The Health Fund has approved 60 new grants totaling more than $14.7 million to advance efforts across the state aimed at improving health for Michigan residents. Grants range in size from $7,500 to $500,000 and will support a wide range of organizations and projects through the Health Fund’s Nutrition & Healthy Lifestyles, Behavioral Health, Community Health Impact, and Capacity Building grant programs. (A full list of grant recipients can be found at the bottom of this post.)
NUTRITION & HEALTHY LIFESTYLES GRANTS SUPPORT EQUITABLE FOOD SYSTEMS, BUILT ENVIRONMENT
The Health Fund’s 2023 Nutrition & Healthy Lifestyles (NHL) initiative addresses critical nutrition and lifestyle challenges that negatively impact Michigan’s children and older adults.
Our 2023 NHL cohort includes 26 grants totaling nearly $7 million. Funded projects will work intentionally with communities to overcome socially determined barriers that limit access to healthy food and opportunities for physical activities.
These grants will impact health outcomes for residents in every Michigan county thanks to seven statewide projects, while additional projects will take place in 27 counties stretching from the Ohio border to the Keweenaw Peninsula.
“This year’s NHL grants present an exciting blend of innovative, strategically focused projects,” said Program Director Laurie Solotorow. “From planning for a built environment with the health needs of communities in mind to forging stronger, healthier, more equitable food systems across our state, the projects in our 2023 cohort are primed to make a meaningful and lasting difference for people of all ages in Michigan.”
The grant selection process for the 2023 NHL program reflected our three-pronged strategy, which includes strengthening community capacity, informing policy through analysis, collaboration, and education, and sparking innovation and building sustainability. All NHL grant selections encompass one or more of these strategies and leverage what we have learned through past projects about successful approaches, with an eye toward scaling or replicating solutions that work.
A new development for this year is a dedicated emphasis on projects that enhance built environments in communities needing improvements to the physical infrastructure required for healthy, active lifestyles for all residents.
One example: a grant to the City of Detroit will support an extensive community engagement and planning process that will guide improvements to a number of city parks. By involving members of local communities and incorporating feedback that makes parks more accessible and usable early in the process, the project will expand opportunities for physical activity to more than 15,000 people each year.
Our investments in the area of nutrition and food access are aimed at creating stronger, more equitable food systems in communities around the state. For example, a grant to the United Way of Midland County will leverage rescued surplus ingredients and fresh produce from a local nonprofit farm to create healthy meals for hungry families, prepared by teens and adults learning culinary job skills.
BEHAVIORAL HEALTH GRANTS FUEL CROSS-SECTOR COLLABORATION, INTEGRATION, WORKFORCE TO EXPAND ACCESS TO CARE
The Health Fund’s Behavioral Health initiative aims to improve access to high-quality, integrated mental health and substance use disorder care for Michigan residents. Through its grantmaking, the program seeks to bridge health equity gaps, advance integrated care, increase cost-effectiveness, and strengthen the health workforce.
The 2023 Behavioral Health cohort features 22 grants totaling more than $6.5 million in funding across a number of dedicated focus areas. It includes projects that advance innovative care delivery models, team-based approaches to care, multi-sector solutions, new technology, and behavioral health support for priority populations including children who have been adopted or are in the foster care system.
Projects in the cohort were chosen based on their potential to fill unmet need, address disparities and advance health equity, promote collaboration, and create sustainable or replicable results.
“All the available data points to an urgent need for increased behavioral health support in communities across Michigan, with many people facing significant barriers to accessing care,” said Director Becky Cienki. “The projects funded through our 2023 cohort show tremendous promise to help address this critical need through creative, collaborative, data-informed solutions with the potential to contribute to larger, lasting improvements.”
For example, a grant to The Shul in West Bloomfield will provide clergy and other leaders of Jewish faith communities with training and access to clinicians to help them support community members of all ages — with special focus on youth and older adults — with their behavioral health needs. By building on the deep connections within faith communities, the project will broaden networks of support, while equipping faith leaders with lasting skills and closer ties to clinical providers.
