Medicine for training and pediatric specialty support, will be highly sustainable.

Project Name: IT Job Training for Massachusetts Residents to Attain a Thriving Wage
Amount Requested: $500,000 
Intended Recipient: Per Scholas, Inc.
Location: Cambridge, Middlesex County, MA
Project Purpose: Per Scholas' mission is advancing economic equity through rigorous training for tech careers and connecting skilled talent to leading businesses. At our Greater Boston campus, which opened in 2019, we have trained 700 individuals with the skills needed to access family-sustaining IT careers to date, and in the coming year plan to train an additional 230 individuals. 

The requested funds will be used to support 50 adult learners (18+) to participate in our market-driven, free, boot camp-style tech training, professional development, and job search offerings for low-income Massachusetts residents; a model that is proven to lead to industry-recognized certifications and entry into IT and Cybersecurity careers while providing businesses a diverse and skilled talent pipeline.

We believe a thriving workforce starts with equitable access to education. By providing training that leads to industry-recognized certification and employer networks to individuals who are often excluded from tech careers, Per Scholas has played a key role in advancing a diverse tech workforce across the country.

We alleviate inequity by fueling economic and social progress through free market-driven tech training and creating on-ramps for BIPOC and women, groups historically underrepresented in technology. Our graduates and their families experience the benefits of better wages and entry into high-growth tech careers, and businesses are strengthened because companies with diverse teams are more successful—with higher productivity and creativity.

Our training is employer-informed and incorporates the skills and knowledge businesses demand. Our courses are tuition-free and include the cost of certification exams and supplies. We do not charge a post-graduation fee or a percentage of future wages.

Project Name: IV Infusion Pump
Amount Requested: $948,812
Intended Recipient: Lawrence General Hospital
Location: Lawrence, Essex County, MA
Project Purpose:  Lawrence General Hospital seeks to replace and upgrade its smart infusion pumps that dispense medication intravenously to patients in the hospital inpatient units and the outpatient infusion center, to improve patient care delivery, the reliability of the equipment, and safer drug dispensing. 

 
Project Name: Journey Forward
Amount Requested: $500,000 
Intended Recipient: Journey Forward
Location: Canton, Norfolk County, MA
Project Purpose: Expansion and improvement of activity-based therapy program serving the paralysis community in Greater Boston and the surrounding 10-county region, through the acquisition of capital equipment for rehabilitative treatment for spinal cord injury, traumatic brain injury, stroke, and neurological disorder survivors in a community-based setting.

Project Name: Journey into Education & Teaching
Amount Requested: $300,000 
Intended Recipient: Journey into Education & Teaching (JET)
Location: Concord, Middlesex County, MA
Project Purpose: JET recruits and mentors paraeducators in urban school districts who want to earn their college degrees and become the diverse teachers urgently needed in their communities, which are also experiencing heightened teacher shortages exacerbated by covid. JET applicants have tripled this year, and 65% identify as non-white. Additionally, an increasing number of urban school districts are seeking JET services for their paraeducators. To meet this rapidly growing demand, JET must build its resources so it can fully deliver its proven program model of multi-year mentoring and support that is generating growth in community teacher pipelines. Paraeducators represent a large pool of potential teachers. There are over 25,000 in Massachusetts and about 1/3 work in urban school districts.

Paraeducators are ideally suited to become teachers in diverse communities for the following reasons: they reflect the diversity of urban student populations more so than any other category of educator; they work with students daily in the classroom, which gives them indispensable classroom knowledge, skills and experience; they are from the community so they have cultural knowledge and lived experience of their students, and are more likely to continue teaching long term in their communities; in achieving their goal of becoming a licensed teacher, they become role models for their families, students, and communities. It is well-documented that students learn best when they have teachers who can make learning relevant and demonstrate an understanding of their backgrounds.

JET's mission is to cultivate and grow community educator pipelines that will result in a diverse educator workforce in Massachusetts.

Project Name: Kids in Tech, Inc. After School Tech Club 
Amount Requested: $300,000 
Intended Recipient: Kids in Tech, Inc.
Location: Lowell, Middlesex County, MA
Project Purpose: KIT's mission is to excite, educate, and empower children to acquire skills and confidence in technology through interactive after-school programs. The organization primarily achieves this through After School Tech Clubs (ASTCs) that offer interactive, small-group learning to students from low-income backgrounds. ASTCs are made available at partner sites in Lowell and Boston. KIT's partner sites include schools where at least 50% of the students qualify for the National School Lunch Program (NSLP), local housing authorities, and other area nonprofits. By targeting low-income students in urban areas of Massachusetts, KIT targets predominantly ethnic minorities, English Language Learners (ELLs), disabled, and other disadvantaged students who consistently lag behind on standardized tests compared to their more well-resourced peers. Students participating in the program meet at partner sites after school 2-4 times per week to engage in learning modules and create final projects. In addition to these hands-on modules, KIT provides field trips and invites guest speakers who are professionals or academics in the STEM areas students are learning about and reflect the gender, ethnic, or economic background of students By offering enriching after-school STEM, KIT is able to help students gain further interest in these subjects, build emotional resilience and confidence to problem solve, enhances their socialization and cooperative learning skills, and provides them with role models in STEM who come from similar backgrounds as they do.

KIT has been hosting ASTCs in Lowell over the past 7 years and in Boston for 1 year. ASTCs fulfill a critical gap for low-income students who statistically underperform in STEM subjects in the classroom and on standardized tests. In urban settings such as Lowell, the majority of low-income students are ethnic minorities. While the majority of government funding for STEM interventions is directed towards the high school level, KIT specifically targets students aged 8 to 14 with the goal of addressing gaps earlier in students' educations and helping them to develop the social and emotional regulatory skills necessary to work through problems.

Project Name: Lasell University Cybersecurity Educational Center
Amount Requested: $1,398,650 
Intended Recipient: Lasell University
Location: Newton, Middlesex County, MA
Project Purpose: Within Massachusetts 20,000 high-paying cyber security jobs remain unfilled due to a shortage of trained people to fill them. A trained cybersecurity workforce is key to protecting Massachusetts businesses and people from cyberattacks. The existing cybersecurity workforce also lacks diverse representation, particularly among women, persons of color, and veterans. Lasell University's Cybersecurity Educational Center addresses these gaps by expanding its cybersecurity program and establishing a cybersecurity range that would draw more students to Lasell specifically for cybersecurity and the specialized, hands-on opportunities such a range would offer.

Project Name: Lawrence General Hospital Automated Medication Dispensing Cabinets
Amount Requested: $702,583
Intended Recipient: Lawrence General Hospital
Location: Lawrence, Essex County, MA
Project Purpose: Complete the transition from older Automated Dispensing Cabinets (ADCs) to state-of-the-art ADC medication dispensing equipment so that the Operating Room, Surgical Day Care, Post Anesthesia Care Unit, Endoscopy, Interventional Radiology, Pediatrics, Special Care Nursery all have new ADCs. 

Project Name: Lawrence General Hospital Enhanced Comfort, Smart Beds
Amount Requested: $2,975,319
Intended Recipient: Lawrence General Hospital
Location: Lawrence, Essex County, MA
Project Purpose:  Lawrence General Hospital seeks to replace the wide array of long-serving hospital beds currently in use for inpatients in the maternity, telemetry, intensive care, and medical-surgical units at the Hospital. Each of these units has beds that have been in service for many years and the beds lack the enhanced capabilities, ease of access and comfort, patient-protecting safety features, and better ergonomic design that aids clinical staff members' capacity to assist patients with greater ease. New smart beds will enhance the patient experience, contribute to better outcomes for Lawrence General patients, improve the ease of transferring patients from the beds for nursing and clinical staff, and offer patients the same comfort features that better-financed hospitals can afford more readily than Lawrence General, as a safety net hospital.

Project Name: Liberty Battalion ROTC Training Enhancements and Community Pathways
Amount Requested: $280,000
Intended Recipient: Northeastern University
Location: Boston, Suffolk County, MA
Project Purpose: This request will provide for the acquisition of new physical fitness and tactical training equipment that will improve the overall training and readiness of Liberty Battalion ROTC cadets—which trains more than one hundred cadets representing eleven colleges and universities across Massachusetts and partners with Massachusetts high schools to bring physical fitness and leadership training opportunities to high school students—and enhance the battalion's community partnerships with local high schools, JROTC programs, and other colleges and universities, to provide new opportunities for physical fitness, leadership training, and other college readiness and pathways programming for young people.

