MGH Community Health Impact Funds Background

In 2022, Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) began construction on a state-of-the-art clinical building in Boston—the Phillip and Susan Ragon Building. This capital expenditure provided the largest ever Determination of Need (DoN) in Massachusetts history to date, resulting in a $62M dollar investment in the communities that Mass General Brigham serves. Learn more about the Community Health Impact Funds.

The MGH Community Advisory Board (CAB), guided by the community driven 2022-23 Community Health Needs Assessment and Community Health Implementation Plan, determined four priorities along with strategies to address them—housing, economic/financial stability and mobility, mental/behavioral health, and food/nutrition security. 

We are excited to announce a $3M dollar funding opportunity for organizations working on community-based approaches that strengthen the mental and behavioral health ecosystem and improve access to coordinated, culturally and linguistically responsive supports.

There is a two-way relationship between the social conditions in a person’s life and their mental and behavioral health. Various social circumstances may impact someone’s mental health, and, at the same time, a person’s mental and behavioral status can impact their ability to navigate social factors such as employment, education, and housing conditions. Currently, and exacerbated by the COVID pandemic, there is an unprecedented demand for mental and behavioral health services, particularly in under-resourced communities. The need is urgent for creative, integrated, accessible, and community-informed services.

An allocation committee composed of community leaders with sector expertise was formed in March of 2026. The committee was tasked to review the results of the 2025 Community Health Needs Assessment, and determine if the strategies developed in 2023 were still relevant to current community conditions. The committee's conclusions were that while the current strategies were strong in intent and breadth, they needed to be more targeted and operationalized to address rising and complex mental health needs across communities; persistent access barriers, including workforce shortages and long wait times; deepening disparities among low-income, BIPOC, and immigrant populations; and the interconnected nature of mental health with housing, food, and economic stress.

Mental and Behavioral Health strategies approved for the 2026 funding opportunity include: 

Strategy A: Workforce Pipeline, Advancement & Retention

Build and sustain a diverse, community-rooted mental and behavioral health workforce by strengthening career pathways, expanding advancement opportunities, and improving retention across the continuum of care.

1. Training, credentialing, and advancement opportunities for existing frontline staff, including community health workers, peer specialists, recovery coaches, youth mentors, paraprofessionals, and other community-based workers

2. Career ladder programs that enable workers to progress to higher-skilled and higher-wage mental and behavioral health roles while remaining employed

3. Recruitment, retention, advancement, and workforce pipeline initiatives that increase workforce diversity and cultural and linguistic concordance with the communities served. This may include paid internships, apprenticeships, field placements, and supervision models, and career pathway opportunities that create on-ramps and advancement opportunities for diverse and multilingual talent.

4. Retention supports that improve workforce stability and reduce burnout, including reflective supervision, mentorship, peer support, manageable caseload models, leadership development, flexible work arrangements, and employee wellness initiatives

5. Supports that enable caregivers and working adults to participate in and remain in the workforce, such as childcare assistance, transportation support, and flexible training schedules

Strategy B: Integrated Care Coordination & Wraparound Support Systems

Strengthen integrated, person-centered, culturally and linguistically responsive systems that address the social, economic, and health factors affecting mental and behavioral health and wellbeing. Support the development and expansion of coordinated wraparound models that connect individuals to a continuum of services and provide ongoing navigation, follow-up, and stabilization support—recognizing that referrals alone are often insufficient to ensure engagement and positive outcomes. Priority will be given to models that are community-rooted, reflect the cultural and linguistic needs of the population served, and build trust through partnerships with community-based organizations and providers. Investments may include:

1. Development of multidisciplinary care coordination teams that integrate mental and behavioral health, primary care, housing, food security, substance use, education, and social service providers, with emphasis on culturally responsive, linguistically accessible, and community-informed care.

2. Infrastructure and staffing that enable longitudinal client tracking, cross-provider communication, shared care planning, and coordinated service delivery across systems while supporting culturally responsive engagement and continuity of care.

3. Integration of mental & behavioral health support within housing, food access, workforce development, youth-serving, educational, other community-based settings in ways that are accessible, culturally responsive, and trusted by the communities it serves.

4. Community-based, wraparound models that help individuals address urgent social and economic needs that may contribute to mental and behavioral health crises, instability, or disengagement from care. This may include flexible support mechanisms that remove barriers such as transportation, childcare, technology access, housing-related needs, language access, or other short-term stabilization supports that enable individuals to access and remain connected to services.

5. School- and community-based coordination models and cross-sector partnerships that strengthen connections among families, service providers, healthcare systems, and community resources. Funding may support system-building efforts that improve continuity of care, reduce fragmentation, enhance care navigation and follow-up, and increase access to culturally and linguistically responsive, coordinated supports.

Funding Description 

The $3 million will be divided equally between two strategies:

• Strategy A: Workforce Pipeline, Advancement & Retention — $1.5 million
• Strategy B: Integrated Care Coordination & Wraparound Support Systems — $1.5 million

Applicants will apply under one strategy and should clearly demonstrate how their proposed work advances the goals and activities described within that strategy.

