Community Benefits program aids dozens of local groups

Cape Cod Healthcare’s Community Benefits program assisted an unprecedented number of recipients in its latest round of grants that support local organizations.

“This year we received a record 50 applicants and were able to provide grants to most of them, based on their alignment with the needs identified in our Community Health Needs Assessment” said Jennifer R. Cummings, MSW, associate director of development & community benefits for Cape Cod Healthcare.

A total of $300,000 was distributed, with most organizations receiving grants of $5,000 to $10,000, she said.

In this annual process, Cape Cod Healthcare provides Community Benefits grants to local organizations working to enhance access to healthcare services. A Community Health Needs Assessment helps determine unmet needs of the financially disadvantaged and underserved populations, as well as projects that promote disease prevention, wellness and access to care.

“This year our priorities were behavioral health, access to healthcare and housing,” Cummings said. “Two additional themes were health equity and economic stress and instability.”

The CCHC community benefits team was especially excited that almost a third of this year’s grantees are being funded for the first time, she said.

We have expanded our process and opened it up for proposals to address any need found in our community health needs assessment,” she explained. “Also, increased community engagement by the community benefits office and our community health committee, who act as our ambassadors, has helped introduce us to new, smaller organizations.”

FY25 Grant Recipients List

These are the organizations that were funded through this year’s Community Benefits program (first-time recipients are in bold):

• AIDS Support Group of Cape Cod (Project Inform & Empower)
• Alzheimer’s Family Caregiver Support Center (Teleconference: A Person-Centered Approach to Dementia Caregiving)
• Behavioral Health Innovators (Alternative Peer Group)
• Belonging to Each Other (Transitional Housing Support for Our Falmouth Neighbors)
• Brighter Beginnings (Children's Mental Health Initiative)
• Calmer Choice (The Future of Mindfulness on Cape Cod)
• Cape Abilities (Increasing Health, Wellness, and Quality of Life with Recreational Programs for Individuals with Disabilities)
• Cape Cod Children’s Place (Wellspring Project)
• Cape Cod Commercial Fishermen’s Alliance (Reducing Food Insecurity with Local Seafood)
• Cape Cod Council of Churches (A Baby Center)
• Cape Cod Toy Library (Healthy Kids Play & Learn)
• Cape Cod Village Center for Developmental Disabilities (Get Up, Get Out, & Get Healthy)
• Cape Cod Young Men’s Christian Association (Behavioral Health Support for YMCA Early Education Centers)
• Cape Wellness Collaborative (Wellness Cares)
• CHAMP Homes (Transitional Housing Assistance – Youth & Young Adult Cohort)
• Community Action Committee of Cape Cod & Islands (Access to Health Insurance Navigator Program)
• Cordial Eye Gallery and Artist Space (Creative Care)
• Elder Services of Cape Cod and the Islands (Digital Equity Initiative)
• Food Justice Initiative (Food Justice Farm Expansion)
• Health Imperatives (Nourishing Newborns Together)
• Helping Our Women (Women's Health and Wellness)
• Heroes in Transition (Reboot/Regroup)
• Lower Cape Cod Community Development Corporation (Lower Cape Community Housing Partnership)
• Lower Cape Outreach Council (Housing Stability and Security Program 2024)
• MA Mom Advocates – Mama Corp (Maternal Health Equity Initiative: Compassionate Advocacy and Support for Birthing People)
• Massachusetts Audubon Society (Connecting our Community to Nature - Mass Audubon Cape Cod Youth Programming)
• Neighborhood Falmouth (Wearable Personal Emergency Response Devices for Vulnerable Neighborhood Falmouth Members)
• Pause a While (Pause A While)
• Real Eyes Truth (Intergenerational/Historical Trauma Treatment to Address High Blood Pressure)
• Sharing Kindness (Virtual Grief Support Groups for Bereaved Children & Caregivers)
• St. David’s Episcopal (Paper Pantry/TakeAway Meal Program)
• Team Maureen (Continued HPV Education, with an added Military Focus)
• The Arts & Justice Collective (The Collective Creates Third Spaces)
• The Cape and Islands Veterans Outreach Center (Veterans Healthcare Access Transportation Program)
• The Family Pantry of Cape Cod (Healthy Eating for Healthy Living)
• The Mended Hearts (Peer to Peer support which includes Printed Material, Meetings and Pillows)
• Town of Eastham Department of Health & Environment (Enhancing the Mental Well-Being of Lower and Outer Cape residents with use of CredibleMind, a digital mental health platform tool)
• United Way of Cape Cod (Community Baby Shower)
• WE CAN (Cape Economic Stability Services)