Massachusetts League of Community Health Centers

🚀 Exciting start to our Self-Coaching for Youth Leaders training series! Our Youth Health Advisory Council with Brockton Neighborhood Health Center at Brockton High School kicked off Session 1: Building Self-Awareness and Accountability with Wilbert Weche, Founder and CEO of Willful Change, LLC.   During this dynamic session, students explored: ✨ The power of self-coaching and why it matters. 💡 How to identify strengths, values, and growth areas. 🧩 Techniques to build self-awareness and practice reflection. ✅ The importance of personal accountability in their leadership journey.   Through interactive self-assessments and engaging group discussions, our youth leaders gained valuable insights into their personal development and left the session with a clearer understanding of how to harness their strengths for positive change.   Stay tuned for more as our youth leaders continue this transformative journey with part 2 at this years annual Community Health Institute Conference! 🌟   #YouthLeadership #YHAC #SelfCoaching #Empowerment #HealthEquity #BrocktonYouth #WillfulChange #LeadershipDevelopment #CommunityHealth #CommunityHealthInstitute #CHI2025

The Massachusetts League of Community Health Centers mourns the passing of former State Representative and EOHHS Secretary Philip W. Johnston. "Phil's longstanding commitment to the community health center movement and work to advance social justice, human rights, and health access echoed throughout his career," said Michael Curry, Esq., President & CEO of the Massachusetts League of Community Health Centers. As a legislator, EOHHS Secretary, HHS senior leader, and later as a communications and public affairs strategist, Phil built coalitions, partnerships, and relationships that have helped shape Massachusetts into a national leader in health care, improving the lives of individuals, families and our communities. "For the past 17 years I have appreciated having Phil's counsel and, moreover, his friendship, and we will look for the right opportunity to fully celebrate his life and legacy." https://lnkd.in/e5gCRDzT

It’s budget season on Beacon Hill! Massachusetts is fortunate to have leaders who are committed to addressing our most pressing health care challenges, like workforce shortages and limited access to primary care services. Community health centers provide affordable and high-quality primary, preventative, dental, and behavioral health care, as well as responsive supportive services to more than one million patients across the state. With health care becoming harder and harder to access in Massachusetts, we need community health centers more than ever.  But community health centers are under immense strain. Unchecked market forces, cuts to the NIH, CDC, and HHS, as well as looming cuts to Medicaid threaten their ability to provide the care and services that patients rely on. That’s why the Mass League is advocating the state legislature to prioritize funding for community health centers during the budget process. The funds provided by the state government will stabilize our members and promote longer-term viability. Most importantly, it will mean the care and services provided by community health centers will stay accessible to the people who need them.  If you believe accessible and affordable health care is important, we humbly ask that you contact your state legislator and urge them to prioritize funding for community health centers during their budget meetings. Send us a quick message and we will be happy to assist in your advocacy!  

What happens if Congress cuts Medicaid? As Allison van der Velden, CEO of Community Health Center of Franklin County points out, it will create a domino effect that will result in more expensive, harder to access care for all. This is why Medicaid is too vital to cut. https://lnkd.in/eqBc57VT

Medicaid reimbursement is a vital source of revenue to our community health centers. As Outer Cape Health Services CEO Damian Archer notes, with cuts to Medicaid looming at the federal level, Massachusetts can protect community health centers by passing legislation introduced by Representative Natalie M. Blais and Senator Julian Cyr that would require commercial insurance companies to match the rates Medicaid pays to community health centers. Read more here: https://lnkd.in/ebBsS2sJ

Our government affairs team of Katherine O'Reilly and Morgan McCallister, MPH were pleased to give a briefing to legislators and staff yesterday on the vital work of community health centers to provide high quality care and supportive services to patients. With looming challenges to the financial stability of our member health centers, we’re stepping up our efforts to pass legislation to support the sustainability of community health centers and expand the health care workforce pipeline. A very special thank you to Representative Natalie M. Blais and Senator Pavel Payano for their support of this event!

The 2025 Community Health Institute (CHI) will feature more than 40 impactful learning sessions, including the “Youth Voices, Workforce Solutions: Co-Creating Career Pathways in CHCs” session on Thursday, May 1. This session will delve into the unique challenges and opportunities in addressing the workforce needs of community health centers (CHCs), focusing on the importance of developing the next generation of healthcare professionals through initiatives such as the Youth Health Advisory Council (YHAC) program. The Massachusetts Department of Public Health, Codman Square Health Center's School-Based Health Center, Brockton Neighborhood Health Center's School-Based Health Center, and Massachusetts League of Community Health Centers partnered to establish the YHAC program at two Massachusetts high schools to broaden awareness and knowledge of the breadth of careers within CHCs. YHAC participants emphasize and inform the value of engaging youth as partners in shaping innovative approaches to meet evolving workforce needs, including co-designing community health pathway programs. In the following video, a Randolph High School student summarizes why the YHAC program has been so meaningful for her. Visit https://lnkd.in/enK7dEZX to get an updated list of the 2025 CHI learning sessions and other important conference information. Please note that you will need login credentials to access our member portal (my.massleague.org). If you don’t have login credentials, please email CHIconference@massleague.org to get added to the system. #2025CHI #CommunityHealthInstitute #YHAC

The deadline for getting a discount on a three-day pass to the 2025 Community Health Institute (CHI) is tomorrow, March 14! With the early-bird discount, you get three days of CHI access for $990. The reasons for attending the 2025 CHI keep adding up. We’re excited to announce that our keynote speaker for this year will be Raven Solomon, CSP®. Raven’s presentation, “Closing the Generational Gap,” will focus on how your organization can leverage generational differences in the workplace to drive substantial gains in productivity and employee satisfaction. If you’re not familiar with Raven’s work, we encourage you to visit https://lnkd.in/ee3xGwpX to get a taste of the passion and substance that characterize her presentations.   Visit https://lnkd.in/enK7dEZX to register for the 2025 CHI, get a preliminary agenda, reserve a hotel room, and obtain other important conference information. You will need login credentials to access the member portal (my.massleague.org). If you don’t have credentials, please email CHIconference@massleague.org to get added to the system. #2025CHI #earlybirddiscount

We have good news! The early-bird deadline for getting a deep discount on a three-day pass to the 2025 Community Health Institute (CHI) has been extended to Friday, March 14. The regular rate for a one-day registration is $700. With the early-bird discount, you get three days of CHI access for $990. There are plenty of great reasons for you to register by March 14. In the following short video, the Mass League’s Gia Angluin provides details about CHI sessions that have already been scheduled, including a program on Monday designed for board chairs and CEOs, a Tuesday session about building a sustainable philanthropy program at your health center, a panel discussion and Q&A on Wednesday featuring state legislators, and a Thursday session focused on how to leverage the 340B Drug Pricing Program to maximize your health center’s profits. Stay tuned for more agenda updates. Visit https://lnkd.in/enK7dEZX to register, get a preliminary agenda, reserve a hotel room, and obtain other important conference information. Please note that you will need login credentials to access our member portal (my.massleague.org). If you don’t have login credentials, please email CHIconference@massleague.org to get added to the system.   #2025CHI #CommunityHealthInstitute

Please join us for this important conversation featuring our own Michael Curry, The Dimock Center CEO Dr. Charles Anderson and our good friend Dr. Thea James of Boston Medical Center.