Meanwhile, a grant to the University of Michigan will develop a behavioral health partnership with community and tribal colleges around the state. These colleges disproportionately enroll low-income, first-generation students of color with demographically high mental health needs, but often lack resources to serve them. Building on existing relationships, the project aims to establish pilot programs at two to three tribal and community colleges and create a centralized technical assistance platform to benefit students at all such colleges across the state.
COMMUNITY HEALTH IMPACT, CAPACITY BUILDING GRANTS SUPPORT STRONGER COMMUNITY HEALTH
The Health Fund’s Community Health Impact and Capacity Building grant programs provide support for community-based organizations that are utilizing local data, building collective impact, and empowering community-driven solutions. These programs require applicants to seek out and incorporate the voice of those with lived experience of the health issues they seek to address in the design and execution of their grant-funded projects.
We will make awards through these programs in three phases in 2023. In the second cycle of the year, these programs are awarding a combined 11 grants totaling nearly $1.2 million. This follows a cycle in May that included 23 grants totaling just over $2.7 million.
Grants awarded through these programs fall into three categories.
The Community Health Impact program provides resources to help communities solve their most pressing health issues and successfully implement health-focused, community-driven interventions. These grants help build stronger, healthier communities by being responsive to community needs and providing resources to create a healthier place.
Grants made through our Organizational Capacity Building program assist health-focused community-based organizations in becoming stronger, more effective institutions within their community by meeting basic organizational needs, allowing them to spend more time and energy focused on their mission and collaborative efforts.
Collaborative Capacity Building grants support efforts to build partnerships, increase cross-sector cooperation, and align community efforts to enhance the health of citizens in local communities or statewide. These grants support community-led work to spur progress on key health issues.
“The second cycle of grants through our Community Health Impact and Capacity Building programs build on the impressive group of grantees we shared in May,” said Program Director Megan Murphy. “We’re extremely pleased to support another round of thoughtful and impactful projects and invest in the leadership and knowledge present in Michigan communities to achieve their own health goals.”
One example: A grant to All Saints of Alpena through the Community Health Impact program will support delivery of integrated physical and behavioral health services to residents using the region’s first emergency warming shelter. In addition to leveraging a significant capital investment to build the shelter, the project will help those facing housing insecurity access the health support they need alongside a wide range of other supportive services.
2023 BEHAVIORAL HEALTH GRANTS
Bay-Arenac ISD
Meeting The Behavioral Health Needs of Young Children in Rural Areas Through School and Telehealth Delivery of an Innovative Intervention — $196,448
To provide Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT) training to parents, teachers, and behavioral health professionals and will support the implementation of five to seven sustainable, school-based, PCIT clinic sites in the Bay-Arenac Intermediate School District. PCIT is a highly effective and evidence-based caregiver-child program that can be administered in person or via telehealth.
Big Brothers Big Sisters of Washtenaw County
Therapeutic Mentoring Pilot — $329,616
To enhance the one-to-one mentoring services at BBBS by integrating professional mentoring and therapeutic staff into a wrap-around service. The Therapeutic Mentoring Model will support an LMSW to assist in identifying youth with undiagnosed behavioral health challenges at BBBS of Washtenaw, Metro Detroit, and Northwestern Michigan.
Marquette-Alger RESA
Day Treatment Programming (AKA Therapeutic Classroom) — $500,000
To provide intensive clinical and educational services to students ages 12 to 18 with behavioral health needs that drastically interfere with daily life functioning and cannot be managed in the traditional school settings within the counties of the Upper Peninsula.
Voices for Children
Addressing Childhood Trauma Through Play Therapy — $500,000
To provide up to 75 Children’s Advocacy Center (CAC)-based clinicians with the tools to use an evidence-based model with child survivors of abuse and their non-offending caregivers. CAC clinicians will complete training and clinical consultation required for Trauma Play Therapy certification through this grant period.
Starr Commonwealth
Calhoun County Student Resilience & Empowerment Center — $498,000
To support a collaboration with five Calhoun County school districts, the county public mental health provider, and the Battle Creek Family YMCA to implement a county-wide, school-based behavioral health program that meets the needs of students struggling in the traditional school setting.
Baraga County
Baraga County Sheriff’s Office/Avel eCare Partnership — $40,135
To empower the Sheriff’s Office to offer 24/7 access to behavioral health professionals using iPads and VCC team expert mental health care. This strategy increases the capacity of Baraga County to provide effective mental health care and optimizes the time law enforcement spends assisting those in crisis while waiting for services.