Project Name: Living in Freedom Together (LIFT)
Amount Requested: $641,000 
Intended Recipient: Living in Freedom Together, Inc. (LIFT)
Location: Worcester, Worcester County, MA
Project Purpose: LIFT seeks funding to support the conversion of the first-floor garage at 534 Cambridge Street (purchased and owned by LIFT as of August 2022, and the location of LIFT's programmatic HQ, HARBOR) into commercial kitchen space. LIFT has signed a scope of work and hired the local contractor, Sustainable Comfort Incorporated (SCI) with whom the organization has worked with previously, to assist with this Conversion of Use project. ARPA dollars will help to expedite the conceptual design and installation of a Commercial Kitchen that ultimately will serve as BRAVE's headquarters. BRAVE (Building Real Action for Viable Employment) is LIFT's newest program that was seed funded by MA EOHED's Community Empowerment & Reinvestment Grant) with nearly half a million dollars. As LIFT enters calendar year FY2023, the organization intends to complete outfitting a Food Truck where "BRAVE Trainees" will learn the ins and outs of customer services, ordering, business skills, and get appropriate certifications for serving coffee and light fare. The capital project will help BRAVE be a year-round training program, as the Food Truck will only be operational in warmer weather seasons. The Commercial Kitchen will help continue food service training for BRAVE trainees, and also aid in food storage and preparation for HARBOR's 15-bed emergency shelter and 24/7 Drop-In Center for prostituted women experiencing chronic homelessness and/or unstable housing. Prostitution is part of a wider system of commercial sexual exploitation (CSE) and victims of CSE are disproportionately women and girls, and even more disproportionately low-income women and girls identifying as Black and Latina. The vast majority of LIFT's program participants have experienced incarceration and are in reentry. LIFT's most recent demographic data demonstrates the people we serve identify as 10% Black/African American, 22% Latinx/Hispanic, and 15% as LGTBQIA+. 100% are low-income. Ultimately the Conversion of Use Capital Project funded by ARPA dollars will aid in providing Survivors of the sex trade in reentry with access to employment opportunities and will aid Survivors living at the 15-bed emergency shelter and those utilizing the Drop-In Center with safe, healthy access to food 24/7 365 days a year.

Project Name: Manet Community Health Center Electronic Health Record Innovations
Amount Requested: $1,407,546 
Intended Recipient: Manet Community Health Center, Inc.
Location: Quincy, Norfolk County, MA
Project Purpose: Manet completed the installation of its first-generation EHR in 2008, and in 2012 the health center moved to its second-generation EHR. A decade later, with its continued growth (28% increase in primary care patients from 2021 to 2022) and with the next stage of the Medicaid ACO, Manet has determined that a 3rd generation EHR system is indicated to optimize and improve robust provider integration across the health care services continuum; improve quality, patient safety and reporting; enhance provider and integrated care team decision support; monitor for disparities; and increase system efficiency.

Project Name: Marlborough Hospital Spectral CT to improve patient care and patient access to health screenings
Amount Requested: $950,000
Intended Recipient: Marlborough Hospital
Location:  Marlborough, Middlesex County, MA
Project Purpose: Marlborough Hospital is a 79-bed community hospital in the UMass Memorial Health system and a safety net hospital serving vulnerable populations in the MetroWest region. The hospital provides emergency care and a wide range of inpatient care, including an inpatient behavioral health unit, and outpatient services. The hospital is requesting funding support for the acquisition and installation of a Spectral Computed Tomography (CT) scanner. CT is a routinely used diagnostic tool in radiology and emergency departments. The hospital's current traditional CT scanner is nearing its end of life. Traditional CT technology has limitations that may yield inconclusive results or require supplemental testing. The newer spectral CT technology will provide high-quality, low-dose, faster, and more confident diagnoses. 

Marlborough Hospital is seeking funding to update the current CT technology. One of the most powerful tools of this new scanner is that it creates images using spectral data. This allows images to be generated based on how the findings in the body absorb radiation at different wavelengths so that a more precise diagnosis can be made. Missed and delayed diagnoses contribute to roughly 10% of patient deaths annually.

With such great human and financial costs due to misdiagnosis, this new equipment provides a standard of care where image quality, dose, and workflow come together to deliver valuable clinical insights.

Project Name: Martha's Vineyard Hospital
Amount Requested: $1,070,200 
Intended Recipient: Martha's Vineyard Hospital, Inc.
Location: Oak Bluffs, Dukes County, MA
Project Purpose: Martha's Vineyard Hospital is requesting Congressionally Directed Support to purchase capital equipment to be used in the operating room, acute care unit, and radiology Departments. Martha's Vineyard Hospital is a Critical Access Hospital licensed with a 25-bed capacity and the only Hospital located on the Island of Martha's Vineyard, accessible only by ferry, airplane, or helicopter. Prior to the Pandemic, the Hospital transported the majority of higher acuity patients to off-Island Hospitals. The surge of medical needs in off-Island communities during the Pandemic, and continuing, has revealed the need to increase access to specialty and other diagnostic services locally. Overwhelming capacity constraints and Emergency Department overcrowding persist. The requested equipment is necessary to provide the highest quality care to the more than 20,000 residents of Dukes County and 100,000 seasonal visitors. The equipment request supports four areas of need: a nitrous oxide sedation set up for the Emergency Department to perform sedation for minor procedures; a fiber-optic surgical system used by surgeons to navigate lighting and imaging during procedures; a fluoroscopy unit that will enable the Hospital to have two fully operational digital imaging rooms; and 10 telemetry units to install on our acute care wing. We currently only have telemetry for our three ICU beds and in the Emergency Department. With increased inpatient admissions for behavioral health patients, higher acuity illnesses, and post-surgical stays, we need the ability to monitor multiple patients in real-time.

Project Name: MassChallenge Health Technology Accelerator for Healthy Aging and Independent Living
Amount Requested: $1,000,000 
Intended Recipient: MassChallenge, Inc.
Location: Boston, Suffolk County, MA
Project Purpose: The United States is facing a crisis in caring for our aging population. A lack of home care workers, overburdened caretakers, and a strained health care system are all contributing to poor health outcomes for the millions of Americans 65 and older as well as Americans living with disabilities. By 2040, the number of older adults is expected to reach 80.8 million. By 2060, it will reach 94.7 million, and older adults will make up nearly 25% of the US population. 

Aging increases the risk of chronic diseases such as dementia, heart disease, type 2 diabetes, arthritis, and cancer. These are the nation's leading drivers of illness, disability, death, and health care costs. In recent years and accelerated by the coronavirus pandemic, technologies such as telehealth, wearable devices, and the Internet of things (IoT) have unlocked new potential to help improve elder care and allow more Americans to stay in their homes rather than enter care facilities.

MassChallenge is the global network of innovators - we connect startups to the knowledge, networks, resources, and capital they need to launch and grow. Participation in our accelerators is free and we do not take any equity from companies in exchange for training. 

MassChallenge believes in the potential of technology to help aging and disabled Americans to stay at home and enjoy better health. This is a necessary extension of our multi-year investment in driving equitable outcomes, specifically health equity. To bring this technology to market, MassChallenge is seeking $1 million in funding through the FY2024 Congressional Directed Spending Request process to support two specialized accelerator programs to launch businesses focused on helping seniors and disabled individuals safely stay in their homes, access health care, and remain connected to the community. 

The purpose of this project is to support aging and disabled Americans by rapidly accelerating technologies in the emerging area of AgeTech and Connected Things. The Accelerator program at MassChallenge will support 20 start-up companies in 2024 with no-cost education, access to mentors, cash prizes, and inclusion in a peer network. 

 For senior citizens or disabled individuals living alone, technology can help detect and alert caregivers, healthcare professionals, or family members to changes in behavior - which can prevent serious issues. Connected things, also known as the Internet of Things (IoT), refers to the network of physical devices, vehicles, buildings, and other objects embedded with electronics, software, sensors, and connectivity which enables these objects to connect and exchange data with each other and with the external environment. By tracking key health indicators such as dehydration and malnutrition and behavioral changes like decreased mobility, IoT-enabled monitors reduce emergency hospital admissions and allow elders to stay in their homes longer safely. 

Powered by MassChallenge, we will seek to discover the next generation of technology with the potential to support the needs of the ever-expanding population of older adults.

Project Name: Maternal and Infant Health Initiative
Amount Requested: $200,000 
Intended Recipient: Taunton Maternal Health Roundtable
Location: Taunton, Bristol County, MA 
Project Purpose:We are proposing to create a “whatever it takes” model to address maternal health and infant health disparities similar to Geoffrey Canada's Harlem Children's Zone. We will begin with a comprehensive needs assessment for the Greater Taunton area followed by a creative, dynamic and aggressive strategy to fill the gaps in maternal health care in our community - mobile resources, a birthing center, housing assistance, nutrition, pre- peri- and post-natal health and mental care and community based supports. 

Project Name: MCLA Network Refresh
Amount Requested: $893,485
Intended Recipient: Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts
Location: North Adams, Berkshire County, MA
Project Purpose: Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts (MCLA) will purchase and install wi-fi and network equipment to provide wi-fi access to campus buildings. Network switching components will connect to the entire network impacting 994 students, 287 faculty and staff as well as campus guests and visiting faculty. 

Project Name: Mentoring for the Mental Health of Greater Boston's Girls
Amount Requested: $500,000 
Intended Recipient: Big Sister Association of Greater Boston
Location: Boston, Suffolk County, MA
Project Purpose: Big Sister's mission is to ignite girls' passion and power to succeed through positive mentoring relationships with women and enrichment programs that support girls' healthy development. Since 1951, Big Sister has been a foundational mentoring institution for girls and their families across 69 cities and towns in Greater Boston. The organization's goal is to provide high-quality, gender-intentional mentoring relationships to girls that last at least one year. Today, that goal is even more critical. Girls' mental health has been adversely impacted by the pandemic. Although Big Sister has a long history of holistically supporting girls, the urgency of its work has become even more apparent over the last several years. Funding will support Big Sister's one-to-one mentoring programs that match girls with trained, committed women mentors. In these mentoring relationships, girls' self-confidence, social skills, and emotional wellbeing grow. The Big Sister Association of Greater Boston works closely with families, schools, and community and corporate partners to ensure girls have access to quality mentors and enrichment programs.

Project Name: MHH R&R
Amount Requested: $466,010 
Intended Recipient: Hampden County Career Center, Inc. dba MassHire Holyoke, 
Location: Holyoke, Hampden County, MA
Project Purpose:The Recovery Ready Workforce Initiative centers its services at the workplace, where it is needed the most. 

