The Health Fund Board of Directors today approved 52 new grants totaling $13,009,067 to strengthen aging supports, nonprofit capacity, community-driven solutions, and collaborative approaches to address statewide health challenges. Together, these investments aim to support better health for residents across Michigan.
Learn about our grant cohorts below and view a full list of funded projects at the bottom of this post.
AGING GRANTS INCREASE ACCESS TO CARE, PROMOTE ELDER JUSTICE
Our 2025 Healthy Aging Initiative is awarding $6,420,311 in 21 new grants aimed at expanding access to care, improving services for individuals with dementia, supporting caregivers, and responding to — or preventing — cases of elder abuse, exploitation, and neglect.
This includes four grants totaling $1.4 million for efforts to promote elder justice.
For example, a pair of grants — one to the Bay County Department on Aging and one to the Michigan Elder Justice Initiative (MEJI) — will work to reduce overreliance on highly restrictive guardianships as a response to neglect and other issues vulnerable adults face.
While guardianships can be a necessary legal tool to protect older adults and people with disabilities who lack the capacity to make important decisions about their health, finances, and personal care, unnecessary guardianships can strip individuals of their autonomy and negatively impact their health.
The Bay County project will build on a successful guardianship diversion pilot that — in partnership with the county probate court — helps petitioners, older adults, and adults with disabilities explore legal alternatives to guardianship and access community resources.
Meanwhile, the MEJI project will establish a statewide center to address systemic flaws in Michigan’s adult guardianship system. The project would serve as a hub for education, collaboration, and innovation, ensuring that reforms are embedded in practice.
Additional elder justice projects aim to reduce financial exploitation of older adults through a group-based prevention program, as well as train emergency room staff to identify and respond to cases of abuse and mistreatment.
“Our support for elder justice has been an important strategic through-line over the last several years, and our 2025 projects offer innovative and scalable solutions to address these issues locally, as well as statewide,” said Phil Lewis, Director for Healthy Aging. “We’re excited to support these and many other projects that drive improvements in health and quality of life for older adults.”
Our Healthy Aging cohort also includes three projects in the Upper Peninsula that are being supported through a funding partnership with the Superior Health Foundation and the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan Foundation.
The Healthy Aging Initiative awarded two additional grants earlier in 2025, bringing our total yearly grantmaking through this program to just under $7 million.
SPEI GRANTS INVEST IN STRATEGIC SOLUTIONS TO STATEWIDE CHALLENGES
The Special Projects & Emerging Ideas Initiative (SPEI) supports transformational, statewide, and systemic change through invitation-only partnerships. This year’s cohort includes 11 grants totaling $3,598,768. Funded projects aim to increase access to health care services, improve collection and management of health data, and strengthen Michigan’s health workforce.
Five of this year’s grants — totaling almost $2 million — are supporting workforce projects. This investment is timely as our state responds to significant shortages and imbalanced distribution of health professionals across virtually all disciplines.
Three grants will address shortages impeding access to behavioral health support. These projects aim to modernize the licensure process for social workers, offer new pathways to social work careers through apprenticeships, and deploy technology solutions to connect early childhood educators with trained mental health consultants to meet the social and emotional needs of young children.
Additional workforce grants will provide technical assistance, training, and infrastructure to help medical control authorities improve pre-hospital care in rural regions of Michigan, as well as help organizations employing community health workers and peer support professionals to navigate important billing and reimbursement processes.
“Michigan’s pervasive recruitment and retention challenges present opportunities to reimagine health workforce development,” said Drew Murray, Senior Program Officer for Behavioral Health and Workforce. “The projects in our SPEI cohort embrace these opportunities by pursuing structural changes and providing more comprehensive support to individuals on their career journey.”
Data-focused projects will help support a comprehensive assessment of the needs of older adults and caregivers, sustain and enhance the annual Kids Count in Michigan project, and fill a funding gap resulting from a loss in federal funds for the Michigan Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System — a survey that captures first-hand information from mothers about their health and experiences before, during, and after pregnancy.
Additional grants will help create a framework for community integrated paramedicine in Michigan, align immunization efforts to improve vaccination rates, and increase health literacy for youth engaged in the foster care system.
