Community-Based Health Initiative FAQs

BIDMC is constructing its first new inpatient building in more than twenty years. The Massachusetts Department of Public Health requires this building project to go through a Determination of Need (DoN) process. The DoN process is used to promote health for all residents and to ensure health resources are fairly distributed across the state. The DoN process directs BIDMC to dedicate 5% of the total project cost towards a Community-based Health Initiative to help improve the health and wellbeing of all members of the community that BIDMC serves.

Starting in 2020 and continuing over the next six years, BIDMC will invest approximately $18 million to address community health priorities in BIDMC’s Community Benefits Service Area.

BIDMC has a proud history of supporting the health and wellbeing of the underserved. BIDMC will concentrate its efforts on the neighborhoods identified as having the greatest health needs within BIDMC’s Community Benefits Service Area. As a result, BIDMC’s focus areas for the Community-based Health Initiative are the City of Chelsea and the following City of Boston neighborhoods: Allston/Brighton, Bowdoin/Geneva in Dorchester, Chinatown, Fenway/Kenmore, Mission Hill, and Roxbury.

BIDMC has assembled a Community Benefits Advisory Committee made up of leaders and local residents from BIDMC’s Community Benefits Service Area to inform and guide the Community-based Health Initiative process. The Community Benefits Advisory Committee used input from community members to determine what health priorities BIDMC should focus on for the Community-based Health Initiative. Read more information here about how the four health priorities were selected.

BIDMC formed an Allocation Committee made up of individuals who have disclosed any real or perceived conflicts of interest and have confirmed they will not be an applicant for Community-based Health Initiative funding. This Allocation Committee is tasked with overseeing a transparent, public and competitive process for awarding funds for local strategies that address the health priorities identified by the Community Benefits Advisory Committee. The Allocation Committee includes BIDMC staff, BIDMC Department of Community Benefits representatives, a member of a Community Development Corporation¹or a similar organization, residents of the BIDMC Community Benefits Service Area, and local experts and representatives from the City of Boston.

¹Community development corporations (CDCs) are 501(c)(3) non-profit organizations that support and revitalize impoverished communities. CDCs help with the development of affordable housing and are involved in a wide range of community services such as education, job training, healthcare, commercial development, and other social programs.

Using community input and existing research, the Community Benefits Advisory Committee voted on and approved four health priorities to focus on: housing affordability, jobs and financial security, behavioral health, and healthy neighborhoods. The Community Advisory Committee also approved related sub-priorities and the percentages of funds to be allocated to each priority and sub-priority.

Visit the RFP page for the latest information about applying for funding.