May Insider 2025

May 2025

Issue No. 407

WELCOME TO

The May Insider

What’s Inside:

Catch Up with the Bay Cove President & CEO, Kevin Martone!

Discounted CASPAR Event Tickets for Bay Cove Staff.

Open Enrollment ends June 9 - register for a WebX Meeting today!

We want to share YOUR Bay Cove story, success and update in The Insider! Submit it using the button below by Monday, June 2.

WEBSITE

BAYNET

FOLLOW US!

Inside This Edition

CONTENTS Video Message from our President & CEO Staff Discount at CASPAR Event!

Staff Corner: May Birthday Bucks Haitian, Asian American Pacific Islander, & Jewish American Heritage Month

Tickets to the CASPAR Strengthening our Community Celebration are being offered to staff on a sliding scale!

Choose the pricing tier that works for you. This event will take place on Wednesday, June 11th from 8:00-9:45 a.m.

There will be coffee and networking followed by a seated breakfast program

Office of Advocacy: A Word from Charles Hollins

Center Club Corner Open Enrollment: Begins May 27th A Message from Information Systems (IS)

1 | MAY 2025 INSIDER

READ MORE (PG. 3)

A video message from Kevin Martone, President & CEO Catch up with Kevin! See what he’s been up to this month as he highlights Bay Cove programs and events across our community.

Click here to jump to the CASPAR Event page Kevin mentions in his video message!

More About Kevin...

MAY 2025 INSIDER | 2

Special Offer for Team Bay Cove!

We’re excited to offer discounted tickets exclusively for Bay Cove staff, with sliding scale pricing to make it accessible for everyone: $50, $100, or $250, just choose the option that feels right for you.

Got questions? Reach out to Caitie at csprague2@baycove.org

3 | MAY 2025 INSIDER

Congrats to January’s Submit a story, a Birthday Winners! winBucks or an update to

the Insider!

MAY 2025 INSIDER | 4

If you see these folks, make sure to give them a Bay Cove Welcome!

Alimamy Bangura,

Folakemi Amiibayin,

Engagement Partner I - ACCS

Engagement Partner I - ACCS

Anastasia Barnett,

Jan Paez, Clinician -

Early Intervention Service Coordinator - LCSW, MA/MS

Adult Mobile Crisis Intervention - Boston

Andrae Cameron,

Program Director - DS Residential

House Manager

Jonathan Cabral,

Apheilia Wolfe,

Engagement Partner I - ACCS

Engagement Partner II - ACCS - Community

Kamia Grey-Anderson,

Benito Louis, Nurse (RN) -

Senior Program Director of Day Services

Per Diem - Diversionary Services

Ladybird Aibangbee,

Capri Deleon,

MH Residential Relief Counselor

Engagement Partner I - ACCS

Marco Francois,

Charles Williams,

Residential Counselor I

Residential Counselor I

Marquis Forbes,

Cheyenne Morning,

Floating Safety Monitor

Engagement Partner I - ACCS

Max Bernstein,

Chiara Dini,

Outreach Advocate - Per Diem

Peer Supports Coordinator - ACCS

Modupe Idubor,

Christel Ambroise,

GLE Engagement Partner II - ACCS

Representative Payee Assistant

Nadine Lovemore,

Damaris Jimenez Pimentel,

MH Residential Relief Counselor

Engagement Partner I - ACCS

Rodney George,

Divontee Copeland,

Engagement Partner I - ACCS

Residential Counselor I

Serena Howard,

Donald Aaron,

Nurse (RN) - Per Diem - Diversionary Services

Recovery Specialist

Sulamita Oliferchik,

Dorothea Parrish,

Clinician - UCC - Per Diem

MH Residential Relief Counselor

Toluwalope Banjo,

Edith Orji,

Behavioral Services Clinician

Personal Care Coordinator

Tyler Charles,

Elias Sahile, IBGLE Intensive Residential Support Specialist ACCS - Subcontracted

Evelyn John, Engagement Partner I - ACCS Fan Wu, MH Residential Relief Counselor 5 | MAY 2025 INSIDER

Jeffrey Koroma,

Clinician - UCC - Per Diem

M OM CO W EE LL C W

O TO E T E

VE O C Y A B M #TEA

HAITIAN HERITAGE MONTH May is Haitian Heritage Month, an opportunity to honor and celebrate the rich history, vibrant culture, and enduring contributions of Haitian people to the United States and beyond. At Bay Cove, a significant number of our colleagues proudly identify as Haitian or Haitian- American. In alignment with Haitian heritage, these individuals consistently demonstrate strength, resilience, and dedication amid an increasingly hostile social climate. Your commitment to supporting individuals through empathy, advocacy, and tireless service embodies the resilience and revolutionary spirit central to Haiti’s history.

AAPI HERITAGE MONTH May is Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month, celebrating the diverse cultures, histories, and achievements of AAPI communities across the United States. There is a long tradition of caring for others within AAPI communities, and this value is shared by Bay Cove. As stated by labor and civil rights activist Larry Itliong, “We are all human beings and we have to take care of each other.”

These words remind us of our collective responsibility to support and uplift vulnerable communities through empathy, equity, and inclusivity.

JEWISH AMERICAN HERITAGE MONTH May is Jewish American Heritage Month, dedicated to recognizing and celebrating the remarkable contributions, culture, and heritage of Jewish Americans. Today, there are approximately 16 million Jewish people worldwide, each contributing to the global tapestry of Jewish culture through distinct customs, languages, and histories. At Bay Cove, we deeply value the diverse perspectives and global heritage that Jewish Americans bring to our organization. This diversity enhances our shared mission of compassionately supporting individuals from all backgrounds.

MAY 2025 INSIDER | 6

GOVERNMENT RELATIONS Celebrating a Successful Caring Force Rally and Lobby Day – May 8, 2025 A heartfelt thank you to the more than 10 staff, members, volunteers, and supporters who represented Bay Cove at the 13th Annual Caring Force Rally and Lobby Day at the Massachusetts State House. Over 400 Caring Force members gathered in the Great Hall of Flags to advocate for vital human services.

Dynamic speakers passionately shared how our sector’s services transform lives, while legislators listened to moving personal stories that highlighted the importance of educational, vocational, housing, safety net, and recovery programs. After the formal program, attendees visited their district legislators to share personal experiences and deliver a concise factsheet outlining our top budget priorities.

If you’re not already a member of The Caring Force, now is a great time to join. Add your voice to the 32,000+ strong coalition of Massachusetts human services workers, peer advocates, persons served, and supporters championing our mission.

If you’re not already a member of The Caring Force, now is a great time to join. Add your voice to the 32,000+ strong coalition of Massachusetts human services workers, peer advocates, persons served, and supporters championing our mission.

7 | MAY 2025 INSIDER

Cross-Border Trade and Tariffs: Massachusetts Leads Regional Dialogue Governor Maura Healey is positioning Massachusetts as a leader among six Northeastern states in addressing the economic impact of federal tariffs. She has extended an invitation to Canadian Premiers to meet in Boston to strengthen cross-border partnerships.

Governor Healey stated: “Canada is Massachusetts’ number one trading partner. For generations, we have enjoyed a strong partnership and healthy exchange of goods. But President Trump’s tariffs are undermining this relationship, increasing costs for New England and Canadian families alike. I’m proud to host a dialogue focused on continuing our partnership, lowering costs, and supporting local businesses.”

Revenue Outlook: April 2025 Collections Beat Expectations The Massachusetts Department of Revenue reports preliminary April 2025 collections at $511 million above April 2024, an 8.1% increase. While economic shifts and federal mandates continue to challenge budgets, this uptick offers a glimmer of hope.

