MISSION, VISION, HISTORY, & GOALS

Mission Statement:

Critical MASS constructs sustainable partnerships and builds knowledge for action to end unequal health among racial and ethnic groups in Massachusetts.

Vision Statement: 

Everyone will receive the right care at the right time in a just society.

Our History:

Growing out of the 2nd New England Regional Conference on Minority Health, Critical MASS was established in June 2001 by a group of community advocates, public agencies and non-profit service providers who identified racial and ethnic health disparities as Massachusetts’ last major health issue. Though other groups worked on eliminating racial and ethnic health disparities, few addressed the entirety of the health system and many lacked the mechanisms through which to coordinate their activities or to share lessons learned. Critical MASS stepped into this gap.

Goals

1. To build a statewide multicultural network to advance the elimination of racial and ethnic health disparities.

2. To promote and improve the health and well being of racial, ethnic and immigrant and refugee populations.

3. To coordinate Critical MASS with federal, regional, state, and local efforts to eliminate health disparities.

4. To identify, create, or encourage the development of mechanisms to track progress on eliminating racial and ethnic health disparities.

5. To promote, improve and increase the capacity of researchers and communities to develop and conduct community participatory research that includes racial, ethnic, refugee, and immigrant perspectives in the design and implementation.