The Detroit Public Schools Community District (DPSCD) has announced funding totaling $4.5 million from Ballmer Group and the W.K. Kellogg (WKKF), Kresge, and Children’s foundations to launch a dozen health hubs at neighborhood high schools.

With commitments of $2.7 million from Ballmer Group, $750,000 from WKKF, $550,000 from Kresge, and $500,000 from Children’s, DPSCD will expand healthcare support for students and families by providing comprehensive services at schools that have existing School Based Health Centers or clinics. Each of the hubs will co-locate wraparound resources such as afterschool programs, basic needs, parent and caregiver engagement and services, legal aid, and housing counseling.

The neighborhood health hub sites are Cody, Osborn, Mumford, Henry Ford, Central, Western, Denby, Pershing, East English Village at Finney, Southeastern, