MassDevelopment

$12.9 Million MassDevelopment Financing Helps Fund New Harbor Health Elder Program


August 4, 2016


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contacts:
Meggie Quackenbush, MassDevelopment, 617-330-2011 & 857-208-2777 (cell)
mquackenbush@massdevelopment.com

Daniel Driscoll, Harbor Health Services, 617-533-2350
ddriscoll@hhsi.us

Harbor Health President and CEO Dan Driscoll, right, and others break ground on a new Brockton PACE location

MassDevelopment has provided a $12,940,540 financing package – a $6.1 million New Markets Tax Credit allocation and a $6,870,540 tax-exempt bond – on behalf of Harbor Health Services, a nonprofit health care system with locations in Dorchester, Mattapan, Hyannis, Plymouth and Harwich.

Harbor Health Services is using proceeds to redevelop a former temple in Brockton into a 27,000-square-foot office and program space for the organization’s second Program of All-inclusive Care for Elders (PACE) location. PACE aims to keep elders who qualify for nursing home care in their own homes as long as possible by offering all-inclusive medical, behavioral health, social and wellness services. Harbor Health’s new Brockton space will be able to accommodate 125 clients per day and is expected to serve 485 low-income elders annually, more than doubling the offerings of the organization’s current PACE program in Mattapan. The Brockton PACE program will be the first such program in southeastern Massachusetts, an area that has the largest PACE-eligible community in the state. 

“MassDevelopment is pleased to support an organization that provides essential health and wellness services to some of Massachusetts’ most vulnerable residents,” said MassDevelopment President and CEO Marty Jones. “Harbor Health Services is a vital resource for elders in greater Boston and beyond, and this financing will help the organization expand its services with a new location in the City of Champions, a crucial Gateway City.” 

Harbor Health Services administers the Geiger Gibson Community Health Center, the nation’s first community health center, as well as four other community health centers. Harbor Health started its first PACE program in 1965. Its Mattapan PACE program serves more than 450 Boston-area elder clients. Harbor Health is one of the largest community health agencies in Massachusetts, with $70 million in revenue and 550 employees. It provides primary care, dental and behavioral health services without regard for its patients’ ability to pay for services. The organization’s patients are predominately low-income and either uninsured or insured by safety net programs.

“Our efforts to bring services for frail elders to the Brockton area would not have been possible without the assistance of MassDevelopment. The financing terms they were able to offer us made this project financially feasible,” said Harbor Health Services President and CEO Daniel Driscoll. “This is our second project with MassDevelopment and we value the Agency’s partnerships with us over the years.” 

MassDevelopment, the state’s finance and development agency, works with businesses, nonprofits, financial institutions, and communities to stimulate economic growth across the Commonwealth. During FY2015, MassDevelopment financed or managed 294 projects generating investment of more than $2.5 billion in the Massachusetts economy. These projects are projected to create about 6,100 jobs and build or rehabilitate about 2,000 residential units.