Addiction and substance use disorders (SUD) cost the United States billions of dollars per year in healthcare costs, criminal justice involvement, and lost work and productivity. More than 15 million Americans with current or past SUD are members of the workforce.

MassHire Holyoke (MHH), is tackling this challenge head-on through its Recovery Ready Workplace (RRW) Initiative, a voluntary program providing information, education, and resources to businesses in Hampden County and the rest of the commonwealth to support their employees and family members in recovery from SUD.

The RRW initiative offers employers orientation to the initiative and ongoing coaching/training support customized to each business. Resources and information about other supports are also provided. The staff of RWW is dedicated to helping each business successfully develop into a full Recovery Ready Workforce.

Services include: 

• On-site, in-person, zoom, or hybrid group orientation: multi-model options to expand across Massachusetts as demand increases

• On-site, in-person, zoom, or hybrid group or individual training sessions, selected based on each business's needs.

• Comprehensive and simple-to-follow guides with specific suggestions and links to other valuable resources

• Education on why addiction is defined as a diagnosable disease with medical responses needed, just as other health conditions like diabetes or cancer.

• Connecting employees and supervisors to SUD and behavioral health information, resources, training, and services to meet their specific needs.

• Support in establishing HR policies and practices that help people in recovery maintain their employment

All RRW businesses benefit from a healthier, more productive, and more motivated workforce. They gain a reputation among current and potential employees as a positive and supportive place to work combined with an enhanced community reputation as a supportive, yet highly accountable, organization.

Finally, one of the best predictors of positive outcomes for people with SUD is employment. People in recovery who can work have:

• Lower rates of SUD recurrence

• Less criminal justice involvement

• More successful transitions from treatment back into the community

• Improvements in quality of life.

Project Name: Middlesex Community College Engineering Lab Expansion
Amount Requested: $998,182 

Intended Recipient: Middlesex Community College
Location: Lowell, Middlesex County, MA
Project Purpose: Middlesex Community College is looking to double the size of its engineering program by creating a new engineering lab on its Lowell campus in the Federal Building located at 50 Kearney Square, Lowell. The college's engineering program is currently located on the college's Bedford campus. To address the workforce needs of Greater Lowell, the college is seeking to expand the program into Lowell, using space currently occupied by the college's arts program. This Lowell lab location would allow the college to better serve its Greater Lowell community, both in terms of job placements but also for proximity to the college's urban campus for students who attend classes in the college's city properties.

Project Name: Middlesex County Restoration Center Commission
Amount Requested: $1,500,000
Intended Recipient: Executive Office of Health and Human Resources on behalf of the Middlesex County Restoration Center Commission
Location: Boston, Suffolk County, MA
Project Purpose: The Middlesex County Restoration Center Commission seeks to pilot a Restoration Center to prevent arrest, unnecessary hospitalization, and ED use of people with behavioral health conditions through triage, assessment, crisis stabilization, sober support, respite, case management, and after-care planning like housing navigation. The Center will accept walk-ins, drop-offs by police/first responders after a 911 call, and in-house transportation as a less-traumatic alternative to police cruisers or ambulances. These behavioral health services should save money currently spent arresting, incarcerating, and hospitalizing people with such conditions, and align with the Commonwealth's efforts to reform crisis response.

Project Name: Mobile Dental Clinic for Massachusetts Most Vulnerable Children With Disabilities
Amount Requested: $690,000
Intended Recipient: Tufts University School of Dental Medicine
Location: Boston, Suffolk County, MA
Project Purpose: The purpose of this project is to establish a mobile dental clinic to serve vulnerable, under-served children with disabilities in Massachusetts. The goal is to purchase a dental clinic (bus) fully equipped with dental chairs, x-ray machines, sterilizers, and other required equipment to provide quality care and to place it in the service of the most vulnerable children with disabilities.

A survey by the Massachusetts Department of Education showed that 17.1% of students (163,450 individuals) enrolled in MA public schools have a disability requiring an Individualized Education Plan (IEP). The percentage is higher in metropolitan Boston at 19.5% (accounting for more than 10,00 Boston-area students). For a variety of reasons, many low-income children with an intellectual or developmental disability or other complex medical needs, cannot obtain dental treatment despite experiencing severe pain and/or infection.

For those with the most severe stage of disease requiring treatment under general anesthesia at a hospital OR, Boston-area hospitals have over 12 months of wait until a child is scheduled to receive dental treatment, leading to significant health risks and suffering, school absenteeism, increased healthcare costs and risk for complications.

With most preventive school-based dental programs permanently discontinued across several communities due to logistical and financial issues imposed by the Covid19 pandemic, Massachusetts is experiencing an oral health crisis.

The mobile dental clinic will provide an effective and sustainable solution to this crisis by bringing care to the disabled child's natural environment, either their place of (group) residence or their school.

Project Name: Native H.E.A.L.
Amount Requested: $600,000 
Intended Recipient: Native American LifeLines, Inc, 
Location: West Roxbury, Suffolk County, MA
Project Purpose: Native American LifeLines, Inc (NAL) will engage in activities focused on the behavioral health needs of Urban American Indians in Massachusetts by providing culturally informed education on opiates, medication-assisted treatment (MAT), harm reduction strategies, and/or risk factors related to opiate use disorder. Because NAL is an Outreach and Referral Site, we are unable to provide direct medical services. Our efforts will instead focus on educating the community through a series of workshops led by NAL staff members and community partners / subject matter experts and evaluated through pre-and post-testing. NAL staff would also work on developing a youth council that would identify, discuss, and determines best practices for engaging their peers with information on the prevention or intervention of substance abuse. We understand that a significant number of our community members experience lower literacy rates and lower levels of educational attainment. As such, educational environments that are collaborative, interactive, and privileged auditory learning styles are more successful.

To accomplish this, the Native H.E.A.L. Project will focus on four areas - Direct Service, Health Promotion and Substance Use Prevention, Training, and Youth Engagement.

Project Name: New North Citizen's Council, Inc.
Amount Requested: $1,500,000 
Intended Recipient: 
Location: Springfield, Hampden County, MA
Project Purpose: The purpose of the "Barbara Rivera Family & Community Center" project is to centralize the New North Citizens' Council's health promotion, public health prevention, and social services in a one-stop location so that the agency can more efficiently and effectively provide ongoing community benefits to Springfield residents. Activities at the Barbara Rivera Family & Community Center include community health education projects, health care coordination services, HIV/AIDS outreach and prevention, social services to address the social determinants of health, and identification of emerging health needs of North End families and the development of strategies to address these needs. New North Citizens' Council programs in the new Barbara Rivera Community Center will be coordinated across many partners and systems and will build on the agency's expertise and linkages across all levels of medical care; public health, physical health, behavioral health care; family support services; workforce development and small business support services; food and nutrition resources; and homelessness services and housing. The Barbara Rivera Community & Family Center will provide services to improve the social determinants of health for Springfield residents. The following social, economic, and environmental factors that shape people's overall health and well-being are the focus of the Center-based project.

1. Income and wealth: Poverty and low income are linked to poor health outcomes and can limit access to healthcare, healthy food, and safe housing. Access to cash assistance support is provided at the Center.

2. Education: Higher levels of education are associated with better health outcomes and access to healthcare. Training in construction and health fields is supported at the Center.

3. Employment: Unemployment, job insecurity, and poor working conditions can contribute to stress, poor mental health, and other health issues. Job placement and support are provided at the Center.

4. Neighborhood and physical environment: Access to green spaces, safe housing, and clean air and water can positively impact health. Planning to improve the built environment is provided at the Center.

5. Social support networks: Strong social support networks can provide emotional and practical support, which can positively impact health outcomes. Family support services are provided at the Center.

6. Discrimination and social exclusion: Discrimination based on factors such as race, gender, sexuality, and religion can negatively impact health outcomes. Social justice awareness is provided at the Center.

7. Access to healthcare: Access to affordable, high-quality healthcare is crucial for maintaining good health. Residents with chronic conditions get help accessing healthcare at the Center.

8. Culture and values: Cultural beliefs and values can shape health behaviors, attitudes towards health, and access to healthcare. Latino community events are provided at the Center.

9. Food security: Access to healthy food can contribute to better overall health and prevent chronic diseases. A food pantry is available at the Center.

10. Health literacy: Understanding health information and the ability to navigate healthcare systems can impact health outcomes. Promotoras help residents navigate the healthcare system at the Center.

Project Name: North Shore Community Health
Amount Requested: $5,000,000
Intended Recipient: North Shore Community Health Inc.
Location: Salem, Essex County, MA
Project Purpose: North Shore Community Health (NSCH) seeks an investment of $5M from Congressional Directed Spending dollars to create or expand critical services in a new state-of-the-art 33,000+ square foot Salem Family Health Center (SFHC) facility in downtown Salem. MA Congressional members have the opportunity to invest in a highly valued community asset that provides essential services to many of the district's most vulnerable low-income residents and now to reach even more Salem residents with expanded services in a new, larger, more centrally located facility.

