Health New England has joined the Western Massachusetts Anchor Collaborative (WMAC), a coalition of \u201canchor institutions\u201d \u2013 businesses, educational institutions and government entities that aim to increase spending on regional businesses owned by women and members of historically underrepresented groups in economically disadvantaged areas. They also aim to hire more people from these groups and locations, and ensure pathways to advancement for them. The Collaborative is specifically focused on Springfield, Holyoke and Chicopee in Massachusetts.<\/p>\n
The Collaborative is a program developed by the Western Economic Development Council and Baystate Health, which has established multi-year targets to increase local investment with historically underrepresented groups. Member anchor institutions collaborate to help their communities become more healthy, safe, vibrant, and stable through intentional investment in local businesses, hiring and promoting, purchasing, and enacting policies that address disparities.<\/p>\n
Health New England\u2019s mission is to improve the health and lives of the people in the communities it serves. During its nearly 40-year history, it has strived to meet the health care needs of individuals and organizations who have been historically underrepresented. Health New England also provides employment and advancement opportunities for those from this demographic. In addition, as a Springfield-based not-for-profit, Health New England generously invests in its local community. Now, as an \u201canchor\u201d of the Collaborative, Health New England will be able to have an even greater impact on the community through collaboration with other anchor institutions.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe health of individuals and communities is directly linked to economic well-being,\u201d said Richard Swift, president and CEO of Health New England and a board member of the Collaborative. \u201cBy ensuring a path to hiring and career progression for people who are sometimes passed over due to bias or institutional racism, and by increasing procurement from organizations they run or own, Health New England strengthens our community and our company. We are proud to work with this group of organizations and further improve the economic vitality of our region.\u201d<\/p>\n
Other members of the Collaborative include some of the region\u2019s largest employers, such as Baystate Health, BigY Foods, the Cities of Springfield and Holyoke, Bay Path University, Springfield College, University of Massachusetts at Amherst, and Holyoke Community College.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Health New England has joined the Western Massachusetts Anchor Collaborative (WMAC), a coalition of \u201canchor institutions\u201d \u2013 businesses, educational institutions and government entities that aim to increase spending on regional businesses owned by women and members of historically underrepresented groups in economically disadvantaged areas. They also aim to hire more people from these groups and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[18],"tags":[1133],"class_list":["post-13039","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-member-announcements","tag-western-massachusetts-anchor-collaborative"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6ZZGa-3oj","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hnetalk.com\/member\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13039","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hnetalk.com\/member\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hnetalk.com\/member\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hnetalk.com\/member\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hnetalk.com\/member\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13039"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/hnetalk.com\/member\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13039\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13041,"href":"https:\/\/hnetalk.com\/member\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13039\/revisions\/13041"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hnetalk.com\/member\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13039"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hnetalk.com\/member\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13039"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hnetalk.com\/member\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13039"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}