Centra Wellness Network
Rural Crisis Cross-Training Model — $130,731
To train two law enforcement officers in Crisis Intervention Training to improve crisis response and access to care in Benzie County. Throughout the grant period, partners will collect data, facilitate a leadership convening, execute deputy cross training, including a 40-hour Critical Incidence Training, provide additional training with Community Mental Health staff for implementation of the program in the field, and develop an outcomes report with lessons learned.
Michigan Rural EMS Network
SHIFT: A Culture of Support For T-I EMS Agency — $70,000
To address internal Emergency Management Services (EMS) agency culture and policies surrounding workforce mental well-being. MiREMS will complete an agency needs assessment identifying opportunities and gaps; select evidence-based, promising, and/or innovative models for addressing trauma in the emergency services workplace; create plans for strategy, evaluation, and sustainability; and establish a toolkit for use by rural Michigan EMS agencies and systems.
Oakland Schools
Strengthening School Mental Health & Family Engagement — $500,000
To create a Community of Practice cohort of six in-need local education authorities. The project will focus on strengthening family engagement and improving referral pathways to both school-based and community-based services through the completion of Mental Health Quality Assessments.
The Shul
Behavioral Health Training Initiative — $200,000
To train organizational leadership to address the increasing behavioral health needs of community members who customarily rely on clergy for behavioral health support. The BHTI will address trauma-informed care, adolescent and teen behavioral health, geriatric care, and general mental health literacy with a main objective to better equip leadership with specific language and diagnostic criteria for connection to treatment.
Corewell Health Foundation
School Blue Envelope: Collegiate Expansion and Evaluation — $499,990
To develop a Collegiate Blue Envelope Program to expand the existing School Blue Envelope Program to higher education. The program is a suicide prevention and crisis response protocol that provides school personnel with clear steps used in the critical moments when a student expresses thoughts of suicide or self-harm. Corewell Health anticipates training approximately 3,800 college and university staff.
The Regents of the University of Michigan
MHICC: Building Capacity for Connection & Care — $222,254
To expand access to mental health resources for students enrolled in Michigan’s 31 community and tribal colleges (CCs) by developing and disseminating a centralized technical assistance platform for CC mental health providers and decision-makers. In addition, the MHICC program will pilot a community partnership program with 2 to 3 CCs identified as lacking sufficient on-campus behavioral health capacity.
Henry Ford Health
IHELP: Technology to Address Substance Use in Schools — $349,631
To implement a technology-based tool in school-based health centers that begins with screening of substance use, attitudes toward use, and consequences of use (conducted on an iPad) to identify patients as at low, moderate, or severe risk of having problems with a particular substance. The results of each student’s risk will influence continued individualized virtual interventions.
Michigan State University
Clinically Moderated Peer-To-Peer Support for MSU Students — $120,000
To support delivery of TogetherAll, a clinically moderated, online, peer-to-peer support platform designed to increase help seeking behaviors and empower diverse populations to engage in care that enhances mental and emotional well-being. The platform will increase the reach of behavioral health services to mitigate the recent significant increase in demand at Michigan State University.
The Regents of the University of Michigan
Train Home Visitors to Support Depressed Perinatal Clients — $170,063
To develop an innovative service delivery model that reduces barriers to care by training established home visitors to support perinatal clients experiencing depression. The University of Michigan will create a web-based training package focused on perinatal depression to educate approximately 50 Healthy Families America staff, 41 home-visitors, and 9 supervisors that serve rural regions.
Michigan Primary Care Association
Primary Care Behavioral Health Integration in FQHCs — $500,000
To aid community health centers in integrating practices for improved patient care through leveraging data that identifies patients participating in health centers who likely have both physical and behavioral health needs and engaging them in care with the six participating health centers.
Pine Rest Christian Mental Health Services
Improving Access to Adolescent ASD and ADHD Testing — $405,170
To form a multidisciplinary team approach for triaging patients and providing testing services that includes the utilization of psychometrists, and ensuring patients are matched to appropriate services with the right provider. Additionally, Pine Rest will develop and implementing a recruitment plan to attract psychologists from outside the state to meet Michigan demand.