Project Name: Opening the Green Jobs Pipeline for Latino Residents
Amount Requested: $630,000
Intended Recipient: La Colaborativa, Inc.
Location: Chelsea, Suffolk County, MA
Project Purpose: La Colaborativa kindly requests Congressional Directed Support to expand our impactful Good Jobs Pipeline to provide equitable access to career pathways in the green economy to more Latino residents in Massachusetts. This pilot project will be based at La Colaborativa's forthcoming Economic Development Center in Chelsea, Mass., and implemented in partnership with the City of Chelsea and the Massachusetts Building Trades Unions. Together, we will provide the following services over 12 months to effectively upskill the local green jobs workforce that will be essential to achieving the Commonwealth's goals to become net-zero by 2050: 

• Intake & Assessment of Job Readiness 

• Basic Job Readiness Training 

• Foundational Green Jobs Training on math review, excel, report writing, online test taking, blueprint reading 

• Green Jobs Training and Certification with the Massachusetts Building Trades Unions and/or online national certification centers 

• Job & Training Navigation Support 

• English Classes, Computer Classes, Basic Literacy Classes, Financial Literacy Training 

• Citizenship and Immigration Support 

• Wraparound Supports to Stabilize Housing, Food Access, Transportation, Childcare, etc. 

• Ongoing Case Management and Coaching 

The proposed program is centered on equity, and designed to bridge the gap between Latino workers and employers while building the workforce infrastructure that will mitigate the impacts of climate change on our immigrant communities. Green jobs and union membership offer workers reliable and stable pathways to economic stability and mobility, with strong pay and benefits packages, and opportunities to support a clean, just economy. Their work can revitalize the neighborhoods they call home through green infrastructure installation, climate-resilient design, the restoration of natural spaces, and community engagement. 

The pilot project will focus on incumbent worker pathways in the High-Performance Building sector, a massive new market that relies on skilled and licensed workers. We will strategically build pathways into the trades (electric, plumbing, carpentry, and HVAC) with direct links to expanding work opportunities including heat pump installation, insulation installation, white roofs, replacing gas stoves with induction, solar electric installation, solar thermal installation, electric charging stations, and energy auditing. 

In Chelsea and beyond, green jobs present opportunities for Latino workers with higher wages, lower health impacts, and a growing number of job opportunities. The building trades can also accommodate workers with lower levels of English, which we have identified as a significant barrier to other industry-recognized certification programs. Many other training and certification programs require participants to be at Level 3 English or higher, which is out of reach for too many of our Latino residents who are otherwise able to begin training and work immediately. Diverse and equitable pathways to industry-specific training and certification are needed to open more doors to these opportunities for our community and enable local employers to tap into the local workforce. With an established partnership with the Massachusetts Building Trades Unions and an investment from our Congressional leaders, we will be able to connect a cohort of 30 Latino workers to Green Jobs Certification, union apprenticeships, and career placements in FY24. 

Project Name: Outer Cape Cultural Collaboration
Amount Requested: $750,000 
Intended Recipient: Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown
Location: Provincetown, Barnstable County, MA
Project Purpose: Support will underwrite technology and equipment as well as operating expenses to support arts learning opportunities for K-12 students and community members provided by the Fine Arts Work Center and additional Outer Cape-based non-profit organizations.

Project Name: People Incorporated Early Education Center
Amount Requested: $2,000,000 
Intended Recipient: People Incorporated
Location: Fall River, Bristol County, MA
Project Purpose: People Incorporated is planning to build a 22,500 sq. ft. preschool in Fall River for 250 pre-k children. This new state-of-the-art center will provide a high-quality learning experience for children to lay the critical educational foundation for success in school and life. The center will be built on property newly purchased by People Incorporated on Weaver Street in Fall River. Situated on 4 acres, the site will allow for a nice blend of indoor and outdoor spaces.

Early childhood education matters because experiences early in life can have a lasting impact on learning, behavior, and health. In the first five years of life, 90% of a child's brain is developed. Therefore, getting things right the first time is easier and more effective than trying to fix them later. With this understanding, Universal Pre-Kindergarten (UPK) education has been widely recognized as a goal for our children.

UPK means every child should be able to enroll in preschool, just as they enroll in first grade. The reality, though, is quite different from the expressed goal. Along with operational funding, an overlooked critical roadblock to UPK is the will to increase funding to expand capacity until all who wish to enroll are served. At present, there is a preschool capacity shortage of approximately 76,000 slots in the Commonwealth and 2,100 in the City of Fall River.

People Incorporated's plan to build its new preschool is to use a combination of public and private funds, along with the Agency's own financial strength, to reach the total $12,000,000 project cost, making this project a worthwhile endeavor to help bridge the existing capacity gap.

Project Name: PreK-16 STEM Career Pathways in Nubian Square
Amount Requested: $400,000 
Intended Recipient: BPE Inc.
Location: Boston, Essex County, MA
Project Purpose:  BPE requests $400,000 in Congressionally Directed Spending to support high-quality PreK-16 STEM Career Pathways in Nubian Square. If funded, more than 900 students from Roxbury and surrounding neighborhoods each year will gain the skills and access needed for career success in Boston's fastest-growing STEM fields: computer science, engineering/advanced manufacturing, and health and life sciences. Importantly, the Pathways will serve as a replicable model for urban schools in Boston, throughout Massachusetts, and beyond. 

BPE has been partnering with the Boston Public Schools for nearly 40 years and has been training teachers through its Boston Teacher Residency (BTR) program for nearly 20 years. Since 2003, BPE has prepared over 700 teachers, with more than 50% identifying as teachers of color, who serve approximately 20,000 students throughout Boston Public Schools. BPE operates two Boston Public schools: Dudley Street Neighborhood Charter School (PreK-5) and Dearborn STEM Academy (grades 6-12.) Together, these two schools provide a PreK-12 pathway for some of the most underserved students in the Commonwealth. 

BPE has long been concerned about the under-representation of people of color in the STEM workforce. Students from low-income households are less likely to attend or graduate from high school, less likely to participate in college preparation, and less likely to attend or graduate college. Nearly all Dearborn students are members of one or more groups underrepresented in STEM (female, African-American, Latinx, Native American, eligible for free/reduced-price lunch, English Learner, or special education student). Every Dearborn student graduates with a post-secondary postgraduate plan which is focused on their interests and ambitions and informed by their chosen pathway and early college experience. The goal is to ensure all graduates have access to a purposeful, wealth-building career six years after high school graduation. 

Dearborn students are empowered to envision their futures in college and career through opportunities to experience both in a supportive high school environment. All students choose one of three pathways in computer science, engineering/advanced manufacturing, or health and life sciences. All students complete a 100-hour STEM internship and take at least one Early College course before graduation. In this way, we allow students to be able to picture themselves in both college and career and help them to build a strong foundation for their futures. 

The final step to complete the PreK-16 Pathway is the 18-24 Program. The program's mission is to empower Dearborn alumni to become engaged citizens prepared to enter purposeful, wealth-building careers six years after high school graduation. For most alumni, this is when they are 18-24 years old. The program will curate tools and convene partners that will help this group of young people gains the skills, experience, and network they need to launch their careers.

In our two schools, 96% of students are Black or Latino, 10% have experienced homelessness this year, 45% speak a first language other than English, 17% have a disability, and 88% are classified as high needs.

Project Name: Project CERTI-Biotech: Certified Employment Ready as Trained Instrumentalists - Biotechnology 
Amount Requested: $613,464
Intended Recipient: Emmanuel College
Location: Boston, Suffolk County, MA
Project Purpose: With CERTI-biotech we will transform how undergraduate STEM skills are taught, documented, and shared with employers. CERTI-biotech will a) simplify the biotechnology hiring process, b) diversify the biotechnology talent pipeline, and c) cultivate confidence, scientific identity, and career readiness in undergraduate student scientists. Using electronic portfolios, we will augment how STEM degrees are documented with a superior exhibition of all laboratory skills and experiences. Further, STEM majors will earn CERTIs on industry-needed instrumentation and skills. Together, ePortfolios and CERTIs, will delineate needed instrumentation and skills competency, and expedite the productive integration of graduates and interns into the workforce.

Project Name: Project Reach – Ensuring Access to Care through Information Technology Language Expansion
Amount Requested: $1,080,000
Intended Recipient: Community Technology Cooperative, LLC
Location: Boston, Suffolk County, MA
Project Purpose: Project Reach seeks to expand the number of languages that are supported by MyChart. MyChart is a secure website and mobile application. This tool assists patients in managing their care as MyChart gives a patient access to an online medical record that allows him/her to view medications, test results, and health summaries, as well as access other services, such as requesting prescription renewals and communicating with a patient's care team, request and schedule appointments, and participate in telehealth visits, so medical and social issues may be addressed quickly. CTC is seeking to expand MyChart languages to Khmer, Haitian Creole, and Vietnamese.

Project Name: PsychED OUT! Integrated Urgent Care for Behavioral Health and Substance Use Disorder Outside the ED
Amount Requested: $5,000,000 
Intended Recipient: Brockton Hospital, Inc.
Location: Brockton, Plymouth County, MA
Project Purpose: To maximally impact patients burdened with addiction and behavioral/mental health struggles, Brockton Hospital seeks to build an outpatient, hospital-licensed urgent care center for adults with behavioral health and substance use disorder (SUD) on its campus. The goal is timely access to care, offering alternatives to the emergency department (ED). The center will be staffed with adult primary care, mental health, and substance use specialists skilled at treating and navigating care for this challenging patient population. Keeping patients out of the ED is a priority. Those who do require emergency care will have ready access to Brockton Hospital's ED.

