Public Policy

For more than 40 years, the Providers' Council has been actively involved in public policy efforts on behalf of its members -- both in Massachusetts on Beacon Hill and in Washington, D.C. on Capitol Hill.

The Providers’ Council is widely recognized as the official voice of the community-based human services sector in Massachusetts.

The Providers’ Council’s public policy initiatives include:

  • pro-workforce legislative agenda that includes bills to create a student loan repayment plan for human services workers and eliminate the pay disparity between community-based human services workers and their state counterparts;
  • Full and fair implementation of Chapter 257 of the Acts of 2008, the landmark rate-setting legislation that the Providers’ Council worked to pass more than a decade ago;
  • Efforts to improve state regulations to be more beneficial to Providers’ Council members and the human services sector overall;
  • A close review of municipal, federal and state issues that can impact the community-based human services sector, its dedicated workforce or the clients for whom we care;
  • The data and information contained in reports and research papers published by the Providers’ Council, which partners with colleges, universities and other organizations;
  • Occasional action alerts that are sent out to Providers’ Council members to help assist in advocacy efforts at the State House or U.S. Capitol.
  • Advocating through The Provider, our monthly newspaper that highlights issues of interest in the human services sector, particularly state/federal legislative issues and the monthly “View from the Hill” column written by a state legislator or other public official; and
  • Support for CareVote, our non-partisan voter engagement initiative designed to encourage human services workers and consumers to vote and “support caring communities.”

For more information about the Providers’ Council’s public policy initiatives, please contact Bill Yelenak at the Providers’ Council.