AMHERST — Food security and mental health, especially among immigrant families and other marginalized groups, will be a focus of a new community-wide health plan.
The three-year initiative, known as the Amherst Wellbeing Alliance, will bring together community members, organizations and town leaders to complete the Community Health Improvement Plan.
The effort is supported by a $375,000 grant over the three years awarded to the Collaborative for Educational Services, which is partnering with the town’s public health department.
“Coordinated work across sectors in Amherst is essential to using limited resources effectively, building on existing community strengths and addressing the root causes — not just the symptoms — of poor health outcomes,” Kiko Malin, the town’s public health director, said in a statement.
The Amherst Wellbeing Alliance, or Alianza para el Bienestar de Amherst, will collect and analyze data and identify shared health priorities to improve the well-being of people who live and work in Amherst.
Beyond food security and mental health, the alliance will look at broader social, economic and safety-related factors that shape people’s overall well-being.
The work comes as local agencies and frontline staff are reporting rising rates of food insecurity over the past two years. At the same time, community organizers say immigrant communities in Amherst are experiencing a climate of fear and family separation stemming from federal immigration enforcement.
Along with the Collaborative for Educational Services’ Healthy Hampshire program, partners on the plan include the town’s health and sustainability departments, the University of Massachusetts School of Public Health & Health Sciences, the John P. Musante Health Center the Amherst Mobile Market and the Strategic Planning Initiative for Families and Youth, or SPIFFY.
Amherst’s award is one of eight Community Health Improvement Planning grants made in this round. Other recipients include the Berkshire Regional Planning Commission and the town of Ware.
This is fourth round of funding, which has invested $63 million in community health initiatives statewide through 113 organizations and communities statewide since its 2020 launch.
On Aug. 28, Gov. Maura Healey announced $17.9 million in grants to 31 community organizations, cities, towns and regional planning commissions to help people across Massachusetts live healthier lives. The grants are funded through the Massachusetts Community Health and Healthy Aging Funds, a collaboration among the Department of Public Health, the Executive Office of Aging & Independence and Health Resources in Action Inc,
