The Steering Committee of the Boston Alliance for Community Health has made the decision to sunset as an organization, effective January 31, 2019. This means that BACH will no longer exist as a program within its fiscal sponsor, Health Resources in Action (HRiA), but its staff will remain as HRiA employees.
Over the years, BACH has been a part of many crucial citywide public health initiatives. It partnered with the Boston Public Health Commission (BPHC) to complete the community-wide strategic planning process, Mobilizing for Action through Planning and Partnerships (MAPP), to better understand the needs and assets of Boston residents. It helped to catalyze the creation of the Boston CHNA/CHIP Collaborative, the first citywide assessment and improvement plan. And in partnership with BPHC and a dozen community organizations, BACH trained and mobilized nearly 80 residents as grassroots advocates and health educators.
With these successes has come landscape change. Historically, as the local Community Health Area Network (CHNA), BACH played a role in the distribution of community funding from hospitals. State Department of Public Health regulations have changed this process, deemphasizing CHNAs and creating a more accessible and transparent opportunity for community entities to connect directly with hospitals and create partnerships. This is an equitable shift and a credit to everyone who pushed for this change. As the funding landscape has evolved, so too have community organizations’ cross-sector partnerships and resource access.
Thank you to our partners and stakeholders. We hope that you will continue to carryout BACH’s mission and vision of healthier and more equitable City.