CAPACITY BUILDING, CHI GRANTS EQUIP NONPROFITS, AMPLIFY COMMUNITY VOICE
Our 2025 Capacity Building Initiative helps health-focused organizations and collaborative partnerships invest in their ability to achieve their missions.
Grants through the 2025 Capacity Building Initiative were invested in two cycles. In our second cycle, the Health Fund is allocating $2,011,388 to support 17 Organizational Capacity Building projects.
These grants help organizations become stronger, more effective institutions to better meet their goals and were focused this year in four priority areas: organizational infrastructure, evaluation and learning, organizational development, and technology enhancements.
One example: A grant to Upper Peninsula Community Health Solutions will help construct the technology infrastructure needed for community-based organizations, clinics, and 211 to exchange referrals in real time.
This work builds on previous Health Fund support to develop Community Information Exchange architecture in the U.P. and will enable a network of more than 200 partners to share vital health information, increase efficiency, and eliminate delays that negatively impact patient care.
The board has also awarded five grants totaling $978,600 through the Health Fund’s Community Health Impact (CHI) program, which supports new health solutions created with robust community input and leadership.
For example, a grant to the LMAS District Health Department will help reduce inequities in access to palliative care in rural Luce County with a goal to improve quality of life for individuals with serious illness and reduce hospital admissions and emergency room visits. The project is being guided by a community advisory board made up of patients, caregivers, clergy, and clinicians who will help guide its implementation.
“Well-equipped nonprofits and empowered communities are vital to improving the health and well-being of Michiganders,” said Veronica Marchese, Program Officer for Capacity Building and Community Health. “The grantees in our latest cohort are leading high-impact work in their communities, and we’re proud to support their efforts.”
These latest grants will add to the impact of 22 grants awarded earlier in the year, bringing our total grantmaking through the 2025 Community Health & Capacity Building Initiative to $5,610,384 across 44 different grants.
HEALTHY AGING GRANTS
Area Agency on Aging of Western Michigan
Primary Care at Home – Palliative Care — $499,790
Bay County Department on Aging
Bay County Guardianship Diversion Project — $500,000
Center for Health Care Strategies
Supporting Older Adult Caregivers of Individuals with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities in Michigan — $ 268,076
Detroit Area Agency on Aging
[Sponsored organization: Eye Care for Detroit]
Vision Access Detroit — $500,000
Education Development Center, Inc.
Building Capacity, Creating Safety: Michigan’s EMED Toolkit Initiative — $99,959
Joint Opportunity with Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan Foundation and Superior Health Foundation
2025 Investing in the Health of the Upper Peninsula — $150,000
Kirk Gibson Foundation for Parkinson’s
Improving Access to Parkinson’s Care Through Community Outreach and Personalized Assessments — $320,000
Michigan Advocacy Program
Michigan Advancing Guardianship Innovations Center (MAGIC) — $500,000
Michigan Center for Rural Health
Building a Community Health Hub: Improving Access to Care and Wellness for Rural Older Adults — $405,804
Michigan HomeCare and Hospice Association
Advancing Retention and Workforce Stability in Home Care — $220,000
Michigan State University
Tri-County Collaborative Medical Respite/Recuperative Shelter Planning Process — $160,000
Northeast Michigan Community Service Agency
[Sponsored organization: PACE Northeast Michigan]
Development of Pace Northeast Michigan — $379,067
Oakland Livingston Human Service Agency
Planning Respite Options for Older Adult Kinship Caregivers — $259,500
Region IV Area Agency on Aging
Closing The Loop: Implementing Social Care Referrals in Primary Care — $500,000
Room at the Inn
Building Regional Capacity for Recuperative Care in the U.P. — $120,000
Senior Neighbors Inc.
