CPIMP211244
Project Grant
Overview
Grant Description
Boston Public Health Commission "Advancing Health Literacy to Enhance Equitable Community Responses to COVID-19" - Urban Area: Boston, Massachusetts.
Population of Focus: The project is led by the Boston Public Health Commission (the city's health department) and will address inequities in the impact of COVID-19 on Boston residents who are Black, Latinx, of limited English proficiency, immigrants, or members of other marginalized groups. It will also focus on unequal access to culturally competent vaccination, testing, and other treatment and prevention services.
Goals:
1. Increase and evaluate acceptability and use of COVID-19-related outreach, service delivery, education, and media messaging that reduces inequities in access to COVID-19 prevention and treatment.
2. Based on evaluation findings, develop more effective, culturally competent, and replicable outreach and service delivery models for future local public health efforts to reduce health inequities.
Objectives:
1. Partnerships: By the end of year 1, to achieve project goals, strengthen or establish partnerships with at least 12 community-based organizations with deep connections to the target population. Partners will include community health centers, neighborhood organizations, faith-based and worker and immigrant organizations, and others that engage people of color in the city. Many partners are already in place. Partners will be chosen for their connection to communities most affected by inequities in vaccination, testing, and treatment. They will conduct outreach, engagement, and health literacy activities tailored to their communities.
2. Health Literacy Strategies: Working with key partners and the Mauricio Gaston Institute at the University of Massachusetts, Boston (our minority-serving institutional partner), we will develop and implement health literacy strategies for our focus population. Some activities will be broad-based, while others will use culturally and linguistically appropriate messages focused on specific groups and tailored to their concerns, hopes, and interests (e.g., Haitian-Americans, Brazilian immigrants, younger Latinx men, LGBTQ youth, parents of young children). A key element of our strategy will be health promoters - community members trained and employed to conduct outreach activities within their communities and social networks, and who could be present at vaccination clinics.
3. New Models: Our findings will inform the development of more effective multicultural and multilingual models for engaging communities in public health prevention and treatment activities. These models will be extremely valuable to future vaccination campaigns for other communicable diseases (e.g., influenza) and for increasing health literacy for other prevention, testing, and treatment activities.
Evaluation: The Gaston Institute will lead a mixed methods evaluation using data analysis, key informant interviews, online surveys, focus groups, town halls, social network analysis, and other strategies to:
1. Determine which groups are most affected by inequities in COVID-19 vaccination, testing, and treatment outcomes.
2. Understand what kinds of messages and outreach strategies can best engage these groups and improve understanding and uptake of COVID-19 vaccination, testing, and treatment.
3. Evaluate project strategies based on specific objectives (number vaccinated, number tested), on how residents, community leaders, healthcare workers, and others describe their experiences with these engagement strategies, and on adherence to national CLAS standards.
4. Continuously report information to the project team so it can adjust communications and engagement strategies to improve project results and identify additional population segments that may be affected by inequities at each stage (e.g., initial vaccination, flu vaccination, boosters).
5. Use what we are learning to develop multicultural and multilingual models of communication, engagement, healthcare delivery, and preparedness for social emergencies.
Population of Focus: The project is led by the Boston Public Health Commission (the city's health department) and will address inequities in the impact of COVID-19 on Boston residents who are Black, Latinx, of limited English proficiency, immigrants, or members of other marginalized groups. It will also focus on unequal access to culturally competent vaccination, testing, and other treatment and prevention services.
Goals:
1. Increase and evaluate acceptability and use of COVID-19-related outreach, service delivery, education, and media messaging that reduces inequities in access to COVID-19 prevention and treatment.
2. Based on evaluation findings, develop more effective, culturally competent, and replicable outreach and service delivery models for future local public health efforts to reduce health inequities.
