Boston College Receives $3.5 Million From Atlantic Philanthropies

Original Source

Boston College has announced a $3.5 million grant from Atlantic Philanthropies to expand the consumer-directed healthcare program at the college’s Center for the Study of Home and Community Life (CSHCL).

The Cash and Counseling program at CSHCL matches counselors with individuals who want to design their own healthcare plans, enabling them to hire family members, friends, or professionals as caregivers; renovate their homes for handicap accessibility; and buy assistive devices. Available initially in New Jersey, Florida, and Arkansas, the program was expanded to twelve other states with funding from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the U.S. Administration on Aging, the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation, and the Department of Health and Human Services. CSHCL will use the grant from Atlantic to provide counselor training and expand the program to at least forty states.

“We’ll be doing a lot more of the training, we’ll continue to [provide] assistance to the states, and there will be more small research projects,” said CSHCL director Kevin Mahoney. “The traditional way is a very medical model; the professional decides what you need. This is a pretty big change because all of a sudden it’s an empowerment model.”

“ Grant to Help Center Expand Program to the National Level.” Boston College Press Release 1/26/09.