Samaritas
Strengthening the Care Continuum in Ionia and Montcalm Counties — $200,000
To improve clients’ transitions home after a behavioral health or substance use disorder hospitalization to support their recovery, effectively connect patients to outpatient care, and avert repeated crises.
Child & Family Services of Northwestern Michigan
Family Time Coaching: A New Model for Success — $229,618
To support the training of Child and Family Service of Northwest Michigan staff and community providers in evidence-based programs focused on strengthening the family unit to create a reduced risk of separation and expediate reuniting families. This training will also strengthen the skills of staff to identify families at risk of abuse and neglect, substance misuse concerns, or other behavioral health needs.
CMH for Central Michigan
Enhanced Child Welfare Access and Training Initiative — $283,186
To increase comprehensive behavioral health access for youth and their families in the foster care and child welfare system by hiring a specialized behavioral health navigator who will assure youth and families receive timely access to assessment, care coordination, and treatment that can impact placement success and family stability.
Grand Valley State University
Fostering Futures: Partners in Community, Behavior & Health — $195,600
To support a community assessment of the Greater Grand Rapids area to identify the most vulnerable youth at-risk for, or in foster care, or who have been adopted, who do not have access to integrated behavioral and primary healthcare. The assessment will also address system-level implicit bias, evaluate existing support resources, develop a community coalition, and plan for an integrated behavioral health and primary care model in public housing communities.
2023 COMMUNITY HEALTH IMPACT GRANTS
All Saints of Alpena
Emergency Warming Shelter — $140,000
To establish a daytime warming center (with plans for an overnight facility) for unhoused individuals, offering shelter, meals, and access to various support services. During daytime hours, local agencies will provide case management and other outreach services on-site to help individuals address barriers to housing, apply for additional benefits and resources, gain access to substance use and mental health services, and access other health services.
Greater Flint Health Coalition
Addressing Mid-Michigan Disparities through CHAP Expansion — $150,000
To identify individuals with unmet social needs, provide coordinated care management and community linkages, and leverage community health workers to address diverse social determinants of health, ultimately improving health outcomes and connecting residents to vital services. This grant will allow the program to be tested in a rural area while Medicaid redetermination is happening across the state.
Inter-Tribal Council of Michigan
ITCMI Increasing Health Literacy — $150,000
To enhance health literacy and access to culturally tailored mental health resources for tribal members in the Eastern Upper Peninsula of Michigan. ITCMI will collaborate with local providers, educators, and community members through community conversations and listening sessions to address health literacy concerns, develop resources, and distribute health literacy education in the target communities.
2023 CAPACITY BUILDING GRANTS
ORGANIZATIONAL CAPACITY BUILDING
Detroit Community Health Connection
Improving Sexual Health Care for Young Black Males — $26,000
To establish a community advisory board (CAB) to identify and address healthcare needs, design culturally responsive programs, and bridge gaps in sexual health and preventative care. This approach aims to enhance access, reduce disparities, and improve the well-being of young Black men in Detroit by involving community members in shaping healthcare services.
Health Net of West Michigan
IT Security and Capacity Building — $75,600
To address vulnerabilities in Health Net’s IT infrastructure identified through a recent security risk assessment. Working with Vista IT Group, they will implement remediation measures, including addressing server vulnerabilities, unauthorized access issues, and improving data security and physical safeguards.
Partridge Creek Farm
Enhancing Capacity for Lasting Community Health Impact — $41,844
To develop a strategic business and communications plan to increase sustainability as they venture into the composting business. The plan will guide the development of this new line of business, allowing PCF to generate earned revenue to support its community-focused farm and intergenerational programming.
SEMHA
SEMHA Administrative Capacity Building — $148,800
To support efforts by the Southeastern Michigan Health Association (SEMHA) to address governance, strategic planning, business structure evaluation, and professional development to enhance their efforts in advancing health equity initiatives. The funding will enable the advisory board to develop a workforce strategy, prioritize health equity initiatives, undergo strategic planning, evaluate their service delivery model, and provide leadership training to staff.
