Grant Opportunity: Apply by April 25, 2023.

Taking Action to Improve Access and Equity in Opioid Use Disorder Care

This week, RIZE released a request for proposals for Taking Action to Improve Access and Equity in Opioid Use Disorder Care, the second iteration of our grant program, Innovations in Anti-Racism to Address the Opioid Crisis. Through this initiative, RIZE will award up to four grants of up to $100,000 a year for two years to support efforts that lead to measurable improvements in access and equity in opioid use disorder (OUD) care by centering the needs of people who identify as Black, Latine, or Indigenous.  

Awarded grants will fall within one of the following targeted focus areas: 

• Making care more welcoming for Black, Latine, and Indigenous people with OUD. 
• Supporting workforce and organizational capacity to treat, better support, and increase the number of Black, Latine, and Indigenous patients with OUD served. 
• Strengthening linkages to care and care coordination to connect and continuously support Black, Latine, and Indigenous people with OUD as they transition from one point of care to another. 

We invite you to submit your best ideas to measurably increase access and equity in OUD care. Please visit our website for more information or click on the following links for the grant guidelines and fillable PDF application form.

Grant Guideline: https://www.rizema.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/Taking-Action-to-Improve-Access-and-Equity-in-Opioid-Use-Disorder-Care-FINAL-Grant-Guidelines-4.pdf

Grant Application and Budget: https://www.rizema.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/Taking-Action-Application-and-Budget-Form-03242023.pdf

Submission Dates and Instructions

Questions: 

• Applicants may submit questions about the program or the application process in writing by April 11, 2023. Submit questions to: [email protected]
• RIZE will post answers on our website by April 13, 2023. 

Applications:

All applications must be submitted to RIZE by email by 12:00 PM April 25, 2023, following the grant guidelines, and using the grant application form. Submit applications to: [email protected] 

REGISTER TODAY!!!

Dear friends,

As Fair Housing Month approaches in April, the AGO’s Community Engagement Division and Consumer Advocacy & Response Division would like to use this opportunity to remind Massachusetts tenants and landlords about their rights and responsibilities, eviction proceedings, housing discrimination, and statewide assistance available for equitable living.

DATE: Wednesday, April 12, 2023

TIME: 10:30 AM-11:30AM

Please click HERE to register for a webinar about your rights as landlords/tenants in Massachusetts!

Join us as MASS' Healthy Self-Advocates teach a cooking class at Boston Medical Center's Teaching Kitchen. Zoom from home and cook along!

Tuesday, April 11th from 5:30pm to 6:45pm

via Zoom

https://www.wearemass.org/events/cook-with-mass-april-2023

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85304299566

DTC’s Consumer Division joins the City of Everett Council on Aging to participate in the Everett Senior Health Fair

Tuesday, April 4, 2023

10:00 am – 1:00 pm

Connolly Senior Center

90 Chelsea Street, Everett, MA 02149

The Department of Telecommunications and Cable’s (DTC) Consumer Division will host an information table at the Everett Senior Health Fair to share various consumer education materials with event attendees, including information about the Lifeline Program, Affordable Connectivity Program, technology transitions and tips for reducing robocalls and spam text messages.  DTC staff will also be available to answer questions about available consumer protections for telecommunications and cable services. 

Each year during Earth Week, DCR invites volunteers to Massachusetts parks, forests, and beaches to help prepare for the busy spring and summer recreation season. Park Serve Day is an opportunity for participants to help tend to their favorite state park by getting involved in a clean-up, painting, or other restorative projects for one day. Last year, over 3,400 volunteers worked 4,100 hours at 28 DCR facilities statewide. Volunteers collected 1642 bags of trash measuring almost 68 tons.    

We are excited to announce that this year, over 50 parks across the Commonwealth are participating in Park Serve Day on April 22, 2023. These events do much more than just prepare the parks for summer, they help create stewards of the land and remind people how important our shared open spaces are. We can’t think of a better way to celebrate Earth Day!

