Health
We seek to reduce disparities and improve health outcomes by expanding access to better health care and piloting innovative solutions to address gaps in systems of care.
Our current giving includes TEAM UP for Children and the Brigham and Women’s Hospital NICU.
Grants in this area are by invitation only.
TEAM UP for Children
We are increasing access to timely and evidence-based behavioral health care for Massachusetts children and families through TEAM UP for Children (Transforming and Expanding Access to Mental Health in Urban Pediatrics).
Since 2015, we have committed $21.5 million to reach 126,000 children using Massachusetts community health centers and clinics serving marginalized communities.
While 1 in 5 children will have behavioral health needs, nearly 80% of those children do not receive adequate, timely treatment.
On average, children wait 8 to 10 years to receive an accurate diagnosis and begin treatment, a delay that can lead to lasting impacts on development and well-being.
TEAM UP builds the capacity of community health centers to deliver high-quality integrated behavioral health care through their pediatric clinics.
Since TEAM UP began, we have funded:
- Seven community health centers to co-develop and pilot TEAM UP in their pediatric clinics
- Boston Medical Center to provide clinical training and implementation support, advance learning through broad dissemination of findings, and scale TEAM UP across Massachusetts
- Health Care For All to advocate on behalf of sustainable funding for integrated pediatric behavioral health care
- Center for the Study of Social Policy to document key learnings for funders and policymakers interested in replicating TEAM UP within their own communities
- Ariadne Labs to assess TEAM UP’s scaling potential in Massachusetts and beyond
Learn more about TEAM UP:
Brigham and Women’s Hospital NICU
In combination with a private gift from Richard A. Smith, we have committed a $10 million leadership gift to Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH) for the Richard and Susan Smith Family Foundation Newborn Intensive Care Unit (NICU).
BWH, one of the nation’s top-ranked programs in obstetrics and gynecology is the largest birthing center in Massachusetts and has the largest NICU in New England.
More than 1,000 babies are admitted to the Brigham and Women’s Hospital NICU each year.
To further improve outcomes for these newborns with complex cases, we supported an expansion and renovation of BWH’s NICU. The new NICU is double in size and enables a state-of-the-art neonatal care environment to address the evolving needs of infants and families, with an increased focus on babies’ brain development.
![A female doctor looking over a baby about to enter the NICU MRI system.](https://rssff.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/BWH-NICU-MRI.jpg)