Objectives:
1. Partnerships: By the end of year 1, to achieve project goals, strengthen or establish partnerships with at least 12 community-based organizations with deep connections to the target population. Partners will include community health centers, neighborhood organizations, faith-based and worker and immigrant organizations, and others that engage people of color in the city. Many partners are already in place. Partners will be chosen for their connection to communities most affected by inequities in vaccination, testing, and treatment. They will conduct outreach, engagement, and health literacy activities tailored to their communities.
2. Health Literacy Strategies: Working with key partners and the Mauricio Gaston Institute at the University of Massachusetts, Boston (our minority-serving institutional partner), we will develop and implement health literacy strategies for our focus population. Some activities will be broad-based, while others will use culturally and linguistically appropriate messages focused on specific groups and tailored to their concerns, hopes, and interests (e.g., Haitian-Americans, Brazilian immigrants, younger Latinx men, LGBTQ youth, parents of young children). A key element of our strategy will be health promoters - community members trained and employed to conduct outreach activities within their communities and social networks, and who could be present at vaccination clinics.
3. New Models: Our findings will inform the development of more effective multicultural and multilingual models for engaging communities in public health prevention and treatment activities. These models will be extremely valuable to future vaccination campaigns for other communicable diseases (e.g., influenza) and for increasing health literacy for other prevention, testing, and treatment activities.
Evaluation: The Gaston Institute will lead a mixed methods evaluation using data analysis, key informant interviews, online surveys, focus groups, town halls, social network analysis, and other strategies to:
1. Determine which groups are most affected by inequities in COVID-19 vaccination, testing, and treatment outcomes.
2. Understand what kinds of messages and outreach strategies can best engage these groups and improve understanding and uptake of COVID-19 vaccination, testing, and treatment.
3. Evaluate project strategies based on specific objectives (number vaccinated, number tested), on how residents, community leaders, healthcare workers, and others describe their experiences with these engagement strategies, and on adherence to national CLAS standards.
4. Continuously report information to the project team so it can adjust communications and engagement strategies to improve project results and identify additional population segments that may be affected by inequities at each stage (e.g., initial vaccination, flu vaccination, boosters).
5. Use what we are learning to develop multicultural and multilingual models of communication, engagement, healthcare delivery, and preparedness for social emergencies.
Awardee
Funding Goals
NOT APPLICABLE
Grant Program (CFDA)
Awarding Agency
Funding Agency
Place of Performance
Boston,
Massachusetts
United States
Geographic Scope
City-Wide
Related Opportunity
Analysis Notes
Amendment Since initial award the End Date has been extended from 06/30/23 to 06/30/24 and the total obligations have decreased 29% from $3,875,000 to $2,747,069.
Boston Public Health Commission was awarded
Advancing Health Literacy for Equitable COVID-19 Response in Boston
Project Grant CPIMP211244
worth $2,747,069
from the Office of Minority Health in July 2021 with work to be completed primarily in Boston Massachusetts United States.
The grant
has a duration of 3 years and
was awarded through assistance program 93.137 Community Programs to Improve Minority Health Grant Program.
The Project Grant was awarded through grant opportunity Advancing Health Literacy to Enhance Equitable Community Responses to COVID-19.
Status
(Complete)
Last Modified 4/4/25
Period of Performance
7/1/21
Start Date
6/30/24
End Date
Funding Split
$2.7M
Federal Obligation
$0.0
Non-Federal Obligation
$2.7M
Total Obligated
Activity Timeline
Subgrant Awards
Disclosed subgrants for CPIMP211244
Transaction History
Modifications to CPIMP211244
Additional Detail
Award ID FAIN
CPIMP211244
SAI Number
CPIMP211244-4245122167
Award ID URI
SAI UNAVAILABLE
Awardee Classifications
City Or Township Government
Awarding Office
750SHA OASH Office of Grants Management
Funding Office
75ACC0 OASH OFFICE OF MINORITY HEALTH
Awardee UEI
EHHGWYELR4R3
Awardee CAGE
3V0C0
Performance District
MA-90
Senators
Edward Markey
Elizabeth Warren
Elizabeth Warren
Modified: 4/4/25