By Kathy Mills

This article was featured in the June 2026 edition of the Provider (pages 5 and 7).

Across the Commonwealth, human services organizations are confronting a difficult reality: the people who make up our dedicated workforce are increasingly struggling to make ends meet. Rising costs of living and financial uncertainties have placed growing pressure on frontline workers and support staff — people managing emotionally demanding roles while they provide stability and care to the most vulnerable among us.

For nonprofits and service providers, this challenge raises an important question: what does it mean to truly support the workforce that sustains mission-driven work?

At RFK Community Alliance, our work has always centered on wellbeing, dignity and community. Every day, our staff show up for children, families and adults across Massachusetts with compassion and commitment, often during moments of crisis or uncertainty. But as workforce challenges have deepened across the sector, we recognize an urgent truth: the people providing care also need care themselves.

Over the past several years, human service organizations have faced mounting pressures. Even with thoughtful compensation practices and ongoing advocacy around fair funding, wages have not kept pace with the realities many workers face. And last fall, when public assistance programs such as SNAP were in jeopardy, too many employees experienced the margin between stability and hardship becoming increasingly thin.

In response, RFK Community Alliance, with the enthusiastic support of our board of trustees, implemented an equity-based well-being stipend initiative over a three-month period. The goal was simple but important: to provide meaningful, immediate support to employees during a period of growing financial strain.

This was intentionally not a one-size-fits all approach. The stipend structure was designed through an equity lens, meaning employees with the lowest wages received the highest levels of support. By doing so, we focused resources where we believed they could have the greatest and most immediate impact. We also chose to absorb the associated tax burden so staff would receive the full intended benefit of the stipends.

We recognized that wages alone are not a perfect measure of financial need but ultimately believed it was more important to act thoughtfully and imperfectly in support of our workforce than to delay action while searching for a perfect system.

For many staff members, the stipends provided critical breathing room. Employees shared stories of being able to better support their families, keep up with rising household expenses and maintain warmth and safety within their homes during difficult months. Some purchased groceries, caught up on bills, or addressed urgent family needs that had previously felt out of reach.

What stood out most, however, was not only the relief these stipends provided, but the spirit in which some staff responded. One staff member used part of their stipend to buy coffee, snacks and small treats for coworkers, a simple gesture that spoke volumes about the strength of community within mission-driven workplaces such as ours. Even during financially stressful times, people still looked for opportunities to care for one another.

That is what initiatives like this ultimately become about: community and the recognition that wellness is interconnected. The sustainability of human services depends not only on the work that we do, but on ensuring the people behind that work are themselves valued, supported, and able to thrive.

At the same time, temporary support initiatives are not substitutes for systemic solutions. Across our field, leaders and advocates such as the Providers’ Council continue to emphasize the importance of long-term investment in the workforce through sustainable public funding, equitable reimbursement models, and wages that reflect the complexity and value of this work.

In Massachusetts, increased funding for human services providers through Chapter 257 remains a critical part of that conversation. The law plays an essential role in helping providers build compensation structures that more accurately reflect the true cost of attracting, retaining, and providing competitive wages for skilled workers. Without sustained investments that keep pace with rising costs, organizations will continue relying on temporary interventions to address what are fundamentally systemic challenges.

Our well-being stipend initiative reinforced something we already knew to be true: when we invest in our employees, the impact extends far beyond the workplace. Staff feel more supported. Families feel more secure. Teams grow stronger. Communities benefit.

As workforce pressures continue across our field, organizations will increasingly be asked not only how to sustain their missions, but how to sustain the people carrying them forward every day. At RFK Community Alliance, we remain committed to fostering a culture where people care for one another — not only in the services we provide, but within our own workforce. Because taking care of those who take care of others is not extra work. It is essential work.

Kathy Mills is the President and CEO of RFK Community Alliance.