The Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts (BCBSMA) Foundation is currently accepting applications for the Catalyst Fund. Catalyst Fund grants are available up to $3,500 and are awarded to health care and community-based organizations that deliver health care programs to uninsured and low-income people in Massachusetts.

The grants fund one-time expenses that support an organization’s capacity to fulfill its mission, including infrastructure improvements, strategic planning, grant writing, community outreach, website development, computer equipment, and special funding for the purchase of automated external defibrillators. Eighty-nine organizations in Massachusetts have received Catalyst Fund grants totaling $303,993, including Healthy Malden, in Everett, which received a grant for $2,500 to hire a grant writer and raised more than $1 million for its health programs. Partners in Health, located in Dorchester, was awarded a grant to organize and implement a three-day leadership development retreat for 30 inner-city teens who are peer educators focused on HIV/AIDS prevention, STDs and substance abuse issues.

The Catalyst Fund was created in 2002 and is entirely funded by contributions from employees at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts. The BCBSMA Foundation accepts Catalyst Fund applications throughout the year and they are reviewed every month. Guidelines and applications are available at www.bcbsmafoundation.org. For more information, please contact Angela McCoy, at the BCBSMA Foundation, (617) 246-4850.

Local recipients of Catalyst grants include:

• Boston Urban Asthma Coalition
• Crispus Attucks Children’s Center
• Geiger Gibson Community Health Center
• Harvard Street Neighborhood Health Center
• Neponset Health Center
• Partners in Health
• Massachusetts Community Health Worker
• Network
• Urban Medical Group
• Boston Institute for Arts Therapy
• The Family Van
• Whittier Street Health Center