For details and to see the participating locations, please visit the Park Serve Day 2023 Eventbrite page.  

The MBTA today announced service changes in April on the Red, Blue, Orange, and Green lines, the Fairmount and Franklin/Foxboro Commuter Rail Lines, and Haverhill Commuter Rail Line.

The MBTA today launched a live, online Speed Restriction Dashboard that provides riders with up-to-date information on speed restrictions across the MBTA system. The dashboard reports on location, speed limit, when a restriction was put in place, and the reason for the restriction on the Red, Orange, Blue, Mattapan, and Green lines. The dashboard also provides the percentage of track under restriction, distance by individual line or systemwide, and total number of restrictions and can be viewed at mbta.com/speedrestrictions.

The dashboard is refreshed daily with data provided by the MBTA’s enterprise asset management system and helps riders see where speed restrictions are located with maps they are accustomed to seeing. The speed restriction activity summary will help illustrate the ongoing work the MBTA is doing to clear restrictions within the system. Last month, the MBTA began to provide riders with speed restriction data by releasing a static dashboard that reported information from the previous month.

“Today’s dashboard provides daily updates on our data based on activity from the previous day and was launched with the goal of providing transparent and timely information to our customers,” said Interim General Manager Jeff Gonneville. “The dashboard delivers information that is clear and will assist riders in better understanding why they are experiencing slower conditions while riding the T. As we continue to validate and address track deficiencies, we also expect that over time, this platform will demonstrate the progress we’re making to remove speed restrictions. We know these restrictions impact riders’ daily commutes and we will continue to be transparent about the ongoing, daily work to improve our transit system.”

Users of the dashboard will be able to see when speed restrictions were put in place starting from January 2023 and review a summary of changes over time. This dashboard will provide riders with the latest information available at the start of each day providing a new level of transparency.

The new Speed Restriction Dashboard follows last month’s launch of an online safety dashboard that allows the public to see the status of the T’s progress in responding to the Federal Transit Administration’s (FTA) Safety Management Inspection (SMI) Special Directives. This dashboard includes a description of each Corrective Action Plan, what it is intended to correct, the MBTA’s analysis, recommendations, and the status of steps being taken to address the FTA’s Special Directives.

The Speed Restriction Dashboard was designed as part of the T’s response to the Federal Transit Administration’s Safety Management Inspection. To learn more about the FTA response, visit mbta.com/FTAResponse.

Healey-Driscoll Administration Announces End of COVID-19 Public Health Emergency

On March 15, the Healey-Driscoll Administration announced that the state’s COVID-19 public health emergency will end on May 11, 2023, to align with the end of the federal public health emergency. Governor Healey will also file legislation that would extend key flexibilities provided by the public health emergency, particularly around staffing for the healthcare industry and emergency medical services. The Governor also announced that she plans to rescind Executive Order 595 which required all Executive Branch state employees to have received their primary series COVID-19 vaccines. 

Last State-Run Free COVID Testing Sites to Close

The state’s last 11 Stop the Spread sites in Everett, Lawrence, Lynn, New Bedford, Randolph, Revere, Springfield, and Worcester are set to close by the end of March. The Stop the Spread program launched in July 2020 and has since provided more than 4.3 million PCR tests to residents across the state. The Department of Public Health acknowledged that large-scale, state-funded PCR testing is no longer the best use of resources due to a drop in demand for the sites. Instead, officials recommend that people continue to use access rapid at-home antigen tests, as well as PCR tests as needed, at retail pharmacies, urgent care facilities, and primary care settings. Additionally, every household is eligible to order four free at-home COVID tests through the federal government. 

DPH Offering $75 Gift Cards at Family-Friendly COVID-19 Vaccination Clinics 

The Department of Public Health is providing free COVID-19 vaccination clinics. A $75 gift card will be offered to any Massachusetts resident (adult or child) who gets vaccinated (first dose, second dose, or booster) at any of the clinics listed here until March 31, 2023. Additional options are available through the vaxfinder. If your child cannot attend a community clinic, you can request in-home vaccination. Anyone age 6 months and older can get a COVID-19 vaccination or updated booster at these clinics, unless otherwise noted in the clinic schedule. You do not need an appointment, but some clinics may encourage pre-registration. Vaccination is free and you do not need an ID or health insurance. 

