Anchor Mission

At UMass Memorial Health, we understand that a person’s health isn’t solely a result of seeing a doctor for a checkup once a year. While physical healthcare is a contributor, a person’s overall health is dependent on many different factors – from having a home to live in, to having food on their table, to having a job and access to healthcare and education.

Our caregivers do a great job of keeping our community members well and nursing them back to health when they hit a bump in the road. But what happens when our community members don’t have fresh fruit and vegetables to eat; they don’t have a job, and therefore the money to buy clothes for their families; or they don’t have a safe and comfortable place to lay their heads at night? We know these factors contribute greatly to poor health, so we view it as our responsibility as an institution truly anchored in our community to do something about it. This is where Anchor Mission comes in.

What’s an Anchor Mission?

Pursuing an Anchor Mission is a very different way of thinking about our organization. Like our Community Benefits program, it aims to improve the health and welfare of our community beyond our hospital walls, particularly in those areas suffering pervasive inequality and social disadvantages. It does so by leveraging and redirecting the full economic and intellectual power of our organization. In this way, it can have a much larger impact and encourage other like-minded organizations to do the same. Our goal as an Anchor Mission Institution is to make sure our community members have access to resources that will improve their overall social, physical and financial health. So, how do we accomplish this?

Pillars of Our Anchor Mission

Our Anchor Mission work focuses on four areas, known as pillars:

• Investing: We are redirecting $10 million of our long-term investment portfolio to investing in local projects to improve the welfare of our community through low-interest loans. These may be projects that address affordable housing, homelessness, food insecurity, and the like.
• Hiring and Workforce Development: We help caregivers build new skills, grow their careers and move into critical roles across our organization. This creates opportunities for people in our community to start and advance their careers at UMass Memorial Health, helping build a stronger workforce while supporting the long-term health and economic well-being of Central Massachusetts.
• Purchasing and Sustainability: We support local small businesses by buying locally whenever possible, with a focus on areas of social disadvantage or ongoing inequality within our community.
• Volunteering: We offer our caregiver volunteer opportunities where they can get involved and contribute to the mission of our organization outside of their traditional roles.