Simmons Receives Grant from Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center

BOSTON (January 11, 2024) – Simmons University announced today that it has received grant funding from Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) to address health needs in the communities the hospital serves. The $416,000 grant awarded to Simmons University will help support mental and behavioral health at Fenway High School located in Mission Hill.

The grant awarded to Simmons was part of a total of $7.25 million BIDMC announced in support for 11 local organizations.

“We are grateful for this funding that will play a critical role in helping Boston Public School students gain additional knowledge and skills to better understand, prevent, and manage mental and behavioral health challenges,” said Simmons Professor Gary Bailey, who also serves as the Simmons School of Social Work MSW Program Director. “This funding will also enable Simmons students working in the health professions to collaborate with and train fellow peer leaders at Fenway High School on best practices and evidence-based strategies to support mental health.”

“Our partners through the Community-based Health Initiative do tremendous and impactful work every day to address health and social needs,” said Pete Healy, President of BIDMC and Divisional President, Metro Boston, Beth Israel Lahey Health. “We are proud to support their ongoing work with our latest round of grants.”

The grant will also play an important role in advancing overall mental health and wellness education and awareness among students.

“Too often young people facing mental and behavioral health challenges face the additional burden of dealing with the stigma that can accompany them,” said Simmons Associate Professor Patricia Rissmiller. “We want to thank BIDMC for supporting efforts to increase student understanding of behavioral health, which will help to reduce bias and stigma.”

“Fenway is excited about partnering with Simmons and BIDMC to work to advance wellness initiatives at Fenway High School,” said Geoffrey Walker, Head of School of Fenway High School. “One thing we learned in the COVID pandemic was the importance of supporting students’ social-emotional well-being and this partnership will bring this together.”

Since 2019, BIDMC has awarded $18.4 million in grants to invest in the health and well-being of the surrounding community. Through these grants, community partners have helped increase access to healthcare, employment opportunities and housing options.

To see a full list of projects supported by BIDMC, visit here.

About Simmons University

Located in the heart of Boston, Simmons is a respected private university offering nearly 50

majors and programs for undergraduate women and graduate programs open to all on campus,
in blended formats, or entirely online in nursing and health sciences, liberal arts, business,
communications, social work, public health, and library and information science. Founded in
1899, Simmons has established a model of higher education that other colleges and universities
are only recently beginning to adapt: the combination of education for leadership in high-
demand professional fields with the intellectual foundation of the liberal arts. The result is a
Simmons graduate prepared not only to work, but to lead in professional, civic, and personal
life — a vision of empowerment that Simmons calls preparation for life’s work. Follow Simmons
on Twitter at @SimmonsUniv, and on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/school/simmons-
university/.

About Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center

Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center is a leading academic medical center, where extraordinary care is supported by high-quality education and research. BIDMC is a teaching affiliate of Harvard Medical School, and consistently ranks as a national leader among independent hospitals in National Institutes of Health funding. BIDMC is the official hospital of the Boston Red Sox.

Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center is a part of Beth Israel Lahey Health, a health care system that brings together academic medical centers and teaching hospitals, community and specialty hospitals, more than 4,800 physicians and 38,000 employees in a shared mission to expand access to great care and advance the science and practice of medicine through groundbreaking research and education.