Tests are available in Albanian, Cape Verdean Creole, Hungarian, Kiswahili, Pashto, Turkish, Ukrainian

The Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles (RMV) is announcing learner’s permit exams for passenger car (Class D) and motorcycle (Class M) licenses are available in seven additional foreign languages beginning today, Monday, March 20. The exams are now offered in a total of 35 languages and now include Albanian, Cape Verdean Creole, Hungarian, Kiswahili, Pashto, Turkish, and Ukrainian.

“MassDOT is focused on equitably supporting all communities in Massachusetts,” said Transportation Secretary & CEO Gina Fiandaca. “This announcement demonstrates MassDOT’s continued focus on identifying ways in which customer service offerings can be improved to be more accessible, inclusive, equitable, and convenient for residents across the Commonwealth. I would like to thank the RMV staff, stakeholders, and others who worked collaboratively to translate these important materials to help ensure customers have tools and resources available to support their journeys to successfully secure learner’s permits.”

“The RMV is pleased to automate the learner’s permit in these seven new additional foreign languages,” said Registrar of Motor Vehicles Colleen Ogilvie. “The change supports commonly requested languages, supports new residents from Afghanistan and Ukraine, and assists the established Cape Verdean community in Southeastern Massachusetts.”

Each Class D or M learner’s permit exam is comprised of a randomized set of 25 questions intended to gauge the applicant’s knowledge of roadway signage and rules of the road, the dangers and penalties related to the impaired operation, and specific topics about sharing the road with bicyclists and hands-free driving laws. Test questions are developed using the information found in the Massachusetts Driver’s Manual: https://www.mass.gov/doc/drivers-manual/download.

Appointments are required for all learner’s permit applications and can be made at Mass.Gov/RMV.

The learner’s permit is now available in the following 35 languages: Albanian, Arabic, Armenian, Burmese, Cape Verdean Creole, English, Farsi, French, German, Greek, Gujarati, Haitian Creole, Hindi, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, Khmer/Cambodian, Kiswahili, Korean, Laotian, Mandarin (Simplified), Mandarin (Traditional), Pashto, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Serbo-Croatian, Somali, Spanish, Tagalog, Thai, Turkish, Ukrainian, Urdu, and Vietnamese. Additionally, the RMV is finishing development on an American Sign Language permit exam to be offered in RMV Service Centers this spring.

The RMV has completed the translation of two critical informational resource documents into 11 languages. These documents will help customers prepare for the Registry’s identification document requirements as well as provide details on the road test process to increase the likelihood that applicants arrive prepared for their test and with an understanding of the RMV applicant, sponsor, and vehicle requirements. The translated acceptable identification document checklist can be found on Mass.Gov/ID and the translated road test information document can be found on Mass.Gov/RoadTest.

National Grid announced today that Massachusetts residential electric customers who receive their electric supply, called Basic Service, from National Grid, can expect lower bills for the six-month period beginning May 1 based on a summer rate adjustment proposal filed today with the Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities.

If approved, the monthly bill for a typical residential customer would be reduced by about 39%, or $115.39, from $297.22 to $181.83.

The average residential customer uses about 600 kilowatt hours (kWh) per month and will see their electric supply price per kWh decrease from approximately 33.89 cents/kWh to 14.12 cents/kWh. 

National Grid buys electricity on behalf of our customers from the wholesale power market and passes through those costs without any markup or profit, so customers pay what National Grid pays for that energy. National Grid moves from winter to summer rates every May 1, per our approved procurement schedule. Summer rates are traditionally lower than winter rates due to lower electricity prices driven, in part, by lower demand for natural gas.

National Grid published additional details here.