HEALTH FUND
2024 Year in Review
Forging new pathways to expand access to care. Partnering with communities to address their health needs. Working collaboratively to strengthen statewide systems that are integral to health.
Throughout 2024, our grantees and partners achieved impressive results aimed at improving the health of Michigan residents.
The Health Fund was thrilled to support this work with more than $36 million invested through 167 new grants, while serving as a convener and connector to help partners learn from one another, adapt and scale solutions, and work together.
We also were excited to note how partners across the state continue to develop new approaches for addressing social needs that influence health, while embedding equity as a core principle in the way we collectively think about health in Michigan.
You’ll see these themes reflected throughout our Year in Review, which highlights stories that emerged from our work in 2024. Thanks for reading!
GRANTMAKING OVERVIEW
Behavioral Health Initiative
Our 2024 Behavioral Health Initiative invested in projects working to increase access to care through a variety of innovative approaches. Grants supported technology-driven interventions, new delivery models, care integration, multi-sector collaboration, and more.
28 grants totaling $7,358,087
Nutrition & Healthy Lifestyles Initiative
Our 2024 Nutrition & Healthy Lifestyles Initiative supported projects with a common focus on advancing equity and increasing access to opportunities for health. Grantees engaged communities in addressing the environmental and social factors that influence health and well-being.
30 grants totaling $7,688,585
Healthy Aging Initiative
Our 2024 Healthy Aging Initiative supported efforts to improve the health of older adults and their caregivers. Grants advanced efforts to support people with dementia, address oral health, increase access to palliative care, enhance culturally competent care, and more.
27 grants totaling $7,997,982
Maternal & Infant Health Initiative
Our 2024 Maternal & Infant Health Initiative focused on reducing disparities, improving access to care, and improving birth and health outcomes through projects blending evidence-driven practices with new innovations. Grants invested in helping communities create new supports while building on existing strengths.
17 grants totaling $2,751,261
Special Projects & Emerging Ideas
Our 2024 Special Projects & Emerging Ideas Initiative aimed to advance broad-reaching projects with solutions to complex challenges facing our state. Grants included investments to increase access to care and lower costs, enhance technology to promote health, and remove barriers for populations with unique health needs.
12 grants totaling $4,108,431
Community Health & Capacity Building
Our 2024 Community Health & Capacity Building Initiatives helped nonprofits implement community-driven projects and invest in their organizations and partnerships. Grants helped engage community voices to shape new health solutions and supported strategic organizational needs and stronger collaboratives.
53 grants totaling $6,126,055
A FEW STORIES
Stories from the Health Fund and our grant partners demonstrate important outcomes and valuable learning from 2024:
Healthy Aging
Supporting intergenerational programs to create benefits for all
Intergenerational relationships that reach across the ages and stages of life significantly impact health, well-being, and social cohesion for older adults and the younger people in their lives.
Our April blog post shares aging programs using Health Fund support to build cross-generational connections in diverse settings and communities.
New poll offers insights on aging in Michigan
Since 2017, the University of Michigan’s National Poll on Healthy Aging has been a valuable source of information on aging, and an important tool for engaging older adults around the country on the issues that affect their lives.
In 2024, the Health Fund has engaged with the Institute for Healthcare Policy and Innovation — which administers the poll — to launch a version of the poll focused more narrowly on Michigan.
Check out this year’s findings from the Michigan Poll on Healthy Aging:
Behavioral Health
Technology innovations expand access, enhance impact of behavioral health services
Our February blog post shares some exciting examples of this work in action:
New crisis center opens
Last April, the Health Fund’s Behavioral Health team joined partners for a ribbon-cutting celebration at the new Behavioral Health Crisis Center in downtown Grand Rapids. This innovative new facility operated by Trinity Health and Network 180 provides a place where any person experiencing a mental health emergency can access immediate help and connect to appropriate care, regardless of their ability to pay for services.
The Health Fund supported early planning activities for the center, and we were thrilled to see the doors open to serve the community in West Michigan.
Maternal & Infant Health
Developments in doula care
Doulas are incredible resources for birthing families, providing vital non-clinical support to birthing parents before, during, and after childbirth. There’s strong evidence that having access to a doula will support better birth and health outcomes for infants and their mothers.
The doula landscape has evolved significantly in Michigan, including an important policy change in 2023 that introduced mechanisms for organizations to seek reimbursement for doula services through Medicaid.
Our December blog shares examples of ways that Health Fund grantee partners helped implement this change, and how they’re leveraging it to increase access to doula support for Michigan families.
Community health & capacity building
Approaches to engagement in Community Health Impact projects
The Health Fund’s Community Health Impact (CHI) Initiative supports projects that engage communities and incorporate their voices in health solutions designed to serve them. Our June blog — developed with our evaluation partners at Delaney Data Empowerment — looks at projects supported through the initiative that have done this well:
Grantees utilize scholarships for conferences and trainings
One of the best ways for organizations to grow and improve is to share their work across professional networks and gain new insights related to programs and projects. The Health Fund’s Attend/Present Scholarship program is designed to help nonprofits engage in these opportunities by supporting costs associated with participating as attendees or presenters at conferences, trainings, and workshops. This photo essay illustrates ways grantees have participated:
Nutrition & Healthy Lifestyles
After steps forward, what’s next for Michigan’s school food systems?
From universal free school meals to grant funding for locally grown foods, Michigan has made strides in meeting the nutritional needs of children through its school food systems. This blog takes stock of some significant recent developments in the school food environment and explores opportunities to further strengthen healthy food access, quality, and equity for all Michigan kids:
Fellowships help parents advocate for food access
People with lived experience of food insecurity have unique and valuable expertise about solutions to support the nutritional needs of families like theirs. That’s what made the University of Michigan School of Public Health‘s Community Food Advocacy Fellowship (CFAF) so impactful and why the Health Fund supported its mission.
An article looking back at the fellowship describes the six-month program experienced by 19 Michigan parents that learned together and applied their knowledge to influence food access policies, practices, and programs within their communities:
MEDIA MENTIONS
The Health Fund’s Special Projects & Emerging Ideas Initiative supported a remote patient monitoring pilot aimed at increasing digital health capacity and access to care for rural, independent critical access hospitals, while sharing learning with rural health stakeholders throughout the state.
Pregnant moms and newborns in the city of Flint participated in Rx Kids, the first citywide maternal and infant cash prescription program in the nation. Launched in January, Rx Kids is expanding to communities across the state, including a new effort in the rural Upper Peninsula.
Outlier Media, a community-focused nonprofit local newsroom, published a series of feature stories and short films about urban agriculture in Detroit. Produced with support from the Health Fund, the series shows how urban gardens help residents take control of their food supply and experience health benefits.
Corewell Health Foundation West Michigan’s innovative School Blue Envelope program is a suicide prevention and crisis response protocol, which provides school personnel with a structured approach to identify and assist students in crisis. With Health Fund support, Blue Envelope is expanding to colleges in Michigan.
THANK YOU
The Health Fund’s impact on Michigan communities in 2024 was only possible through the deep commitment, innovative vision, and tireless effort of numerous grantees, fellow funders, and community leaders. As we look ahead to another year spent in pursuit of our mission, we’re grateful to work alongside these many amazing partners to create a healthier Michigan.