The Health Fund is pleased to announce that we are accepting grant proposals for our Community Health Impact program. This opportunity is part of our responsive grantmaking, so we’re accepting applications for projects that address any of our eight focus areas:
- Infant mortality
- Health services for foster and adopted children
- Wellness and fitness programs
- Access to healthy food
- Behavioral health services
- Health-related transportation
- Foodborne illness prevention
- Technology enhancements
That last item is particularly important to us this grant round, so applications for technology enhancements will be given preference. That’s a pretty broad category, so what are we really looking for?
Since our responsive grants range from $25,000 to $100,000, we aren’t necessarily expecting applicants to promise the next groundbreaking technology. Our goal is to support projects that transform the patient experience or improve efficiency in some way, either through a new technology or an innovative application of an existing technology.
Here are some examples of projects we’ve funded in the past that illustrate our approach technology enhancements:
- Project Re:form, Michigan Department of Health and Human Services: Creating a faster, simpler, and more customer-centered application for Michigan’s largest assistance programs
- Leveraging Technology to Improve Outcomes for Michigan’s Children in Foster Care, Altarum Institute: Designing an information exchange solution to facilitate the timely exchange or oral health information between the providers and social services teams serving 14,000 Michigan children in foster care
- dCare – Improving the Health of Care Managers, Area Agency on Aging 1-B:Â Enhancing the capabilities of the dCare platform, an online tool designed to simplify managing care for seniors and those with disabilities.
A few more things to note: this program is not intended to support the general acquisition of hardware or software, unless that technology is part of a larger systems improvement process or an innovative model. Also, like all of our grant opportunities, we seek proposals that specifically benefit Michigan’s children and seniors.
You can get more information including a timeline here, and view the full RFP here (PDF). We don’t require an LOI, but encourage potential applicants to share a concept paper for review by October 24th. Full proposals are due November 7th.
Questions? Check out our Frequently Asked Questions or contact Grants Manager Megan Murphy at [email protected].