Bay Cove, alongside human services providers statewide, is actively reviewing budgets and submitting critical data to the Massachusetts Human Services Collaborative, which unites and advocates for our sector. Collaborative members include: Association of Developmental Disabilities Providers (ADDP) Association for Behavioral Healthcare (ABH) Children’s League of Massachusetts Providers’ Council

COMMUNITY RELATIONS 119th Annual Dorchester Day Parade – June 1, 2025 We’re calling for more volunteers—staff, individuals served, families, and friends—to march with Bay Cove in this cherished community tradition. Let's bring cheer to the thousands of spectators lining the route!

To sign up, contact Fatima at fdoumbia@baycove.org with group size and T-shirt sizes. Volunteers should meet at 11:30 am at the Richmond Street staging area in Lower Mills. The parade begins at 1:00 pm and proceeds along Dorchester Avenue to Savin Hill (approx. 3 miles). JFK Station is nearby, and our 15passenger van will transport supplies and offer volunteer support as needed. Enjoy lunch, decorate the float, distribute over 3,500 Bay Cove-branded giveaways, and help spread awareness of our mission to support individuals and families overcoming challenges and achieving their full potential. An amazing experience is guaranteed for all participants!

NEIGHBOR RELATIONS If your program is experiencing concerns or complaints from residential or business neighbors, please invite me to support your team in resolving the issue.

Contact me at chollins@baycove.org or text/call 617-893-0004.

MAY 2025 INSIDER | 8

9 | MAY 2025 INSIDER

MAY 2025 INSIDER | 10

Open Enrollment Begins May 27th!

BY CHRISTINE BUDD, DIRECTOR BENEFITS AND WELLNESS

With the arrival of May, it is once again time to review your benefit plans and enroll in the coverage you need for the new benefit year beginning July 1, 2025.

2025 Open Enrollment begins May 27, 2025 and closes on June 9, 2025.

Bay Cove Human Services is committed to providing a comprehensive benefit package. At Bay Cove Human Services we know how important benefits are to your wellbeing as well as that of your family. That is why we work hard to provide options designed to improve your quality of life. Our benefits support your health, help you maintain work-life balance, protect the people you care about, and secure your financial future into retirement. Although it is a busy time of year, it is important to take the time to understand Bay Cove Human Services benefit offerings and make selections aligned with you and your family’s needs.

Open Enrollment provides you with an annual opportunity to reflect upon your current benefit elections and make any needed changes for the upcoming year. During Open Enrollment, you have the opportunity to: Review Your Current Benefits: Take time to carefully review your current benefits, including medical, dental, vision and any additional coverage you may have Make Changes: If you wish to make changes to your benefits coverage, you can do so during this period. This includes enrolling in a different plan, adding or removing dependents, and adjusting your coverage levels.

Reevaluate Your Health Savings Contributions: If you contribute to the Healthcare Flexible Spending Account (FSA), or Dependent Care FSA, now is the time to select your contributions for the next year.

Update Life Insurance Beneficiaries: If you have not done so in Dayforce already, you must add or update beneficiaries to your life insurance coverage.

Verify Your Mailing Address: A lot of important benefits information is mailed to your home, including member identification cards. Double check that your mailing address in Dayforce is correct.

Perform an Annual Check-Up: Review your 403(b) contributions and investments, as well as Federal and State tax withholdings.

Any changes you may to your elections and coverage will go into effect on July 1, 2025. The coverage elections you choose during Open Enrollment apply for a full year (through June 30, 2026), unless you experience a “Qualifying Life Event”. You must request the change within 30 days of the event. Your benefit elect changes will be effective on the date of the Qualifying Life Event: Marriage or Divorce Death Birth or adoption of a dependent Change in employment status Change in dependent’s eligibility status Loss of or significant change to your current coverage Judgment, decree or court order 11 | MAY 2025 INSIDER

Attend an Open Enrollment Meeting To learn more about Open Enrollment and the benefits offered and provided by Bay Cove Human Services, we will be offering Webex meetings May 29th through June 9th. These meetings will include representatives from Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts to explain the medical and dental insurance plans and answer your questions – spouses are invited!