Project Name: QARI Immigrant Workforce Initiative
Amount Requested: $627,000 
Intended Recipient: Quincy Asian Resources, Inc. (QARI), 
Location: Quincy, Norfolk County, MA
Project Purpose: QARI's Immigrant Workforce Initiative is a sustainable workforce model to help support immigrant employees to thrive by providing access to necessary social support services at the workplace as well as providing entry-level employment pathways for new immigrants and refugees with language and cultural barriers. The program employs, trains, and coaches immigrant employees while providing free English as a Second Language (ESOL) training to build speaking and listening confidence, access to citizenship programs, and onsite health and wellness initiatives. We also provide immigrants with college pathways for their personal and professional growth. Current industry partners include hospitality, healthcare, logistics, and food services. 

Project Name: QARI Integrated Mental & Behavioral Health Services for Immigrants
Amount Requested: $598,400
Intended Recipient: Quincy Asian Resources, Inc.
Location: Quincy, Norfolk County, MA
Project Purpose: QARI is expanding its Mental and Behavioral Health programs to increase access to linguistically and culturally competent mental health care services for immigrants and refugees on the South Shore. We currently offer group programs for youth and families with our community partners in Quincy and gained state licensure to offer outpatient clinical services in January 2023. Our goal is to increase the availability of multilingual clinical services and overcome the stigma about mental health among Asian and immigrant communities. Funding will support the launch of clinical operations, including free counseling for uninsured clients, youth programs, family workshops, elder services, and anti-stigma outreach in collaboration with partners on the South Shore. 

QARI is in an ideal position to create a highly impactful multilingual mental health care center by leveraging deep trusting relationships with clients, key institutions such as school districts and housing authorities, and our network of partner agencies. QARI plans to embed our clinical operations, including free in-person counseling, with our other services thus normalizing mental health care as part of a larger spectrum of healthy activities and addressing the stigma that remains in many immigrant communities around mental health. We plan to hold youth and family psychoeducational workshops alongside our youth development, adult education, and family services. Clinicians will learn from non-clinical social service providers and vice versa. We have seen this in our previous and ongoing collaborations with Walker Therapeutic and Aspire Health Alliance and this new initiative will scale this across the South Shore and become a replicable model for other regions throughout the Commonwealth. In this way, we intend not only to increase the quantity but also the quality of mental health care for immigrants and set a higher standard with truly integrated and comprehensive community services.

Project Name: RevSpaces Action Civic Enrichment Program 
Amount Requested: $1,100,000 
Intended Recipient: Revolutionary Spaces, Inc.
Location: Boston, Suffolk County, MA
Project Purpose:Revolutionary Spaces, Inc. ("RevSpaces"), the proud steward of the Old State House and the Old South Meeting House in historic downtown Boston, has developed and is currently piloting an 8th-grade action civics enrichment program in the Boston Public Schools to both complement and supplement the required statewide 8th-grade action civics curriculum. Directly aligned with the MA History and Social Science curriculum framework and standards, the RevSpaces enrichment program provides a layer of experiential learning not otherwise available as part of the MA 8th-grade curriculum. 

Employing the place-based histories of both the Old State House and the Old South Meeting House, RevSpaces can assist students in identifying the civic ideals reflected in these historic sites - individual liberty, religious freedom, due process of law, consent of the governed, civic virtue, and more - and thus provide historical context for the contemporary issue(s) of concern that is the focus of the students' required 8th-grade action civics project(s). Importantly, this "applied history" approach to civic education allows students to recognize their vital role as active and engaged participants in the civic life of their communities. Much more than engaging in a one-off academic exercise, students enrolled in the RevSpaces action civics enrichment program can see themselves as connected to the historic events and people associated with the Old State House and Old South Meeting House. Through targeted lesson plans, classroom activities, and specially curated class visits, students in the RevSpaces Action Civics Enrichment Program come to learn and appreciate that they are the present-day, integral actors in a centuries-old and ongoing democratic experiment that began in these historic sites and that their participation is vital to our democracy's continuing success. This is an enormously empowering experience for students, as the program brings history alive and forward to the present day, provides a historical context for contemporary issues of student interest and concern, and provides a place for each student to that history as present-day civic actors. In this way, students develop positive civic dispositions, find their voice in public life, and exercise civic agency through the development and use of valuable skills such as critical thinking, negotiation, persuasive argument, and consensus-building for the common good.

With Congressional support, RevSpaces will scale up its current pilot program by making the same available in twenty (20) Massachusetts K-12 public school districts, expanding its enrichment offerings to include programming at the 8th-grade level (as currently piloted) and at the high school level (as is also required by the statewide civics curriculum) in each school district, while also providing unique action civics programming for students receiving special education services in each such school district. RevSpaces will support all of the foregoing with ongoing professional development training and resources, including but not limited to workshops for MA educators, sample lesson plans and other curricular materials, and special access to place-based programs and events at the Old State House and Old South Meeting House.

Project Name: Springfield College Health Sciences Center
Amount Requested: $2,000,000 
Intended Recipient: Springfield College
Location: Springfield, Hampden County, MA
Project Purpose: Springfield College's School of Health Sciences joins forces locally and globally to advance health-related education, service, research, outreach, and leadership. Work reflects the Humanics philosophy of Springfield College: education of the whole person in spirit, mind, and body for leadership in service to others. The School includes world-class undergraduate, masters, and doctoral degree programs in Physical Therapy, Occupational Therapy, Physician Assistant Studies, Communication Sciences and Disorders, Public Health, and Health Science, plus minors in Public Health and Communication Sciences and Disorders, certificate programs in Gerontology and Speech-Language Pathology, and a highly popular Emergency Medical Technician certification program. Two new doctoral programs are soon to be offered, along with several new certificate programs. The School of Health Sciences is by far the largest school at the college representing approximately 40% of all bachelor's degrees conferred each year. The Health Sciences' prestigious and innovative programs need a space dedicated to advanced education in the ever-changing world of healthcare. The new Health Sciences Center will ensure that our students are prepared as highly sought-after professionals and citizens in an environment well suited to address the continuous evolution of the health disciplines. The Health Sciences Center will provide space that promotes synergies in teaching and learning, research, and community outreach.

The new Health Sciences Center will help Springfield College in achieving our goal of expanding diversity in our students to better serve society. This project will help the School of Health Sciences in ensuring healthcare professionals are better equipped to understand and address the unique health needs and challenges of diverse patient populations. Different cultural, ethnic, and socioeconomic backgrounds can affect health beliefs, behaviors, and attitudes towards healthcare, and having a diverse group of healthcare professionals can help bridge any gaps in communication and understanding. Diversity in the allied health professions can also help to address issues of health disparities and inequality. Research has shown that individuals from certain racial and ethnic groups, as well as those from low-income backgrounds, are more likely to experience poor health outcomes compared to their counterparts. By increasing diversity in the allied health disciplines, it can help to increase access to care for underserved populations and improve the overall quality of care delivered. Finally, having a diverse workforce in the allied health professions can also lead to better innovation and problem-solving. Different perspectives and experiences can help healthcare professionals to approach complex health issues from different perspectives, leading to more effective solutions and approaches to care. Springfield College is dedicated to promoting diversity in the allied health disciplines as it is critical to improving the quality and accessibility of healthcare for all individuals, regardless of their background or circumstances.

Project Name: Stop It Now!
Amount Requested: $879,000
Intended Recipient: Klingberg Family Centers
Location: Northampton, Hampden County, MA
Project Purpose:Klingberg Family Centers seeks federal funding to allow Stop It Now! to increase the awareness, availability, and effectiveness of the Helpline by expanding hours of phone, chat, text, and email availability; implementing targeted strategies to increase accessibility to BIPOC and LGBTQ+ populations; increasing staff capacity, enhancing training for the staff; publicizing the availability of the Helpline; and extracting its learning from consumers into a publication for the community. Our signature training increases the confidence and readiness of adults to both take protective actions, preventing sexual harm from occurring and respond to early warning signs of risks of sexual abuse.

Project Name: Sturdy Memorial Hospital Behavioral Health Expansion
Amount Requested: $2,835,000 
Intended Recipient: Sturdy Memorial Hospital, Inc.
Location: Attleboro, Bristol County, MA
Project Purpose: To meet the escalating demand for acute behavioral health intervention, Sturdy is planning a complete modernization and expansion of our current Emergency Department. The defining feature of this project is the installation of a 12-bed Behavioral Health Unit within the emergency department. This specialized unit will provide a safe, soothing, and supportive environment while awaiting further care disposition. This meaningful addition will also allow us to return much-needed space to general emergency department rooms to meet the acute care needs of our community.

Project Name: Support Program for Families Grieving Overdose Death
Amount Requested: $77,000 
Intended Recipient: Eluna
Location: Philadelphia, Middlesex County, MA
Project Purpose: Eluna, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, respectfully requests a $77,000 Community Directed Spending grant to fund a pilot project to support youth and families grieving an overdose death of a close family member. Eluna will partner with HEARTplay, a project of Good Shepherd Community Care, Newton, MA, a public, 501(c)(3) nonprofit, to execute this project: two-day camps and an overnight camp aimed at reducing the youth mental health challenges and functional impairment that often accompany a sudden overdose death in the family. All programming will be offered at no cost to youth and their families. 

This project benefits the community by addressing the long-term impact of overdose deaths on youth and families, including depression, post-traumatic stress disorder and functional impairment Opioid-related deaths in Massachusetts continue to remain elevated, the 2021 opioid-related overdose death rate of 33.1 per 100,000 people was 11 percent higher than in 2020 (30.0 per 100,000) remaining at or near historical highs. 

