2021 Beyond Health Awardees.
The presentation of the Beyond Health Awards will be a part of the 45th Anniversary Celebration. The school awards its highest honor, the Beyond Health Award to individuals and organizations that have made a lasting contribution to creating the conditions that make populations healthy so that all can live full lives. We award a Beyond Health Award to those who have made a contribution through creating new knowledge, through helping us learn about the causes of health in a new way, and who have made a difference through their work and lives. This year we have three outstanding Beyond Health Awardees.
Massachusetts Immigrant & Refugee Advocacy Coalition (MIRA). MIRA works to protect and support the most vulnerable, especially those at risk of deportation, but also strives to expand opportunities for all foreign-born people and their children, so they can make the most of their talent and labor. MIRA encourages green card holders to become U.S. citizens, and naturalized Americans to vote and become civically engaged.
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One in six Massachusetts residents, and one in five workers, is
foreign-born. Immigrants and refugees come to this country with a wide range of skills and ambitions, and as they make America their home, they enrich our economy and strengthen our democracy.
Our vision is a Commonwealth – and a nation – where all can thrive, no matter where they came from or how they got here, and all can fully participate in their communities’ social, economic and civic life.
We view successful integration as a two-way process: Immigrants and refugees do their best to learn English, adapt to the local culture, and build a new life in the U.S., and receiving communities actively welcome them and help ease their transition. Thus, a core part of our mission is to identify and remove barriers to integration, working with local and state leaders as well as nonprofits and businesses to craft more inclusive policies that benefit the entire community.
Mothers Out Front. Mothers Out Front builds power as mothers to ensure a livable climate for all children. The organization is building a diverse national movement of mothers, grandmothers, and caregivers dedicated to convincing elected officials and business leaders to work for a swift, complete, and just transition away from fossil fuels to clean and renewable energy. Mothers have an important role to play in the climate change movement, and, when it comes to protecting their children, mothers are an unstoppable force for change.
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Mission:
We build our power as mothers to ensure a livable climate for all children.
Values:
Realizing and Building Power
Together, we are powerful, and we use our power to move decision makers to take actions that will ensure a healthy environment for all children.
We are led by our membership. Leadership and decision making are shared across the movement, and the process and outcomes are made transparent to our members.
We build collective and individual power by encouraging personal agency, learning and sharing, innovation and risk-taking.
Building an Inclusive Community
We are an inclusive movement where mothers’ voices are front and center.
Our work is impactful because we have a strong community built on relationships, kindness, mutual respect, and collaboration.
Working for Climate Justice
In all we do, we keep our mission of a livable climate for all children at the center of our work.
We lift the voices of those who care for and nurture children so that we are heeded by those in power.
We focus resources particularly in those communities who suffer the injustices of climate change and fossil fuel use today and have been historically marginalized.
Persevering with Hope and Urgency
We act with urgency because we know that climate change is a critical and encompassing challenge of our time.
We maintain hope by working together on concrete solutions toward a livable climate for all children.
We do not give up.
Rosie’s Place. Today, Rosie’s Place not only provides meals and shelter but also creates answers for 12,000 women a year through wide-ranging support, housing and education services. Rosie’s Place relies solely on the generous support of individuals, foundations and corporations and does not accept any city, state or federal funding. Thanks to these donations, 86 cents of every dollar raised goes directly to services for poor and homeless women.
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Helping More Women in More Ways: Surviving a worldwide public health crisis tested the perseverance of every institution and individual. Rosie’s Place responded immediately with innovation and reimagined every interaction and experience to ensure guest and staff health. We established a remote call center, bolstered Legal, Housing, and Mental Health supports; added new technology to reach more women through our Women’s Education Center; doubled the capacity of our Food Pantry; all to ensure that Rosie’s Place remains the safe, warm and welcoming place that we have always been for women who are scared and have nowhere else to go.
The experience not only provided for the short-term response but informed our road map for future growth. And this year at Rosie’s Place, growth is happening across all programs. More interventions with more guests in Advocacy, Legal, and Stabilization programs, more food provided to more women through the Food Pantry, more kinds of learning opportunities offered by the Women’s Education Center, more meal seatings in the Dining Room—all to serve more poor and homeless women in need, in more meaningful ways.
Our Impact: With the help of people who believe change is possible and share our vision of justice, Rosie’s Place accomplished the following in the past year:
- Conducted 19,800 visits with 6,500 women across our advocacy programs to ensure housing stability, provide job search and legal advice, and offer critical access to recovery and mental health services.
- Helped 3,128 women remain housed and avoid eviction, a stunning 72% increase since the start of the pandemic.
- Responded to soaring food insecurity through our Food Pantry, which doubled its capacity at the onset of Covid-19, providing both fresh and non-perishable groceries to 250 women a day.
- Engaged 129 students in remote learning opportunities through our Women’s Education Center, enabling them to safely continue their ESOL studies during the pandemic.