Overdose fatalities continue to climb year-over-year within Massachusetts and nationally. The CDC reported that nearly 107,000 people in the U.S. died of a drug overdose in 2021, with over 75% of those involving an opioid. In 2022, the Massachusetts Department of Public Health estimated 2,359 overdose-related deaths in the state – a 2.5% increase from the previous year and 9.1% higher than the pre-pandemic peak in 2016. To reverse current trends, we must build broad community capacity in overdose prevention and rescue. These skills are simple to learn and easy to perform—anyone can do them. Th ..read more

Health Resources in Action (HRiA) has received a $10M unrestricted gift from MacKenzie Scott through the Yield Giving Initiative. “This gift is an incredible recognition of the collaborative work HRiA does with our community partners and clients to transform practices, policies, and systems to enable individuals to thrive in more equitable and just communities,” said Steven Ridini, HRiA CEO and President.  “It is our staff’s passion, vision, and tireless commitment – over the decades and today – that set the stage for this tremendous opportunity. Thanks to this gift, HRiA c ..read more

The Jeffress Trust has announced the 2023 recipients of its Awards Program in Research Advancing Health Equity. Congratulations to the awardees! Below, we share highlights about each of the awardees. For full awardee project descriptions, click here. Partnership/Collaborative Establishment Awards Impact of Medical-Legal Partnership (MLP) Collaborative Upon Social Determinants of Health of Low-Income Individuals in Rural Southwest Virginia Dr. Matthew Loos Matthew Loos, MD, FACS, MBABallad Health, in partnership with Appalachian School of Law – Virginia Tech – STRONG Accountable Care Communit ..read more

Housing access in Massachusetts is at a crisis level. A two-bedroom apartment in MA, the third most expensive state for housing, requires an annual household income of over $86,000. These costs are exacerbated by low housing inventory, especially among affordable units. The deficit of affordable and available housing for extremely low-income residents has grown to over 175,000 units. Meanwhile, builders are financially incentivized to develop luxury housing rather than desperately needed affordable units. The result is a housing “cost burdened” scenario. This painful dynamic occurs when reside ..read more

September is Recovery Month, bringing awareness to the recovery journey of those affected by substance use. It’s preceded by International Overdose Awareness Day, on August 31st. During this time of the year, we honor those in recovery, remember loved ones lost, and hold ourselves accountable for keeping everyone safe and well. This time of awareness and reflection also offers opportunities to decrease stigma, challenge narratives about substance use, and provide resources and services that people need and deserve. This month offers time to simply connect with people in both grief and celebrat ..read more

Biomedical researchers need strong scientific communication skills to combat rising skepticism and misinformation. Robust communication skills also help secure funding, support recruitment of research staff and study participants, and increase the impact of research findings on human health. Yet few researchers are afforded the opportunity to formally build these skills. The Richard and Susan Smith Family Foundation and HRiA recently embarked on an innovative approach to address the communications challenge researchers face. Since 1991, the Smith Family Foundation has supported 218 scientists ..read more

Power lies at the heart of health and racial justice, shaping our society’s structures. It determines access to resources, who makes decisions, who thrives, and who is left behind. Those who hold formal power within a system, such as elected or appointed officials, can leverage, shift, or build power. Historically, those “outside” of a governmental system, such as community residents, advocates, and community-based organizations, have less access to the formal power needed to create impact. Acknowledging these power imbalances is the first step toward transformative change. Advocacy serves as ..read more

The Community Health Improvement (CHI) process can surface important information and initiate the action needed to create healthy and equitable communities. While most organizations successfully complete their assessments and plans, they often get “stuck” when it comes to prioritization, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation. What strategies can your institution use to successfully complete the full cycle of the CHI process? Background The CHI framework as we know it rose to prominence in the mid-1990s by way of the Institute of Medicine Committee on Using Performance Monitoring to Improv ..read more

Community engagement is widely acknowledged as an essential component of public health and systems change work. Equitable community engagement: Acknowledges that decisions made about policies, public benefits, and the distribution of resources will have the most impact if made in partnership with the people they affect; Affirms that communities of focus have the skills, experiences, and knowledge that are vital to develop a public health system that meet their needs; and Strives to design and deliver high quality and culturally appropriate services, build leadership capacity, reduce health in ..read more

Introduction Dismantling structural and systemic racism is an essential part of promoting health equity and improving health outcomes. Yet the meaning of these nuanced concepts can differ depending on a person’s identities and lived experiences. We must develop a mutual understanding to operationalize these concepts so that they can inform both the day-to-day work and support the long-term vision. Doing so creates a shared language that can foster trust and build strong relationships among partners working to advance health equity. In this piece, we share an example of how the work of creating ..read more