Awards may support new initiatives, expansion or strengthening of existing models, partnerships, infrastructure, or other approaches that demonstrate the potential for meaningful and sustainable impact. This funding is intended to be flexible covering for operational costs such as, but not limited to, salaries, youth stipends, supplies, and travel. No in-kind is required. The funding is for “upstream” projects, meaning that projects should focus on initiatives that address the root causes of why people have trouble getting mental health or wellness help. Partnerships between organizations that team-up to fill in service gaps will be prioritized. For example, a mental health service provider that will also connect to housing or food support. Funding priority will also be given to applicants and ideas that show how mental health and things like housing, jobs, and education are connected and address how those connections can work better. These projects may aim to make changes within an organization or at the neighborhood, town, city, or state level, making it easier for people to get the help they need.

The $1.5M for each strategy will be distributed between two grant level. This model recognizes that organizations may be at different stages of readiness and may require different levels of investment:

Transformational Grants – Up to $500,000

Transformational grants would support larger-scale efforts capable of significantly strengthening workforce systems, care coordination infrastructure, partnerships, or models of service delivery. Strong transformational proposals would generally demonstrate:

• Significant scale or depth of impact;
• A strong organizational and/or partnership infrastructure;
• Potential to change or strengthen how organizations or systems work together;
• Clear sustainability beyond the grant period;
• Strong community connection and responsiveness;
• Measurable outcomes; and
• A compelling justification for the level of investment requested. 

Supplementary Grants – Up to $250,000

Supplementary grants would support more focused investments that strengthen, expand, test, or fill an important gap within an existing program, partnership, workforce pathway, or coordinated support system.

Distribution Per Strategy  

Each strategy would retain its full $1.5 million allocation, but the final number of awards would depend upon the mix and amounts of applications recommended for funding.

For example:

Across both strategies, this example would result in approximately 8 awards: 4 transformational (2 for Strategy A and 2 for Strategy B) and 4 supplementary (2 for Strategy A and 2 for Strategy B).

The Allocation Committee could vary the mix based on proposal quality and vary the amount of grants awarded—for example, recommending one transformational grant and several supplementary grants—provided that awards within each strategy do not exceed the respective $1.5 million allocation.

Funding Parameters

A total of $3 million is available through this funding opportunity

For either grant category:

• The total amount requested may not exceed 50% of the applicant organization’s annual operating budget.
• Applicants may propose a grant period of one, two, or three years, depending on the scope and needs of the proposed work.
• Applicants should propose a funding amount and grant period that are reasonable and proportionate to the scope, population served, anticipated outcomes, and organizational capacity.
• Applicants requesting multi-year funding should describe anticipated activities, milestones, and use of funds across the proposed grant period.
• Indirect costs up to 20%.
• The maximum award represents the total grant amount across the full grant period, not an annual award.

The allocation committee and MGB reserve the right to award an amount that differs from the amount requested in order to maximize the impact and strategic distribution of available funding. This funding is intended to be flexible covering for operational costs, new or existing staff and with no in-kind required.

Who may apply

Given this Determination of Needs Funding is through Massachusetts General Hospital, all investments need to serve the catchment area of the hospital, which is: All neighborhoods of Boston, the City of Chelsea, the City of Revere and the Town of Winthrop (Suffolk County).

Eligible applicants may include:

• Community-based nonprofit organizations serving Suffolk County
• Community health and behavioral health organizations, not affiliated with Mass General Brigham, serving Suffolk County
• Educational and workforce development institutions serving Suffolk County
• Schools and academic institutions serving Suffolk County
• Municipalities or other public entities serving Suffolk County

Applicants should demonstrate a meaningful connection to the communities and populations they propose to serve. Partnerships and collaborative approaches are encouraged when they meaningfully strengthen the proposed work. Applicants should clearly identify the roles and responsibilities of participating partners.

Per Massachusetts Department of Public Health (DPH) regulations, organizations within the DoN applicant’s (Mass General Brigham) health system cannot apply for funds designed to address needs of the community at large. If a community organization plans to engage with an entity within the MGB system as a project partner, funds cannot be given to MGB entities and the community organization must be the operator of the project.

Application Process

Applicants must complete and submit this Letter of Intent (LOI) form through the SurveyMonkey Apply portal. The Allocation Committee will review the LOI and, if selected, applicants will receive an invitation to provide a full proposal. LOI forms must be submitted through the SurveyMonkey Apply portal no later than 6 pm on Wednesday, October 21, 2026.

Timeline and Important Dates and Deadlines

Questions?

There are several ways to learn more about the LOI process, eligibility, application process, and other questions and concerns. We encourage applicants to:

• Review the FAQs.
• Submit a specific question by emailing srchiang@mgh.harvard.edu . 
• Register for one of the information forums here. It will be offered, through Zoom, on two dates: 
  • Wednesday, October 7, from 3-5 p.m. Register here
  • Friday, October 9, from 10-12 p.m. Register here