RIZE Massachusetts Announces Reappointment of Board Members, Recipients of Joanne Peterson Award

December 17, 2024

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 17, 2024

CONTACT:

Molly McKinney, Ball Consulting Group, LLC
Phone: 617-243-9950; Email: molly@ballcg.com

RIZE Massachusetts Foundation Announces Reappointment of Board Members, Recipients of Joanne Peterson Award

BOSTON (Dec. 17, 2024) – RIZE Massachusetts Foundation, an independent nonprofit foundation solely dedicated to funding and creating solutions to end the overdose crisis in Massachusetts, today announced the reappointment of six members of its Board of Directors: Michael Curry, Tim Foley, Christie Hager, Steve Lipiner, Frank Robinson and Joy Rosen. The six members provide valuable perspective and leadership in the health care and finance sectors.

“RIZE is making great strides in a new chapter in our fight against the overdose crisis. We’re diligently working with the state to distribute opioid settlement funds to the communities most impacted by the crisis while continuing to fund programs and initiatives that increase access to treatment and build the field,” said RIZE Board Chair Steve Pollock, former President of DentaQuest, part of Sun Life U.S. “Our board is fortunate to have the continued service and expertise of Michael, Tim, Chris, Steve, Frank and Joy.”

Curry is the CEO of Massachusetts League of Community Health Centers, Foley is the Executive Vice President at 1199 SEIU United Healthcare Workers East, and Rosen is Vice President of Massachusetts General Hospital and Massachusetts General Physician Organization & Mass General Brigham, System Behavioral and Mental Health. Hager, Lipiner and Robinson formerly held positions at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, State Street Global Advisors and Baystate Health, respectively.

RIZE also announced that the Massachusetts Organization for Addiction Recovery (MOAR) and the Gavin Foundation have both received the Joanne Peterson Award, which honors nonprofit organizations for their dedication to improving the lives of people affected by the overdose crisis.

RIZE’s Board of Directors created the Joanne Peterson Award in 2022. It recognizes the compassion, empathy, respect, resilience and hope needed to end the stigma associated with addiction, keep people safe from overdose, and ensure that anyone who wants it has access to quality care and support no matter who they are or where they live.

The award was named in recognition of Peterson’s many contributions as a devoted leader in the peer-led support community, including as a founding board member and through the work of her organization, Learn to Cope. The annual award provides a one-time grant of $25,000 to the recipient.

This year’s awards presented to MOAR and the Gavin Foundation will honor the dedicated service of outgoing leadership and support these organizations as they welcome new horizons. Maryanne Frangules and a group of volunteers founded MOAR in 1991, inspired by the late Senator Harold Hughes. Since its inception, Frangules served as MOAR’s Executive Director, working to organize the recovery community, educate policymakers and the general public, and demonstrate that recovery is working in the Commonwealth.

John McGahan, the former President/CEO of the Gavin Foundation, served in various leadership roles within the organization since 1994, becoming President/CEO in 2008 and retiring earlier this year. Under his leadership, the foundation gained recognition as one of the most respected and trusted comprehensive addiction education, prevention and treatment programs in Greater Boston.

“Both MOAR and the Gavin Foundation have made invaluable contributions to the recovery community for over 30 years,” said Julie Burns, President and CEO of RIZE Massachusetts. “We are proud to present the Joanne Peterson Award to two highly respected organizations that embody Joanne’s values of care, compassion and hope, and honor the legacies of our longtime partners, Maryanne and John, in the fight to end the overdose crisis and stigma associated with substance use disorder.”

About RIZE Massachusetts

RIZE Massachusetts Foundation is solely dedicated to funding and creating solutions to end the overdose crisis. Guided by those with lived experience and unafraid of new ideas, RIZE is building networks, designing programming, and supporting community partners who are using novel approaches to preventing overdose and increasing access to treatment. Learn more at www.rizema.org.

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Position Summary

Mosaic Opioid Recovery Partnership (Mosaic), funded by the MA Department of Public Health, Bureau of Substance Addiction Services and powered by RIZE Massachusetts Foundation (RIZE), is a partnership like no other. It is a unique, public-private collaboration designed to support initiatives that are addressing the opioid overdose crisis in communities that have been historically underserved and have experienced a high rate of opioid-related overdose deaths.

The funding for Mosaic comes from the Massachusetts Opioid Recovery and Remediation Fund (ORRF), which resulted from the historic legal effort to demand justice from several private companies for the harms caused by the opioid epidemic. This is one of the first public-private partnerships of this magnitude using settlement funds for community-led initiatives.

In partnership with BSAS and municipalities receiving opioid abatement funds, RIZE manages the Municipal Training and Technical Assistance (Muni TTA) Program. This program aligns with Mosaic’s mission to ensure that opioid abatement funds are invested and remain in the communities most deeply impacted by the crisis while also fueling transformative change through grassroots, community-led efforts.

The Muni TTA project manager provides project management, data, and operational support, ensuring the Muni TTA Program runs smoothly, is well documented, and is grounded in data. This role translates program strategy into concrete workplans, tracking systems, and reporting products, and provides day-to-day task direction to the program coordinator on project deliverables.

