UPDATE: CHRC Grant Support of Local Health Improvement Coalitions

The CHRC partnered with the MDH Center for Population Health Initiatives and the University of Maryland School of Public Health, Horowitz Center for Health Literacy to host a virtual interim meeting for the Local Health Improvement Coalitions (LHICs) on March 26, 2021. The CHRC, Center for Population Health Initiatives (CPHI), and the Horowitz Center Technical Assistance Team (TA Team) provided updates on the technical assistance and administrative support available to LHICs under the CHRC grant, and addressed questions about grant reporting, budgets and program plans. The Interim Grant Reports are due to the CHRC on April 30, 2021. Final reports are due in October 2021. Report templates and other forms can be found here.

In October 2020, the CHRC awarded $1 million to 20 LHICs, covering all 24 juridictions. Each LHIC received $41,666 in funding, while the LHIC on the Eastern Shore, which involves five jurisdictions, received $208,330. These one-year grants support LHIC planning and capacity building and provide essential funds for activities that help the LHICs implement the recommendations of the Maryland Diabetes Action Plan (DAP ). Grant funds cover the essential costs of hiring new personnel and administrative expenses related to diabetes prevention and management programs. The LHIC RFP was developed in close consultation with the Maryland Department of Health.

Catholic Charities, My Brother’s Keeper (MBK) is a multifaceted community-based resource center in West Baltimore. The resource center provides a daily meal serving program as well as holistic integrated care which includes Case Management and navigation services; Behavioral Health Services including Medically Assisted Treatment; Health Care Services; a GED Program; Computer Literacy Training; Expanded Workforce Development and Job Placement; and Expungement Services and Legal Advice. My Brother’s Keeper provides these services to residents in West Baltimore with the overall goal of empowering these men and women to self-actualize, self-sustain, and maintain evidenced-based healthy lifestyle changes.

In May 2020, My Brother’s Keeper was awarded a CHRC grant to support the launch of an onsite primary care clinic and medical home in partnership with Ascension Saint Agnes Hospital. The new primary care clinic and medical home will provide primary care for the treatment of acute illness and chronic disease, including diabetes and its comorbidities to low-income, underserved, and at-risk residents of West Baltimore.

The goals of the MBK primary care clinic are to increase access to primary care to achieve improved health outcomes through chronic disease prevention and improved management of chronic disease, and to reduce the levels of racial and ethnic disparities in health outcomes. Clinic patients will be screened for diabetes and prediabetes and will have access to evidence-based lifestyle change programs, Diabetes Self-Management Education and Supports (DSMES), Medical Nutrition Therapy (MNT) and the National Diabetes Prevention Program.

The intended longitudinal impacts of the MBK primary care clinic are a reduction in potentially avoidable utilization (PAU) and hospital readmissions; reduced levels of racial and ethnic disparities in health outcomes; greater individual and population economic stability resulting from improved health; and prevention and better management of chronic disease and improvements in health care utilization in West Baltimore. For more information about the program or to refer someone, please contact Kevin Mason, Director at 667-600-2950.

The OOCC recently issued a Call for Proposals under its 2022 Competitive Grant Program.  Proposals must align with goals established in the state’s Inter-Agency Opioid Coordination Plan and address the opioid crisis through the policy priorities of Prevention & Education, Enforcement & Public Safety, and/or Treatment & Recovery.  Community-based partners, local governments (including local school systems), and State agencies are eligible to apply.  The deadline for applications is Friday, April 30, 2021.  More information can be found here.

The Maryland Department of Health (MDH) provides daily updates as they become available. Visit the MDH websites for the most current information about COVID-19 and Maryland's ongoing response to the pandemic.

To access the MDH coronavirus disease web page, click COVID-19 Maryland. The web page now provides links to information on COVID-19 vaccine availability, the locations of vaccination sites including mass vaccination sites and vaccination clinics, and options for scheduling vaccination appointments. Visit Vaccine.

In addition, MDH offers MD COVID Alert, which uses Bluetooth Low Energy technology to quickly notify users who might have been exposed to someone who tested positive for COVID-19 with the goal of reducing infections in Maryland. For more information about the app, click COVID Alert.