Please watch your email for the registration links from Human Resources coming very soon; meanwhile visit the Bay Cove Employee Handbook Human Resources Space on BayNet to review your current benefits

Employees who register and attend an Open Enrollment meeting will be entered to win a $100 gift card!

Open Enrollment Meetings Schedule (Eastern Standard Time): Thursday, May 29th 12pm-1pm, 6pm-7pm Friday, May 30th 10am-11am Tuesday, June 3rd 6pm-7pm Wednesday, June 4th 8am-9am, 12pm-1pm Thursday, June 5th 12pm-1pm, 6pm-7pm Monday, June 9th 12pm-1pm

Eligibility All full-time and part-time employees regularly scheduled to work 20 hours or more per week are eligible to enroll in Bay Cove Human Services employee benefits.

IMPORTANT: This is an “Active” Enrollment.

All benefit-eligible employees must complete the enrollment process in Dayforce, and enroll in the benefit(s) of your choice or waive/decline coverage; otherwise, you will be disenrolled in all of your plans as of July 1!

When Coverage Begins Coverage for benefits elected during Open Enrollment are effective July 1, 2025. The contributions associated with those elections are withheld each pay period beginning July 11, 2025 for Bay Cove employees and July 17, 2025 for Growthways employees.

Who can I claim as dependents?

Dependents eligible for coverage include: Your legal spouse.

Children up to age 26 (includes birth children, stepchildren, legally adopted children, children placed for adoption, foster children and children for whom you or your spouse have legal guardianship.

Domestic partners, boyfriends, girlfriends, fiancée’s, grandchildren, nieces and nephews, parents and grand-parents are not eligible for coverage. Divorced ex-spouses may be eligible for coverage by court order. It is especially important to notify Human Resources when a divorce occurs. The ex-spouse will be offered continuation of coverage, at their expense, under COBRA regulations.

MAY 2025 INSIDER | 12

In order to maintain high-quality benefits for Bay Cove Human Services staff and their dependents, and to ensure fairness of the medical costs shared by all, we will soon be initiating an effort to confirm eligibility for dependents covered under the insurance plans.

Although we believe the majority of enrolled dependents meet eligibility requirements, there may be some instances when a Bay Cove employee may have forgotten to remove a dependent who is no longer eligible for coverage. In the next few months, all employees with a dependent enrolled in a Bay Cove plan will be required to provide eligibility documentation. We urge you to order any of these documents, such as birth and marriage certificates, from vital records at county offices as soon as possible, if you not have them already.

We encourage you to use Open Enrollment as a time to remove any dependents who may have become ineligible.

Your Contributions Your contributions for medical, dental, vision and the flexible spending accounts (FSA) are made with pre-tax dollars. You for Critical Illness, Accident, employee and dependent voluntary supplemental Life insurance with after-tax dollars. All contributions are taken from your paycheck weekly or bi-weekly. Your pay must support your contributions for the benefits elected. If that is not the case, then your enrollment cannot be processed.

Enhancements & Updates for the 2025 Benefit Year Blue Cross Blue Shield Medical Insurance Plan: Premium increases in 2025 For 2025, contributions are increasing by 11%. Bay Cove is sharing in equal cost of the increase.

Bay Cove will continue to contribute between 71% and 82% to the total cost depending on the plan you choose and the coverage tier you elect.

We are focusing on a principle that is central to our mission – the critical importance of health care equity and access. We understand 2024 employee contributions were significantly higher than anticipated and explored multiple options to mitigate increases for 2025. As a result, employees will see no more than an 11% increase in 2025.

Bay Cove will continue to provide and offer the same medical plans through Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts: Advantage Blue Preferred Deductible Plan and Blue Care Elect Preferred 80 Deductible Plan. There will be no changes to the coverage or the deductibles.