RIZE seeks someone for this position who is passionate about ending the overdose crisis and unafraid of new ideas. Success will require a positive, can-do, learning mindset and a collaborative, team-oriented approach. We are looking for candidates who understand how complex and interconnected issues, such as funding, data systems, and municipal government structures, intersect with addressing the overdose crisis.

The project manager supports the implementation of the Muni TTA workplan and Salesforce data infrastructure, coordinates monthly and quarterly reporting, provides project management support to four regional community advisory boards (CABs), and manages the logistics and content pipeline for the program's webinar series and newsletter. This position reports to the chief program officer (CPO) and works closely with the senior program officer (SPO).

 

Key Responsibilities

1. Workplan & Data Management

  • Oversee the Muni TTA workplan and Asana project management structure across six program goals: Proactive Outreach; Communications and Engagement; Quality Assurance and Team Development; Evaluation and Reporting; Intermunicipal Collaboration and Partnerships; and Community Advisory Boards. Monitor and keep progress, and identify risks or adjustments needed to keep deliverables on track
  • Set and monitor Salesforce data quality standards, oversee the Mosaic Muni TTA dashboard in coordination with the program coordinator, and produce reports; identify data quality issues and recommend adjustments to tracked metrics as the program evolves.
  • Monitor case documentation and tracking; compile monthly quality-review summaries for senior management review.
  • Support municipal capacity assessments by synthesizing results, identifying gaps, and helping the SPO draft action plans that reflect program priorities and municipal needs.

2. Reporting & Leadership Support

  • Compile regular qualitative reports, drafting the consolidated narrative of outcomes, barriers, and strategic adjustments for the SPO to finalize.
  • Develop regular progress updates, data summaries, and briefing materials for senior leadership, translating program activity and outcomes into clear talking points for internal review and external stakeholder discussions.
  • Coordinate senior leadership meeting preparation by identifying needed inputs, shaping agendas around key decisions, and ensuring materials are ready for review and follow-up. Coordinate post meeting follow-up.
  • Participate in cross-sector coordination meetings as needed to support data, reporting, or project management needs.

3. Community Advisory Board & Event Support

  • Provide project management for CAB implementation tracking progress and outcome metrics.
  • Direct administrative support for CABs, including materials preparation and outreach coordination.
  • Coordinate logistics, timelines, materials, follow-up, and slide preparation for regional and statewide presentations, meetings, and events.

4. Communications & Content Pipeline

  • Project-manage Mosaic TTA webinars: in coordination with the program coordinator maintain the topic and speaker pipeline, coordinate scheduling and logistics, and track post-session evaluations.
  • Project-manage Muni TTA bulletin and newsletter production, coordinating content collection, drafting, and oversee program coordinator with distribution timelines, and tracking engagement analytics.
  • Direct the program coordinator's development of training materials and slide decks; review for quality and program alignment before routing to senior leadership for approval.

 

Qualifications

Required

  • Strong organizational and time management skills
  • Proficiency in Microsoft Office, Google Workspace, and virtual meeting platforms
  • Excellent written and verbal communication skills

Preferred

  • Experience in public health, behavioral health, or harm reduction
  • Familiarity with workforce development initiatives
  • Experience supporting coalitions or multi-partner collaborations
  • Experience working with communities disproportionately impacted by substance use and overdose

Core Competencies

  • Commitment to harm reduction philosophy and health equity
  • Cultural humility and trauma-informed approach
  • Ability to manage multiple priorities in a fast-paced environment
  • Strong interpersonal skills and collaborative mindset
  • High level of discretion and professionalism
  • Bachelor's degree in public health, public administration, business, or a related field and a minimum of five years of relevant experience; or a master's degree and a minimum of two years of experience.
  • Demonstrated project management experience, ideally within a public health, government, or nonprofit setting.
  • Strong data and systems management skills; experience with Salesforce, or a comparable CRM/database strongly preferred.
  • Experience managing workplans, timelines, and reporting cycles.
  • Experience with supervision preferred.
  • Excellent written communication skills, including experience drafting reports and briefing materials for review by senior staff.
  • Proficiency with Salesforce, Asana, Microsoft Office 365, and virtual conferencing platforms; familiarity with Canva, WordPress, and Constant Contact a plus.
  • Knowledge of the Massachusetts opioid settlement funding landscape and municipal government structures preferred.

Skills, Abilities, Attributes

  • Strong organizational skills and sound judgment in a fast-paced, small-team, collegial environment.
  • Comfortable managing competing priorities and shifting timelines with minimal oversight.
  • Demonstrated track record of sustained high-quality, independent work in fast-paced environments.
  • Effective relationship-builder able to coordinate across internal teams and external stakeholders.
  • Ability to exercise discretion in handling confidential or sensitive information.
  • Motivated by a keen sense of mission and values with a willingness to embrace and actively support RIZE's agenda.

Work Environment

The Municipal TTA project manager is a full-time, hybrid role. RIZE is in downtown Boston; travel, primarily in-state, will be required for meetings and events as needed. This role may require evening and occasional weekend work.