CompanionCare Respite — $345,465
The Regents of the University of Michigan
Increasing Dementia Education for Early Action (IDEA) — $357,516
Wayne State University
A Group-Based Program for Preventing Financial Exploitation — $350,061
Western Michigan University Homer Stryker M.D. School of Medicine
Surgical Transitions for Aging Residents (STAR) Program — $485,073
SPECIAL PROJECTS & EMERGING IDEAS GRANTS
Center for Healthcare Research & Transformation
Strengthening Community Care: A Community Integrated Paramedicine Regulatory Framework for Michigan — $89,815
Michigan Association of Community Mental Health Boards (d/b/a Community Mental Health Association of Michigan)
Leveraging Coalitions and Research to Address the Social Work Workforce Shortage — $244,271
Michigan Center for Rural Health
Strengthening Michigan’s Medical Control Authorities for Rural EMS Excellence — $499,682
Michigan Council for Maternal and Child Health
Sustainable Immunizations Coalition for Michigan — $200,000
Michigan Department of Health and Human Services
Enhancing Health Literacy in Foster Care Youth — $500,000
Michigan Department of Health and Human Services
Supporting The Voices of Michigan Mothers Through PRAMS — $500,000
Michigan Department of Health and Human Services
Comprehensive Needs Assessment of Older Adults and Caregivers — $250,000
Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity
Social Worker Career Pathway with Registered Apprenticeship — $400,000
Michigan Department of Lifelong Education, Advancement and Potential
Behavioral Health Teleconsultation for Early Childhood Providers — $395,000
Michigan League for Public Policy
Kids Count in Michigan: Data Reporting — $100,000
School Community Health Alliance of Michigan
CHW Capacity Building and Peer Worker Policy Recommendations — $420,000
CAPACITY BUILDING GRANTS
Chance for Life Organization
Chance for Life Community Connect Information Technology Capacity Building — $172,857
Children’s Assessment Center
Increasing Prevention Programming Capacity — $60,370
Disability Network/Michigan
Succession Planning: Smooth Transitions for Stronger Missions — $40,000
Families Against Narcotics Inc (d/b/a Face Addiction Now)
Refocusing Revenue Concentration — $200,000
Feonix – Mobility Rising
Advancing Health Equity Through Transportation Data Infrastructure — $197,000
Hillsdale County Senior Services Center
Technology Transformation (Improving Financial Infrastructure to Better Support Older Adults) — $97,098
Ingham Health Plan Corporation
Pathway to Community Health Worker Medicaid Electronic Billing — $87,136
Michigan Organization on Adolescent Sexual Health
[Sponsored organization: Michigan School Health Coordinators’ Association]
Diversifying Revenue to Strengthen the Michigan School Health Coordinators’ Association — $133,507
Migrant Legal Aid, Inc.
Strengthening Data Systems to Advance Migrant Farmworker Health — $20,000
National Council of Dementia Minds
Audit-Ready: Strengthening NCDM’s Financial Infrastructure at a Pivotal Juncture — $53,000
North Central Michigan College Foundation
Accreditation Support Rural Michigan Dental Hygiene School Launch — $35,447
Oakland County Health and Human Services
Data Stewardship for Efficient, Effective, And Equitable Public Health Programs — $178,000
Senior Neighbors Inc
Modernizing Data Systems and Case Manager Training for Older-Adult Health — $194,500
St. Clair Butterfly Foundation
Expanding Trauma-Informed Training/Program Capacity: A Northern Michigan Mental Health Initiative — $100,000
Upper Peninsula Health Care Solutions
Sync-Up: Aligning Community Care and Health Data Via Electronic Exchange — $199,600
We the People of Detroit
Developing Internal Structural Capacity for Organization/Program Evaluation & Monitoring — $200,000
Whaley Children’s Center
Expanding Clinical Capacity & Advancing Mental Health Practice — $42,873
COMMUNITY HEALTH IMPACT GRANTS
Detroit Public Schools Foundation
Health Hubs – Henry Ford High School Expansion — $200,000
Health Net of West Michigan
Addressing Drivers of Health Using a Place-Based Approach — $200,000
LMAS District Health Department
Primary Palliative Care Capacity Community Health Initiative to Improve Serious Illness Outcomes — $200,000
Traverse Health Clinic and Coalition (d/b/a Traverse Health Clinic)
Linking Systems of Care: Building Medical Respite Capacity in Rural Northern Michigan — $198,600
University of Detroit Mercy
The People’s Path to Wellness: A Neighborhood Wellness Council — $180,000