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BOSTON REACH

MFFC is parterning with the Boston Public Health Commission to bring equitable and accessible health solutions to Mattapan.

What is REACH?

REACH is a U.S Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) funded program to reduce racial
and ethnic health disparities or gaps. REACH stands for Racial and Ethnic Approaches to Community
Health and funds communities to carry out proven strategies to help improve health, prevent chronic
diseases, and reduce health inequities. across the U.S. The CDC has funded the REACH program for
25 years and Boston has a few REACH grants over the years.


Boston REACH: In September 2023, Boston received a 5-year REACH grant to work on policy,
systems and environmental change strategies in Boston that will influence healthy eating, physical
activity, early care and education and adult immunizations. The priority neighborhoods for this year’s
project are East Boston and Mattapan. Some of the strategies will focus on city-wide policies/systems,
and some will be neighborhood specific.

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LEARN MORE

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Workplan Strategies

1. Increasing access to healthy foods through food pantries and food distribution sites: We will
work with food pantries and sites across the city to support their nutrition policies and practices
to bring healthier options to the many Boston residents who rely on pantries and similar
resources.


2. Increasing access to healthy foods through farmers markets: We will develop a sustainable city-
wide plan to make fresh and healthy food at farmers markets more affordable and support
farmers market to better meet community needs.


3. Increasing physical activity through policies and activities to connect pedestrian, bicycle, or
transit transportation networks (called activity-friendly routes) to everyday destinations: We will
lead community engagement efforts in East Boston and Mattapan to connect residents to the
City’s projects that will increase activity-friendly routes in the neighborhoods.


4. Increasing access to quality early care and education: We will work to support family childcare
programs to implement program policies and practices that increase healthy food and physical
activity, decrease screen time, and support breastfeeding through the Boston Healthy Childcare
Initiative and a Boston Farm to Early Care and Education (ECE) programs.


5. Increasing access to vaccines for adult: We will work closely with Haitian Creole and Spanish
speaking communities to increase awareness, confidence, demand, and access for routinely
recommended adult vaccines.

Partners
  • Boston Public Health Commission- Division of Chronic Disease Prevention and Control

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  • East Boston Healthy Families Collaborative, supported by the East Boston Neighborhood Health Center

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  • Mattapan Food and Fitness Coalition

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  • Prevention Research Center at the Harvard T.H Chan School of Public Heath

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  • Walk Massachusetts

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  • Office of Food Justice- City of Boston

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  • Department of Transportation- City of Boston

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  • Boston Planning and Development Agency/ Department of Planning- City of Boston

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  • Office of Early Childhood- City of Boston

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