Zaman international
Zaman Wellness Center — $76,550
To establish a clinic at the Hope for Humanity Center in Inkster focused on primary care, prevention, chronic disease management, and behavioral health support, catering to marginalized women who are uninsured, underinsured, or have Medicare/Medicaid.
COLLABORATIVE CAPACITY BUILDING
Interoperability Institute
Launching the MI Health Interoperability Virtual eLaboratory — $145,817
To spearhead the creation of the Michigan Health Interoperability Virtual eLaboratory (MiHIVE) to equip graduates with the necessary skills for entering health-IT careers. The project aims to develop curriculum plans and ensure successful implementation at universities through workshops, meetings, and ongoing guidance from a steering committee and student panel in order to prepare students for entering the workforce.
Otsego County United Way, Inc.
START Collaborative — $90,700
To support a multi-sector initiative in Otsego County that aims to address the unmet needs of vulnerable individuals through collaboration between nonprofits, schools, hospitals, government entities, and businesses. The collaborative will strategize innovative solutions, promote collective action, and overcome health challenges by addressing service gaps, social factors, and limited healthcare access in the community through the help of a newly established community navigator position.
Sanilac County Health Department
Building Capacity for Community Health Strategies — $150,000
To address health disparities among populations such as veterans, aging individuals, low-income individuals, and those with mental health or substance use disorder through the Thumb Community Health Partnership. Through financial partnerships, technology adoption, and community input, TCHP seeks to enhance collaboration, coordination of services, and data-driven strategies to improve access and outcomes in the Thumb region.
2023 NUTRITION & HEALTHY LIFESTYLES GRANTS
Access of West Michigan
Collaborative Planning for Healthy Food Access in Kent Co. — $172,500
To establish a collaborative that connects rural food access organizations to the existing network of food access organizations throughout Kent County, which will build the capacity for rural organizations to provide healthy foods to communities within food deserts. Funding would expand options for healthy food access and support existing food pantries throughout northern Kent County, which had only two food access sites at the time of funding.
American Heart Association
Collaboration for Equitable Health in Michigan — $500,000
To replicate a project model in Southeast and Western Michigan to develop interventions based on three strategic pillars: 1) Increasing Access to prevention, early detection, and treatment, 2) Activating communities to address health disparities, and 3) Advocating for sustained systems change. AHA will support and increase the capacity of 10 participating community organizations to address their community-led efforts with tools, resources, and models.
City of Detroit
Improving Detroit Parks through Community-Centered Planning — $500,000
To improve the built environment of Detroit parks to increase access to greenspace and promote physical activity through planning and community engagement efforts. Rouge Park, Eliza Howell Park, Farwell Park, and O’Hair Park were selected to be the focus of consultant engagement for park planning and community engagement, project coordination including stakeholder meetings and an equity analysis, and the development of a robust outreach and engagement strategy.
Community Action House
Building Healthcare-Food Access Partnerships — $299,911
To develop and implement partnerships with healthcare organizations to better serve their clients and the community with an emphasis on improving referral pathways from healthcare providers to CAH services and tailoring existing programming and creating new services to better meet the nutritional needs of the Latinx community. CAH will serve approximately 490 individuals through the development of internal referral structures with providers and the expansion of culturally relevant programming in nutrition education training.
Kent County
P3: Parks, People, Produce in Grand Rapids — $208,000
To support access to nutritious foods and physical activity programs at underutilized greenspaces to help residents engage with parks in their communities. Community townhalls will provide residents with opportunities to share health issues that are impacting them, and family-centered physical activities/nutrition education will be designed based on this community input – exposing residents to nearby parks and opportunities for recreation at the Roosevelt Park Neighborhood.
Grandmont Rosedale Development Corporation
Grandmont Rosedale Master Plan for Equitable Health — $175,000
To educate community members on the social determinants of health and how the built environment plays a large role in health outcomes, providing a platform for community members to voice their concerns about environmental factors that impact their quality of life. Funded data mapping and awareness campaigns will help to develop recommendations to remove barriers to health for consideration in the City of Detroit Master Plan.
Michigan State University
Modeling Food Sovereignty in Michigan’s Local Food Councils — $499,989
To community-led food sovereignty efforts among Black, Indigenous, and communities of color by engaging 200 individuals within the food space and 50 food councils around the state through outreach and programming. POC-based food sovereignty initiatives are invited to build relationships, given customized consultant and staff support, and offered small “seed” grants to enhance their progress or education. The project also supports a food systems leadership program and monthly network support sessions.