These overdose deaths affect not only the individual but families and children. Individuals who died of an overdose were most frequently between the ages of 25 to 54 years and in their child-rearing years. A recent longitudinal study found that bereavement by sudden parental death was associated with an increased incidence of depression, primarily during the first 2 years, along with post-traumatic stress disorder and functional impairment. Because of the COVID pandemic, these children, teens, and young adults have been isolated and have not had access to the services they normally receive in school or receive support from teachers, school staff, and friends. As a result, these youth are at increased risk for mental health challenges and for participating in high-risk behaviors. In addition, these youth and families have experienced the long-term trauma and challenges of living with a loved one who struggles with a substance use disorder (SUD). Many of these youth struggle in school, develop physical and emotional issues, and witness or are the target of family violence or sexual abuse. Youth who grow up with a family member with a SUD are at significant risk of both developing their own SUD and becoming involved in the justice system. 

Eluna's award-winning program model works to address the issues that youth face after a loss or when living in a family affected by SUD. Over 90% of the youth who participate in Eluna's addiction prevention programming have never used a substance to get high and have never been involved in the juvenile justice system. Data from recent surveys of program youth also indicate that 87% can identify 2 ways to positively cope with anger and sadness, and 81% report feeling challenged in a good way in the program. Finally, 88% report that there is at least one staff/mentor in the program who supports them.

Project Name: Tech Foundry IT Support Training Program
Amount Requested: $300,000 
Intended Recipient: Tech Foundry, Inc.
Location: Springfield, Hampden County, MA
Project Purpose: Tech Foundry (TF) offers intensive IT support training programs to low-to-moderate income, underserved and underemployed residents in Western Massachusetts, with a focus on our region's Gateway Cities. Each participant leaves the TF program with the skills and knowledge to land jobs and advance in an IT career, with TF's staff assisting with job placement and post-placement coaching. TF seeks funding to support the expansion of our tuition-free, 18-week IT support training program. This includes doubling the number of students trained (100/year) while launching expanded coaching and service-learning pilot programs to further support student members' persistence, skills acquisition and success.

Project Name: The Center for Financial Literacy and Economic Prosperity
Amount Requested: $1,000,000 
Intended Recipient: American International College
Location: Springfield, Hampden County, MA
Project Purpose: American International College (AIC) seeks Congressionally Directed Spending (CDS) to support the establishment of the Center for Financial Literacy and Economic Prosperity. The Center, located in a  community-facing facility on the campus of AIC, is designed to increase the financial literacy and economic well-being of individuals, families, and residents of Springfield, MA, especially those who live in Mason Square, a low-income, under-served area of Springfield. By offering programs, services, educational tools, and resources, the Center will assist in enabling individuals and families to develop the financial skills necessary to understand how to create an economically secure foundation, while helping to create pathways to financial success.

With a 2023 population of 156,790, Springfield is the third-largest city in Massachusetts and the fourth-largest in New England. The average household income in Springfield is $55,658 with a poverty rate of 30.97%. The Mason Square area is among the lowest median income of the eleven neighborhoods in the city and is characterized by significant socio-economic and environmental inequities: a median household income of $27,851, and a poverty rate of 42.3%, the lowest income and highest poverty rate in the State of Massachusetts.

The main purposes of the Center for Financial Literacy and Economic Prosperity include:

• Increasing access to education, equal opportunity, and economic security for the people of the City of Springfield and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

• Supporting revitalization and economic development efforts of the greater Mason Square area, while empowering individuals, innovators, entrepreneurs, and small businesses to unleash their growth potential, improving the quality of life in its surrounding neighborhood. For a community to thrive, residents must feel confident that their lives will improve, their incomes will rise, and their job prospects will expand while they are living there.

• Assisting AIC in increasing the reach of its economic and social mobility efforts that support the well-being of the families of Springfield.

The Center will employ an integrated approach of financial coaching, career guidance, and access to community resources, to empower individuals and families to make positive choices toward their financial goals to achieve economic freedom. The Center's primary population is adults (18 and older) who have been systemically disadvantaged, including both the unemployed and underemployed. Though the target population will be residents in the immediate vicinity, residents from across the Springfield metropolitan area and beyond will also be welcome to utilize the Center's services. Ideally, individuals who are interested in the Center's services will be actively moving toward self-sufficiency and have the willingness to be coached through the process.

Project Name: The Possible Zone
Amount Requested: $350,000 
Intended Recipient: The Possible Project dba The Possible Zone
Location: Jamaica Plain, Suffolk County, MA
Project Purpose: The Possible Zone (TPZ) requests funding to help relaunch a Community Connected Social Enterprise, an afterschool workforce development program that provides hands-on skills training for youth in its 5,000-square-foot state-of-the-art fab lab and multi-media center. Using these skills, students partner with community businesses to provide products and services as part of a stipend internship. For example, students are able to create sophisticated signage and social media marketing and provide insight to larger corporations about students' voices, interests, and gain possible employment in their organization. To relaunch, TPZ will need one-time funding for equipment and fabrication materials. 

This relaunch is part of TPZ's comprehensive three-year youth program that is offered free for students in the community. TPZ's new 35,000-square-foot Innovation Center, young people receive authentic, project-based, culturally responsive, and gender-equitable entrepreneurship (Eship) training aimed at building business, design, social, and emotional skills, as well as igniting a passion for innovation. This Eship programming embeds STEAM learning throughout the student experience, including access to high-tech equipment (e.g., laser cutters, 3-D printers, and CAD software).

Concurrently, students are offered STEAM Deep Dive opportunities—hands-on and immersive experiences designed to cultivate STEAM knowledge, self-efficacy, and social capital. Students completing Eship and Deep Dives are eligible for work-based learning opportunities (i.e., consultancies, internships, and fellowships)—paid opportunities that provide real-world settings to apply and refine skills, and further reinforce students' self-efficacy and social capital 

Additionally, TPZ students receive advisory support from day one and throughout our program, with more intensive support for Seniors to help them launch successfully into post-secondary life. 

Pre-Covid, TPZ was set to scale two successful pilot Enterprises that we had to shut down because of the pandemic. Historically, by 2020, we had served 585 student semesters within Enterprises. A major TPZ partner was Lovepop, where students designed and prototyped 3-D cut-out greeting cards. Popular student designs were licensed to Lovepop and students received compensation, students managed their fulfillment during their start-up years and managed the design for custom orders: that included clients such as Arizona State University, the JFK Library, Moen, Cisco, NetJets, and the 2024 Olympic Committee. 

Since then, we have reimagined this Enterprise based on what we have learned and now plan to relaunch a more sophisticated and dynamic version, Community Connected Social Enterprise. This version will continue to provide opportunities for students in high school to participate in the Enterprise stipend internship program either during the school year, after school, or during the summer throughout our 3-year program. In March 2023, TPZ hired a Director of Fellowship and Enterprise who will oversee the relaunch.

Project Name: Tisbury Elementary School
Amount Requested: $380,572 
Intended Recipient: Martha's Vineyard Regional High School District
Location: Vineyard Haven, Dukes County, MA
Project Purpose: The Martha's Vineyard is an island community where the school resources also double as a community resource for the Town of Tisbury and its residents. Tisbury School has a majority, minority student population of 56.6%. By enhancing the English and Native language and lifelong learning skills resources for its students. this project elevates an underserved student population while supporting 

literacy development for students and their families. This, in turn, helps the community support skills development for its workforce. 

The Tisbury School is undergoing a complete renovation and the current need is to re-establish and expand the library resource center as well as the Computer and Technology center once the project is complete. The renovation is not using federal funds and is being paid for by the local taxpayers. Currently. the funding is not available to reestablish the library as well as the computer technology center resources. This project intends to support the education process, address student learning loss due to Covid, support "Creative Learning" and enable and encourage increased access for all students (particularly students with limited resources). 

Tisbury has a low-income population of 56.6% of the student population which is higher than the state average of 42.3%. Tisbury has 56.6% of its students are which are "First Language is not English". Tisbury's ELL (English Language Learners) population is 33.8 %. The additional and expanded library resources will address various student needs, levels of English proficiency, native language literacy development, and learning styles. The SPED population at the Tisbury school is 19.9%. Our "High Needs" student population is higher than the state average and is at 71.7% considered to be students with High needs.

*Figures based on the October DESE census.

Project Name: To and Through College
Amount Requested: $300,000 
Intended Recipient: The Community Adolescent Resource & Education Center (The Care Center), 
Location: Holyoke, Hampden County, MA
Project Purpose: To and Through College (TTC), a ground-breaking initiative of The Care Center in Holyoke, Massachusetts, combines rigorous educational programming with support services focused specifically on increasing the number of young mothers and low-income income women accessing and completing college. To make success possible for our students, almost all of whom are the first in their families to attend college, TTC helps students surmount unrelenting instability and family needs that compete with their pursuit of academic excellence.

The core components of TTC include:

Cabot Street College is a supportive college access program for young mothers and low-income women who are starting or resuming their college education, even if they are not ready for a full-time college experience. It provides a year-round series of one- and three-credit college courses designed to help students gain momentum along the path to a college degree. Through these courses, which are offered in partnership with Greenfield Community College and Bard College, students gain confidence in an academic setting, earn college credit, and prepare to enroll in a full-time college program.

 Bard Microcollege Holyoke, founded in 2016 and located at The Care Center, is the nation's first college for young mothers and low-income women. Students living in Holyoke, Springfield, and Chicopee invest their time, effort, and energy into the program to earn an Associate of Arts degree from Bard College. Scholarships and grants cover student tuition and books-the degree is free to participants. Students receive personal attention from a team of open-minded, resourceful professionals and are bolstered by the camaraderie of fellow students. This high level of individualized support is vital to student persistence and success. We proudly report that Bard Microcollege Holyoke has a 72% graduation rate (compared with only 8% for single mothers nationally.) And 77% of Bard Microcollege Holyoke graduates are either employed or pursuing a bachelor's degree. Bard Microcollege Holyoke graduates are consistently finding careers with employers in the area's largest sectors, including healthcare, insurance/finance, and education.

