BACH testified at three of Mayor-Elect Walsh’s Transition Committee Meetings on Education, Transportation, and Public Health. While it is obvious why we made recommendations about public health, you might ask, “Why is BACH at the Education and Transportation hearings?” The answer is that we want to influence policy and practice in those areas because they […]

Affordable Care Act BACH has connected community organizations with Health Care for All to hold Affordable Care Act informational sessions for neighborhood residents. We have partnered with NAACP Health Committee, Mission Hill Health Movement, and Hancock Civic Association in Dorchester. Those who attended were able to ask questions about how the new reform would affect […]

After finishing the extensive assessment work on the neighborhood and citywide levels in the spring and holding two community planning meetings in the fall, BACH and its members have identified five strategic issues, with corresponding goals, and a list of strategies to move forward with our citywide effort. BACH asked our partner organizations to share […]

Steering Committee Our leadership continues to strengthen BACH’s internal and external capacity. After a process evaluation completed in the Spring, we are working to make improvements in three priority areas: 1) funding–as the Community Health Network Area (CHNA) for Boston, we are partnering with other CHNA’s to define the role and value of our work […]

On November 16th, neighborhood coalitions, community organizations, health centers, hospitals and the Boston Public Health Commission, will once again join BACH in its citywide health planning effort. This time we will gather to establish a set of shared goals for 5 strategic issues identified during a September meeting. These issues are: How can we achieve […]

On September 12, 2013, BACH held a community meeting at the Mattapan Branch of the Boston Public Library to address the next step in the Mobilizing for Action through Planning and Partnership (MAPP) process: identifying strategic issues on the citywide level. Among the 50 people who attended were diverse representatives from BACH affiliated neighborhood coalitions, […]

********************************************** Read the responses of Marty Walsh and John Connolly  ********************************************** The Massachusetts League of Community Health Centers, the Massachusetts Association of Community Development Corporations and BACH have developed this questionnaire for the candidates for Mayor of Boston in 2013. In Mid-July, we sent a questionnaire out to all 12 candidates. Our questions were drawn from […]

In a letter to the editor of the Boston Globe, David Aronstein, BACH Director, writes about the lack of access to affordable, healthy foods for many of Boston’s residents, and specifically comments on the farmers market in the Codman Square neighborhood. He writes, “in Dorchester’s Codman Square, the neighborhood association and its BOLD Teens organization […]

BACH and its members have continued on the Mobilizing for Action through Planning and Partnership (MAPP) process.  The Health Planning & Improvement Committee (HPIC), the group which oversees the implementation of MAPP planning process, has moved steadily through all four assessments on the citywide level. Take an interactive tour of our journey through MAPP » […]

Just because we have been focused on the MAPP health planning process to help us figure out what policy initiatives we want to join and lead, it does not mean that public policy issues wait for us. Over the past few months, BACH has worked on a number of policy advocacy issues, including: Medical Marijuana […]