The Regents of the University of Michigan
Feeding MI Families Community Food Advocacy Fellowship — $317,265
To expand a pilot program in Detroit and support additional Michigan parents with lived experience of hunger to be advocates for improved food access and food assistance in their communities through policy engagement, program change, and community engagement. The project will provide 15 new parent “Fellows” in over 22 counties with training and mentorship to engage with local, regional, and state legislation, programming, and media to achieve nutrition security.
Wayne State University
Citizen Deliberation for Healthy Neighborhoods — $499,705
To support the second phase of WSU’s previous Health Fund award — Citizenship for Health —which used a deliberation framework to create a community-driven program focused on improving health and specifically, diet and physical activity in the HOPE Village Neighborhood in Northeast Detroit. This phase expands to Connor Creek, Brightmoor, and Burton neighborhoods to execute deliberation training for at least six community residents, community gatherings, and deliberation leaders’ program implementation.
Benefits Data Trust
Improving Collaboration Between MI Medicaid and its MCOs — $150,000
To support a 12-month planning process to build a pathway to permanently streamlining nutrition benefits access for Michigan individuals and families by equipping Medicaid Managed Care plans with the tools they need to proactively connect their members to health-supporting benefits. This project will cultivate relations with MDHHS, inform recommendations by engaging Medicaid beneficiaries, and develop public-facing communications until the following year when MDHHS can commit to investment.
Heart of West Michigan United Way
Food Systems Plan Adoption and Implementation — $203,280
To support the Kent County Food Policy Council’s (KCFPC) engagement with Kent County local government bodies to develop a clear roadmap by which the community can address food inequities. This grant will fund communications and advertising of the plan, collaboration with local government to accomplish the plans outcomes, and the facilitation of the plan’s adoption in the City of Grand Rapids Master Plan of 2024.
Michigan Environmental Council
Elevating Voices & Growing Recreation in Areas of Concern — $100,000
To support community engagement in the environmental remediation process in communities identified as environmental Areas of Concern for the purpose of establishing connections to green spaces to foster long-term collaboration of remediated areas.
Michigan State University
Improving Engagement in Produce Prescription Programs — $500,000
To support the Fruit and Vegetable Prescription Program at MSU in partnerships with pediatric clinics, OBGYN clinics, and farmers’ markets to distribute fruit and vegetable prescriptions. This project will address the lack of information regarding utilization and effectiveness of the program among families with young children and after COVID-19 by expanding to a local food store, supporting digital prescriptions, and understanding how the program impacts families with young children.
Trinity Health dba St. Joseph Mercy Ann Arbor
Evaluating Impacts of Fresh Local Produce for Health — $90,198
To support Trinity Health to complete a formal evaluation of the Farm Share Assistance (FSA) program — which collects produce from small local farms and distributes it to underserved families at no cost — by assessing impacts on food insecurity, healthy behaviors, and local farming/food infrastructure; preparing methods to assess longer-term health improvements; providing data for policy changes in payer reimbursement and healthy food programs; and conducting a regional assessment to prepare for expansion.
West Michigan Food Processing Association
Feasibility Study: Statewide Network — $100,000
To conduct a feasibility study to build a stronger Michigan food and farming presence by establishing a collaborative food sector voice across the Michigan food and farming sector—including for- profit, non-profit, educators, and governmental and food security organizations; strengthening regional supply chains, increasing food security, and informing policy to strengthen a statewide network of resources.
Western U.P. Planning & Development Region
Western Upper Peninsula Farm to School Phase 2 — $177,000
To support institutionalizing capacity building and training to increase procurement of local food in two school districts: Copper Country Intermediate School District and Gogebic-Ontonagon Intermediate School District. The project supports teacher farm to school professional development, whole school farm to school readiness assessments, and the development of a sustainable long-term farm to school infrastructure.