Health care expenses are steadily climbing each year. Globally, medical costs are expected to rise by an average of 12%, driven largely by chronic conditions such as cancer, cardiovascular disease, and musculoskeletal disorders. The growing cost of advanced treatments, new pharmaceuticals, and overall inflation further intensify financial pressures.

Budgeting for the high costs of food, housing and child care is already a challenge for many in our community, so any increase is painful. Our employees are our most important resource.

We have spent much time to look for every opportunity to balance the quality of our benefits with their affordability and minimize the impact of higher costs in a challenging budget year.

13 | MAY 2025 INSIDER

Blue Cross Blue Shield Open Enrollment Decision Support Line will be made available to assist you with your enrollment decisions. The Blue Cross Blue Shield Member Services department will have benefit specialists available to help you with: Plan-to-plan comparisons Benefit information Your out-of-pocket costs for covered medical services (for example: copay, deductible and/or co-insurance information.

Prescription coverage and costs Authorization guidelines Finding participating primary care physicians (PCPs), specialists and hospitals Healthy lifestyle programs Beginning May 27, 2025, just call 800-358-2227 between 8AM-6PM and select prompt 3 to speak with a Blue Cross Member Service benefit specialist. We understand that choosing the right health plan can be complicated at times, and we want to make sure you make the best decision for you and your family.

Blue Cross Blue Shield Dental Insurance Plan: Premium increases in 2025 For 2025, contributions are increasing by 9.9%. Bay Cove is sharing in equal cost of the increase.

Bay Cove will continue to contribute 50% to the total cost.

You will have access to the same coverage as you have today, the Dental Blue Freedom plan.

VSP: Premium increases in 2025 For 2025, contributions are increasing by 5% but these rates will remain the same for 4 years Flores: Flexible Savings/Spending Accounts (FSA) FSAs require you to re-enroll every year if you want to take advantage of the tax-free savings you receive when you participate. These are great plans to be enrolled in if you have out-ofpocket medical expenses (such as co-payments, deductible amounts, some over-the counter healthcare expenses) or if you are paying for daycare services.

Healthcare FSAs: The pretax contribution limit has increased from $3,200 to $3,300.

The maximum carryover amount has increased from $640 to $660 for carryover of 2025 account balances to 2026 account balances. You have until June 30, 2026 (end of the plan year) to incur expenses and until September 30, 2026, to submit eligible claims for services you received before June 30. Any remaining balance you have over $660 will be forfeited.

Dependent Care FSAs: The 2025 pre tax contribution limit for remains at $5,000 per Household.

Unum Critical Illness and Accident Insurance Plan: No Benefit Plan Changes For 2025 there are no benefit plan changes.

Contributions will remain the same, you will not experience an increase unless you change your coverage.

MAY 2025 INSIDER | 14

Sun Life Voluntary Supplemental Life Insurance: No Benefit Plan Changes For 2025 there are no benefit plan changes.

Contributions will remain the same, you will not experience an increase unless you change your coverage.

Beginning on May 27, you should: 1. Review the Employee Benefits Guide (available in the HR Spece of the Electronic Handbook portal) and your current elections in Dayforce. The 2025 Employee Benefits Guide will be available before the individual benefit pages are updated.

2. Use Dayforce to enroll in or decline/waive benefits.

3. When you finish the enrollment process in Dayforce make sure you submit your Enrollment by clicking on the “SUBMIT” button. You will immediately receive a confirmation statement that will highlight any changes you made during Open Enrollment.

This confirmation statement should be printed and/or saved so that you have a document supporting your 2025 Open Enrollment elections. NOTE: If you do not click on the “SUBMIT” button your enrollment will not process. If you do not complete the enrollment process in Dayforce, you will have NO coverage.

4. Register to attend an Open Enrollment Meeting!

15 | MAY 2025 INSIDER

MAY 2025 INSIDER | 16