Massachusetts Community Health & Healthy Aging Funds Grant
MAFSC and local food policy councils receive grant to focus on community-driven policy change that promotes equitable food access and health equity
The Massachusetts Food System Collaborative, in partnership with local food policy councils, has been selected as a 2026 awardee of the Massachusetts Community Health & Healthy Aging Funds. The Funds, administered through a partnership between the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, the Executive Office of Aging & Independence, and Health Resources in Action, awarded more than $17.1 million to 30 organizations and their partners across the Commonwealth.
The Massachusetts Food System Collaborative and local food policy councils will use this investment to strengthen statewide capacity to facilitate community-driven PSE change that promotes food access and health equity.
Amidst sweeping cuts to federal food assistance programs, the pervasive impacts of structural racism, and corporate consolidation and extractive practices keeping grocery prices high and purchasing power low, people are struggling to access the food they need. Residents across Massachusetts continue to face significant barriers to accessing affordable, healthy, and culturally relevant food, and they are often excluded from policy and decision making; this results in a disconnect between the existing food system and what communities want and need.
There are more than 20 active local food policy councils and food system coalitions in Massachusetts that participate in the Local Food Policy Council network. Through capacity building and coordination among this network, this funding will build community power to address this disconnect, and strengthen our collective voice to advocate for healthy food policy statewide. We will implement 3 interconnected activities:
- Storytelling/Community Leadership Projects: Four LFPC’s in Springfield, Worcester, Lowell, and Boston will continue community-led narrative change and community organizing efforts, building power in their local communities and acting as learning hubs within the LFPC network.
- LFPC Network Capacity Building: The full LFPC network will engage in skill building and action projects related to storytelling, narrative change, and community engagement and organizing.
- Coordinated State and Local Organizing and Advocacy: We will coordinate state and local advocacy campaigns, powered by community voice, to advance equitable food access.
This initiative intentionally invests in the network of local food policy councils and food access coalitions across Massachusetts and seeks to strengthen systems for collaboration, coordination, and shared learning to more effectively use our collective voice and assets for future systems change work. Together, we aim to build stronger pathways for community leadership in policy-making, shifting to more community-driven solutions to address inequitable food access.
The Massachusetts Community Health and Healthy Aging Funds were created in January 2017 when DPH completed a landmark revision of its Determination of Need (DoN) regulation, which authorized the creation of these Funds. DPH provides overall guidance to the Funds and Health Resources in Action, Inc. acts as a fiduciary and implementing partner. The Massachusetts Executive Office of Aging & Independence (AGE) partners with DPH to support the Healthy Aging Fund.
More information about the Funds can be found at https://mahealthfunds.org/