Downtown Boxing Gym Youth Program
Seeded at the Table 3.0: Sprouting Out — $150,000
To expand programming by addressing the lack of access to fresh produce, healthy food, and nutrition education. DBG will teach youth how to grow and process produce, identify their own nutritional needs, and explore Detroit’s food systems to increase their personal health. Funding supports maintenance of the existing Seeded at the Table platform to manage daily meals, expansion of gardening programming, and the new student-led DBG Punch initiative that supports students to plan and produce eventually marketable fresh-pressed juice.
Edison Neighborhood Association, Inc.
Urban Homestead Hub — $130,000
To support community workshops that teach skills on urban farming methods, composting, food preservation, etc., and provide participants with resource assistance to execute the skills they learned at the Urban Homestead Hub. The program will also build organizational and community capacity by offering opportunities to learn from other food sovereignty efforts.
Girl Scouts Heart of Michigan
Building Healthy Futures — $120,000
To build on the successful Girl Scouts program (Healthy Futures). Building Healthy Futures will incorporate new programmatic elements designed to ensure that healthy habits for girls are developed, while also teaching about issues that impact their health and the wellbeing of their families, notably food system inequities. Girl Scouts Heart of Michigan (GSHOM) will engage 200 girls and their families from economically disadvantaged circumstances to empower girls’ commitment to maintaining healthy habits and addressing food system challenges.
Muskegon Area Intermediate School District
Muskegon County Creating Healthy Schools — $322,876
To support the continued development of the “Harvest of the Month” program focused on locally grown produce, the development of a student leadership for healthy schools’ improvement initiative, student mentorship with industry professionals, and the development of a business plan for a student-centered business collaboration between students and local industry professionals.
The Regents of the University of Michigan
MAP – A sustainable preschool health intervention — $175,000
To support delivery of Motor skills At Playtime (MAP), an evidence-based intervention designed to promote positive developmental health in preschoolers (3-5 years) who are at-risk for future health disparities, implemented by teachers during standard playtime at preschool centers. Teachers will participate in a training session on MAP before the start of the intervention to effectively provide children with a brief skill demonstration before the start of each session and then add fundamental motor skills stations with equipment to free play settings.
The Regents of the University of Michigan
Sustaining Quality Physical Education for Healthy Kids — $200,000
To promote physical education teachers’ content knowledge, educational skills, and dispositions for implementing Quality Physical Education (QPE) in schools statewide, specifically to address the negative health impacts of physical inactivity for low-income students. The initiative will include PE teacher recruitment, professional development and empowerment, a statewide needs assessment, and implementation of QPE.
United Way of Midland County
ReGrow — $500,000
To address food insecurity by leveraging rescued surplus ingredients and fresh produce from a local nonprofit farm to create healthy meals for hungry families, constructed by teens and adults learning culinary job skills and distributed through nonprofit hubs including coordination through 211. The project will expand surplus food, utilize local produce, implement culinary workforce training sites, and connect clients to community programs.
United Way of Northwest Michigan
Whole Child Nutrition: Policy, Infrastructure, Food Literacy — $500,000
To execute a comprehensive project addressing food insecurity, nutrition, and school wellness in four rural counties in Michigan. The project will implement the Whole School, Whole Community and Whole Child Model, implement 10 Cents a Meal across four counties, and implement a nutrition and food literacy program.
Wayne State University
Physical Literacy and Nutrition Education 2.0 (PLANE 2.0) — $250,000
To support expansion of a year-round program aiming to increase physical activity participation, improve nutrition behaviors, and promote greater engagement in social services for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and their families in Detroit. This second phase will support the creation of a comprehensive toolkit for PLANE 2.0 implementation, which will include a step-by-step guide for implementing PLANE 2.0 in diverse community settings.
Copper Shores Community Health Foundation
Collaborative Funding for U.P. Farm to School — $150,000
To support a collaborative funding effort that will prepare three schools in Houghton County to implement and sustain farm to school programs to increase availability of fresh, local produce during the school day. This funding will provide technical support to establish the program and build capacity to implement and sustain farm to school efforts. A secondary objective of this initial pilot will be to develop an open-source framework for other schools within the CSCHF region to conduct a self-evaluation and plan for their own farm to school efforts.
OTHER GRANTS
Council of Michigan Foundations
Strategic Support — $7,500
To provide support of health-related programming with a goal of convening and increasing collaboration among health-focused foundations in Michigan.