The Health Fund Board of Directors today approved 17 new grants, investing $6,106,884 in projects that support healthier Michigan communities.
This includes significant support for local, regional, and statewide behavioral health projects, aging initiatives, and strategic investments in systems that shape the health of Michigan residents.
BEHAVIORAL HEALTH GRANTS SPAN CARE CONTINUUM, STRENGTHEN SYSTEMS, PROMOTE EQUITY
New grants include 10 awarded through our 2026 Behavioral Health Initiative — a special grant round with a goal to expand access to and increase use of mental health and substance use disorder services in Michigan communities. Combined, these new grants total more than $4.1 million.
Funded projects align with one — or more — of three strategic priority areas: 1) advance behavioral health equity, 2) reduce substance-related harm, and 3) improve coordination, integration, and overall effectiveness of behavioral health services.
“Whether launching a regional crisis response unit, increasing rural access to substance use disorder treatment, or designing a behavioral health initiative grounded in Indigenous practices and culture, these grantees are stepping forward to meet the needs of their communities,” said Health Fund Program Officer Sarah Wasil. “We’re excited to continue supporting their success as the work unfolds in the years ahead.”
Behavioral Health grants span the continuum of care, including acute crisis response systems, outpatient services, community-based initiatives, and integration with other systems of care. Some adopt technical approaches to key structural challenges, while others fund work rooted in local community experiences and expertise — and many do both.
One example: a grant to Northeast Michigan Community Mental Health Authority will help develop and test a structured, community-based model for supporting individuals living with serious mental illness. While the project will build on lessons learned from similar efforts in urban communities, it focuses on developing one of Michigan’s first models specifically designed to address the realities of a large and rural corner of the state.
The project is expected to serve about 80 people each year and will align efforts among a core group of regional partners including hospitals, courts, law enforcement, and mental health providers, all with a goal to reduce psychiatric crises and support long-term community stability for the families served.
Our 2026 Behavioral Health grants complement related efforts for children and older adults in our other grant initiatives. Under our new Strategic Framework, starting in 2027 our behavioral health grantmaking will be oriented primarily toward those populations through our Healthy Kids and Healthy Aging programs.
OTHER GRANTS STRENGTHEN AGING RESOURCES, ADDRESS SYSTEMIC NEEDS
Additional grants include two awarded through our Healthy Aging program totaling just under $450,000. These grants are being made outside our traditional Healthy Aging grant cycle to take advantage of time-sensitive opportunities to strengthen services for older adults.
One grant to Hope College will fund a comprehensive landscape analysis and community planning effort to create a regional approach to dementia care across West Michigan. The second grant — awarded to the Michigan Primary Care Association — will aid in the launch of an Older Adult Learning Collaborative to help Federally Qualified Health Centers in Michigan provide better care to older adults.
Meanwhile, the board also approved five grants totaling nearly $1.5 million for special projects with potential to improve important systems that shape the health of Michigan residents. These grants don’t specifically target children and older adults, but instead fund improvements needed to provide better care for all residents.
They include efforts to address key health workforce needs, provide better preventative care for people with sickle cell disease, improve our state’s active transportation infrastructure and create more walkable communities, and increase training for food safety monitors to prevent foodborne illness.
A complete list of new grants is provided below; a summary of each project will be available in our grant database within the next week.
BEHAVIORAL HEALTH GRANTS
County of Muskegon DBA HealthWest
Enhancing Behavioral Health Crisis Response & Stabilization in Muskegon County — $500,000
Exalta Health
Expanding Mental Health Programming for Exalta Health — $462,000
Michigan Association of Community Mental Health Boards DBA Community Mental Health Association of Michigan
Building Data Infrastructure to Strengthen Michigan Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinics — $749,944
Miigwech, Inc.
A Place to Belong — $150,000
Munson Healthcare Foundations
Expanding and Scaling REACH Clinics to Improve Rural Access to Medications for Opioid Use Disorder — $500,000
Northeast Michigan Community Mental Health Authority
Advancing Assisted Outpatient Treatment in Rural Northeast Michigan — $663,196
Our Hope Association
Increasing Access to Women’s Short-Term SUD Treatment — $250,000
Sacred Heart Rehabilitation Center, Inc.
Secure Virtual Dosing Evaluation and Dissemination — $36,685
Transforming Research Into Action To Improve the Lives of Students DBA TRAILS
Demonstrating Impact of Mental Health Program Using a Scalable, Tech-Enabled Delivery Platform — $500,000
Trinity Health-Michigan DBA Trinity Health Ann Arbor Hospital
Creating and Piloting a Behavioral Health Urgent Care Program — $351,896
HEALTHY AGING GRANTS
Hope College
Dementia, Personhood, and Place: Enhancing Care in West Michigan — $242,481
Michigan Primary Care Association
Creating a Collaborative Learning Experience to Care for Older Adults — $206,857
SPECIAL PROJECTS GRANTS
Michigan Association for Local Public Health
Michigan Food Sanitarian Learning Initiative — $66,125
Michigan Association of Planning
Active Transportation Plans for WAI Communities — $399,000
Michigan Health Council
2026 Michigan Healthcare Workforce Summit Sponsorship — $10,000
Regents of the University of Michigan
Measuring What Matters: Preventive Care Quality Measures for Adults Living with Sickle Cell Disease — $500,000
Southwest Organizations Unifying Resources for Our Community & Employees
Resource Navigation to Support Long Term Care Providers — $518,700