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Disability Pride Month, a national annual awareness month which celebrates disabled people and the diversity of our community. Disability Pride Month was born from the passing of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)—a bipartisan achievement for the disability community! This month we recognize the tremendous progress we’ve made improving the lives of people with disabilities since the ADA’s passage on July 26, 1990.

Children’s Friend would like to thank the Boston Foundation Equality Fund for their $5,000 grant in support of the Gender Wellness Initiative. The Gender Wellness Initiative is our response to the inequitable treatment of youth who identify as LGBTQIA+ in central Massachusetts.

YOU, Inc. is grateful for the support of UMass Memorial and the United Way of Central MA for a $5,000 grant via the Summer Strong program. This funding will assist our Dynamy Youth Academy college access program to provide College Startup Kits for rising college freshmen.

The United Way of Central Massachusetts Women’s Initiative is igniting positive change for girls in central Massachusetts with a grant of $16,570 annually in FY23 and FY24 towards Seven Hills Family Services’ Just Us Girls program. The Just Us Girls program teaches adolescent girls with a disability conflict resolution skills, positive values and behaviors, self-determination, and how to form healthy relationships.

One of the 11 clinics offering monkeypox vaccinations in Massachusetts, Seven Hills Behavioral Health in New Bedford, had more than 40 people booked in the first day of accepting appointments, according to program director Connie Rocha-Mimosa. “The individuals that have called us for appointments are individuals who are at high-risk,” Rocha-Mimosa said. “They’ve been in contact with somebody that has been diagnosed with monkeypox.” There are eligibility requirements set up by the state's Department of Public Health that...