 Comprehensive Student Support Services, designed to increase student access and remove barriers to success, including child care, transportation, food, counseling, and housing. The Care Center also provides academic support, including tutoring and college application assistance.

Each student's situation is unique, but the myriad of challenges our students face include poverty, lack of childcare, hunger, unstable housing, and domestic violence. Although these challenges can seem insurmountable, it only takes one generation to break a family's cycle of financial insecurity. Studies show that a mother's college attendance has a significant positive impact on her child's vocabulary, reading and math scores, and college matriculation. A mother with a college degree helps set her family up for a better life. Her success becomes their success.

To and Through College currently stands as a national model for helping young parents and low-income women access and succeed in higher education. The Care Center routinely consults with policymakers and educators across the country who are seeking to replicate this approach.

Project Name: Town of Saugus, Kids Come First, Afterschool Enrichment Program 
Amount Requested: $675,698
Intended Recipient: Town of Saugus
Location: Saugus, Essex County, MA

Project Purpose: Kids Come First is a top-quality before and after-school educational program for children enrolled in the Saugus Public Schools elementary grades. The Belmonte STEAM Academy is an upper elementary school educating students in grades 2-5. Since recently restructuring the district, the new school is focused on integrating STEAM and 21st-century skills into their teaching and learning. Students who sign up for Kids Come First are offered homework help as well as arts and crafts, and free time to play with each other. Due to financial constraints and staffing issues, the Town of Saugus is seeking Congressionally Directed Funding to support the expansion of Kids Come First with a renewed focus on addressing the educational gap as students look to recover the educational losses from the pandemic. The town would like to expand to offer a high-dosage/small group tutoring 1:4 ratio. With 110 students currently enrolled that on average would result in 28 small groups (1 teacher and 4 students) meeting 30 minutes 2-3 times a week

According to the Center for Education Policy Research at Harvard University, even students who spent the least amount of time learning remotely during the 2020-21 school year, missed the equivalent of seven to 10 weeks of math learning.[i] The answer to addressing the missed learning due to the remote school years during the pandemic is for robust, "high-dosage" tutoring 2-3 times a week for 30 minutes in small student groups 1:4 ratio. The focus will be not to look backward but to support students in their current grade level as they look to move forward successfully in their education and address any learning gaps to help keep them on this accelerated path.

110 students in the 2022-2023 academic school year currently participate in Kids Come First. That would result in roughly 28 small groups in need of tutoring 3 times a week, or 84, 30-minute tutoring sessions to schedule a week over 15 hours (3 hours of afterschool a day, 5 days a week), which results in on average 6, 30-minute sessions a day, needing additional tutors each school year to run the program. The Town also wants to increase participation to address 60% of the Belmont Student population in this tutoring program. 

When not participating in their 30-minute-high-dosage tutoring, students will be spending time in the school's gym for active time and tabletop activities in the cafeteria.

Project Name: Transhealth Health and Wellness Center
Amount Requested: $7,500,000
Intended Recipient: Transhealth, Inc.
Location: Florence, Hampshire County, MA
Project Purpose: Transgender and gender-diverse people face significant challenges and disparities in accessing quality health care that affirms their gender identity and expression, which contribute to higher rates of mental and physical health problems.

To address these urgent needs, Transhealth was founded in Western Massachusetts in 2021 as an independent and comprehensive healthcare center serving trans and gender-diverse adults, children, and families. Transhealth is a trans-led organization that provides clinical care, research, advocacy, and education. It has quickly expanded to provide gender-affirming care (GAC) to people across Massachusetts and New England, with patients driving from as far as Maine, Vermont, New York, and other states for these life-saving services. GAC is medically necessary, evidence-based care that supports and affirms an individual's gender identity and expression. It can include social, legal, and medical measures.

A Plan and Act for Transgender Health (PATH) study conducted prior to the founding of Transhealth reported over 20,000 transgender and gender-diverse residents in its catchment area.  Transhealth has not advertised since day one, yet has continued to see urgent demand.  Provider panels fill immediately when they open.  We have cared for over 2,000 patients, including those fleeing harmful legislation in other states.  We now have nearly 40 staff members, with upwards of 25 additional members slated for hire in 2023.  With the success of our organization and the vital public health needs that we meet, space is of urgent need.

The center will build on its existing success and expand its reach and impact by serving more patients, providing more services, conducting more research, educating more providers, and advocating for more policies that support GAC. The center will also increase the telehealth capacity for all of Massachusetts by providing online consultations, referrals, prescriptions, counseling, and peer support for trans and gender-diverse people who cannot access the center in person due to distance, transportation, or other barriers.

By supporting Transhealth as an organization, Congress will not only help improve the health and well-being of trans people in Massachusetts, but also contribute to advancing health equity for this population across the nation. Transhealth is uniquely positioned to expand the healthcare possibilities for the community and provide a model for other states and regions that want to implement GAC in their health systems. Transhealth also collaborates with academic institutions, professional associations, and community organizations to conduct scientifically-driven research that will be a leader in expanding knowledge on GAC. Furthermore, Transhealth educates various clinical education programs (medical school and nursing schools) on how to provide culturally competent and inclusive care for trans patients.

Therefore, we urge Congress to support this program as a vital investment in the health and well-being of trans and gender-diverse people. By supporting Transhealth as an organization, Congress will demonstrate its commitment to promoting human rights, dignity, and justice for all people regardless of their gender identity or expression."

Project Name: UMass Amherst- Ellsberg Initiative
Amount Requested: $600,000 
Intended Recipient: University of Massachusetts Amherst
Location: Amherst, Franklin County, MA
Project Purpose: UMass Amherst has established the Ellsberg Initiative for Peace and Democracy. Its mission is to advance public knowledge and scholarship on the major issues that define the life of Daniel Ellsberg, whose papers were acquired by UMass in 2019--peace, truth-telling, government accountability, constitutional rights, and nuclear disarmament. We have a five-year plan to offer programs including lectures, workshops, conferences, fellowships, and teaching institutes. It seeks to engage scholars, journalists, policymakers, educators, and the general public. This multidisciplinary project supports our mission to instill in our students the knowledge, skill, and commitment to create a more peaceful and just world.

Project Name: UMass Boston
Amount Requested: $2,126,000 
Intended Recipient: University of Massachusetts Boston
Location: Boston, Suffolk County, MA
Project Purpose: The devastation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic was felt most acutely in communities of color such as the neighborhoods where UMass Boston students live and understand the challenges of trusting the healthcare system for quality and safe care too well. Combined with aging populations, the aftermath of this experience has significantly increased our knowledge of what builds trust to address physical and mental health and wellness concerns in our neighborhoods and what is the needed educational experiences in health professionals who provide culturally relevant primary health care, disease prevention, and public health services to these communities.

Project Name: UMass Dartmouth-Biomanufacturing and Biotech Training
Amount Requested: $2,000,000 
Intended Recipient: The University of Massachusetts Dartmouth
Location: North Dartmouth, Bristol County, MA
Project Purpose: UMass Dartmouth is proposing the creation of a Biomanufacturing & Biotechnology Suite to address many of the challenges to addressing an educational need in Southeastern Massachusetts

The focus of the proposed Biomanufacturing and Biotech Training will be to support academic training and industry- and federally-sponsored research that is critically important to drug discovery and will help increase training, innovation, and job creation in the Massachusetts life sciences sector. Importantly, UMass Dartmouth students will have the opportunity to learn about and become adept with contemporary laboratory equipment, which regional life sciences firms have reported is an area of meaningful concern for the regional workforce. This will help prepare these students for careers in the life sciences in areas of opportunity to improve patient outcomes and expand the industry. Further, it will help prime the pump for growing regional R&D activity and innovation that has been the growth driver for Life Sciences employment in Massachusetts for decades.

Project Name: UMass Lowell Immersive Innovation Learning Lab
Amount Requested: $2,300,000 
Intended Recipient: The University of Massachusetts Lowell
Location: Lowell, Middlesex County, MA
Project Purpose: The purpose of this project is to develop the UMass Lowell Immersive Innovation Learning Lab (I2L2), a state-of-the-art extended reality (XR) technology and advanced simulation facility where UMass Lowell computer science, digital media, and education students work with faculty and staff to develop augmented and virtual reality workforce training scenarios for the life sciences, advanced manufacturing, and clean technology industries.

Project Name: UMass Med-Interprofessional Center for Experiential Learning and Simulation (iCELS)
Amount Requested: $1,654,000
Intended Recipient: UMass Chan Medical School
Location: Worcester, Worcester County, MA
Project Purpose: The purchase of upgraded and new simulation equipment for the medical school's Interprofessional Center for Experiential Learning and Simulation (iCELS) for the training of students pursuing medical and nursing degrees at UMass Chan Medical School will enable the continuation and expansion of the number of students trained. A key component of the educational offerings of UMass Chan is its state-of-the-art iCELS simulation center. Simulation enables scheduled, valuable learning experiences that are difficult to obtain in real life. Learners address hands-on thinking skills, including knowledge-in-action, procedures, decision-making, and effective communication. Critical teamwork behaviors such as managing high workloads, trapping errors, and coordinating under stress can be taught and practiced. To accommodate the increased class size and maintain a state of the art equipment this medical school is seeking CDS funding.

