Innovation is one of HRiA’s core values. It helps us challenge norms, learn, and evolve to support the needs of our clients, communities, and employees.
In 2024, HRiA launched the Innovation Incubator, a bold initiative designed to spark creative solutions and accelerate community impact. Through seed funding from Mackenzie Scott’s Yield Giving initiative, the Incubator supports pilot programs that either launch new efforts or expand promising work, all aimed at addressing health and racial equity within communities. The Incubator leverages HRiA’s greatest resource – our staff and their creativity, expertise, and passion for public health. This two-year initiative enables HRiA to invest in visionary approaches that advance community health and well-being.
HRiA leaders Brittany Chen, Jennifer Lee, and Jeremy Holman, and a team of staff created a process to elicit staff ideas for community-impact projects. They engaged HRiA staff and Board members to review and select the initiatives that the Incubator would fund.
Ultimately, five community-impact projects were chosen from 40 ideas pitched by staff across the organization.
Below are the pilot initiatives funded by HRiA’s first Innovation Incubator.
The Black Maternal Health Advocacy Project seeks to improve Black maternal health and combat infant mortality through a series of actions. Activities include educating municipal leaders on best practices, empowering community stakeholders to advocate for strategies and policies, and connecting state and federal initiatives to local efforts, thus creating policy change in five Massachusetts communities.
The Legal Barriers LGBTQ+ Assessment and Coalition Building Initiative addresses the growing political attacks on LGBTQ+ communities – especially transgender and gender diverse individuals. With a network of cross-sector partners in New Hampshire, the team aims to assess the lived experiences and systemic consequences of anti-LGBTQ+ legislation and mobilize advocates around shared, community-rooted responses.
The Medication Assisted Recovery (MAR) NOW Expansion Initiative expands a program that connects callers to immediate treatment for opioid or alcohol use disorders. As part of this work, the team will study what makes the project successful, while developing and promoting a toolkit enabling other public health agencies and treatment providers to adapt or implement the model in their communities.
The Rural Doula MassHealth Registration Initiative expands access to doula care in rural Massachusetts. It will increase the number of doulas registered in the MassHealth provider system serving Western Massachusetts and Cape Cod by promoting doula services to rural residents.
The Violence & Overdose Prevention Training for Incarcerated People Initiative supports adults in correctional facilities. The project seeks to help this population gain access to employment, avoid re-incarceration, and contribute lived/living experiences to their communities upon release.
Innovation Incubator awardees are a year into their two-year projects, with more work culminating in the months to come. We are excited to share updates on their efforts to this point. Over the next month, we will share team blog posts with more details. Stay tuned!