Project Name: United Way of Massachusetts FY 2024
Amount Requested: $4,750,000 
Intended Recipient: United Ways of Massachusetts, Inc.
Location: Boston, Suffolk County, MA
Project Purpose: The pandemic demanded a new way of working together, requiring a collaborative, evidence-informed approach that engages a broad range of stakeholders, including community members, business leaders, policymakers, people with lived and living experience, and impact-driven nonprofits. By creating new ways to partner across the United Ways in Massachusetts, the organization is creating sustainable, community-driven solutions that address the root causes and social determinants of economic injustice and promote equity and opportunity for all.

The project's focus is on four key areas that are essential to creating thriving and healthy communities: promoting economic inclusion and wealth building, providing quality and affordable early education and out-of-school time programs, ensuring food security, and fostering safe and stable housing. This initiative aims to tackle the root causes of economic injustice, promote equity and opportunity for all, and build strong and healthy communities where everyone can thrive.

Over the last three years, United Way's collaborative efforts in Massachusetts have demonstrated powerful results. United Ways of Massachusetts have funded MA 211, the statewide emergency response network, which has received more than 1,500,000 calls for support and help. United Way has also focused on early education and out-of-school time with all United Ways, collaborating on efforts to expand opportunities for children and families, including through the Commonwealth Preschool Partnership Initiative and the Summer Step Up program, which reaches children in over 30 schools districts. Tens of millions of dollars have been raised in response to COVID, distributed locally for important supplies such as hot spots so that children could attend school, funding for eviction prevention so families could remain stable in their housing, increased food distribution through local food pantries, hundreds of cases of personal protective equipment made available, more than 100,000 rapid home test kits to test for COVID distributed through local nonprofit networks, and funding to keep child care centers open to meet the needs of essential workers and their families.

United Way understands that the lessons learned during the pandemic must be sustained, and the organization is seeking funds to further solidify the United Ways of Massachusetts network to provide resources to small businesses, community-based organizations, and other strategic partners flexibly, quickly, and equitably. Funding will strengthen the United Ways of Massachusetts network and provide support to small businesses, community-based organizations, and strategic partners across the 351 towns and cities in the Commonwealth. Collaborative efforts will continue to be focused on raising funds together, developing programs for the good of the residents, and coordinating volunteer efforts to improve local communities.

Project Name: Volunteers in Medicine
Amount Requested: $1,071,200 
Intended Recipient: Volunteers in Medicine Berkshires, Inc.
Location: Great Barrington, Berkshire County, MA
Project Purpose: Volunteers in Medicine Berkshires (VIM) intends to expand its facility in Great Barrington and to open a second location in Pittsfield to serve existing patients, as well as new patients from across the Berkshires. Throughout the county, our patient numbers continue to increase annually. We have seen a dramatic increase in the number of patients coming to our Great Barrington facility from central and north Berkshire County. The cost - financial and logistical - of transportation is a barrier to many patients. VIM is committed to meeting the need by expanding our availability and accessibility. 

Additionally, our Great Barrington facility is used extensively, serving 1,200+ patients a year. To continue to function effectively, it needs smart, strategic renovations, including a modest addition of space.

Project Name: Worcester Interfaith - L.O.V.E. Is The Answer
Amount Requested: $1,992,000 
Intended Recipient: Worcester Interfaith
Location: Worcester, Worcester County, MA
Project Purpose: The purpose of the L.O.V.E. Is The Answer Social Responsibility and Public Safety Improvement Program is to help organizations in Worcester break out of their organizational silos to contribute to society in deep and meaningful ways. The relationships between law enforcement agencies and communities of color across the country are very tenuous due to years of mistrust and fear. Funding this program will reduce crime and recidivism, improve police-community relations, improve education and work outcomes for members of the community, improve mental health and emotional intelligence, improve public safety and a host of other outcomes. The following is a breakdown of the use of the requested funds:

• $350,000 for L.O.V.E. Is The Answer staff members onsite to manage all facets of the training, programming, community engagement, and events. 

• $346,000 for creation and maintenance of a L.O.V.E. Garden - an outdoor learning space for program participants and for use as a community gathering space. The garden will produce a significant amount of organic fruits and vegetables which will be distributed in part to area residents who are currently food insecure. 

• $300,000 for 10,000 copies of the L.O.V.E. Is The Answer book to be distributed by Mentoring Circle Members to mentees and others in the community.

• $250,000 for Worcester Interfaith staff in support of the L.O.V.E. Is The Answer planning, outreach, and program implementation.

• $199,000 for 1,000 people ($199 each) to participate in L.O.V.E. Is The Answer “Lead & Serve With L.O.V.E” Class.

• $100,000 for Equity Quest to provide equine-assisted therapy sessions to mentors, mentees and first responders.

• $100,000 for One For Health to teach area youth life skills through yoga, mindfulness and nutrition education. One For Health will provide these wellness resources as well as free healthy snacks and drinks to all children participating in the programs. 

• $100,000 for National Association of African Americans in Human Resources (NAAAHR) members to provide wraparound services such as job training, career coaching, job development, and other services for the returning citizens/mentees, along with support as needed for their family members.

• $100,000 for discretionary L.O.V.E. Is The Answer project funding throughout the community. These funds will be used for murals, music, art projects, and other L.O.V.E. Is The Answer-inspired community initiatives by mentors and mentees. 

• $51,000 for costs associated with the program such as occupancy, travel, internet, food, and bookkeeping. 

• $36,000 for twelve 1.5-hour community conversations and listening sessions for the organization and the greater Worcester community. With the goal of creating organizing teams while supporting community members to grow into their own power. 

• $35,000 for 10 3-hour webinars for the organization and their greater community to connect and learn about ways they can break out of their silos and work together to improve their community. 

• $25,000 for staff development and training in order to address issues of social justice and fairness with respect to community and police relations.

Project Name: Workforce Readiness Business Incubator and Collaborative Workspace
Amount Requested: $750,000 
Intended Recipient: Corporation for Public Management
Location: Springfield, Hampden County, MA 
Project Purpose: Increase the capacity of our programs to provide access to efficient, competency-based training, skill development workshops, and work opportunities for vulnerable and marginalized populations and persons with disabilities. The goal is to prepare individuals to become workforce ready and financially independent by gaining access to high-quality training programs that lead directly to good, in-demand jobs within their communities and allow opportunities for advancement. Expanding our training and development programs will allow us to focus on the individuals' skills development needs and help empower the moves to safe and equitable employment while fostering integrity and independence for all individuals served.

Project Name: WPI-Worcester FABLab for Social Good – Technology for Social Innovation
Amount Requested: $2,000,000
Intended Recipient: Worcester Polytechnic Institute
Location: Worcester, Worcester County, MA
Project Purpose: The Financial services industry is a major employer in Massachusetts and a competitive advantage for the state. Massachusetts is currently third in the U.S. for FinTech start-ups, creating a growing “skills gap." In light of this emerging “skills gap," WPI is fast-tracking U.G. and G.R. degree programs in fintech, in which the Worcester FABLab is a central tenet. The Worcester FABLab has been working with various groups within the Worcester community to advance the use of technology for social good using Fintech, artificial intelligence, and blockchain technology. It is seeking greater investment to build academic programs and corporate and community outreach.

Project Name: YMCA of Central Massachusetts -Greendale Airnasium
Amount Requested: $700,000 
Intended Recipient: YMCA of Central Massachusetts
Location: Worcester, Worcester County, MA
Project Purpose: The Y provides youth development, healthy living, and social responsibility initiatives to children, teens, families, and seniors. To further our mission and deepen our impact, we seek to repurpose a portion of our existing green space to expand programs and services based on local needs. This outdoor covered space, approximately 8,000 sq. ft., will serve as a destination for children to play, teens to gather, seniors to exercise, and a wide-open platform for community-building events. This cost-effective approach will enable us to increase the number of programs delivered, especially for those most vulnerable, while maintaining the integrity of our footprint.

Project Name: 473 Sumner Avenue Development Project 
Amount Requested: $1,003,729 
Intended Recipient: Caring Health Center, Inc.
Location: Springfield, Hampden County, MA
Project Purpose: The Project Purpose is the development and renovation of a facility located at 473 Sumner Avenue, Springfield, MA. This project intends to create a high-quality, multi-use facility to house Caring Health Center's Learning Institute, an equity-driven workforce development and training initiative, as well as expanded behavioral health services.

Project Name: 2023 Childcare
Amount Requested: $75,000 
Intended Recipient: West Suburban Young Men's Christian Association, Inc.
Location: Newton, Middlesex County, MA
Project Purpose: The West Suburban YMCA's Out-of-School-Time Program (OST) provides enrichment opportunities for school-aged children during after-school hours. Funding will support mental health supports, professional development, curriculum equipment, and supplies, and guest speakers then help foster a love of learning in children, nurture their social-emotional well-being, and enable parents and caregivers to contribute to the economy.

Project Name:  Affordable Senior Housing at The Pryde in Hyde Park
Amount Requested:  $850,000
Intended Recipient: LGBTQ Senior Housing, Inc.
Location: Roslindale, Suffolk County, MA
Project Purpose: The Pryde will be the first LGBTQ-welcoming affordable senior housing development in Massachusetts, fulfilling a massive unmet need. We will provide housing opportunities and community programming for a wide range of seniors ranging from 30% AMI to 100% AMI while also having set asides for formerly homeless & individuals with disabilities. Funds will be used from programming and services for the complex's community center.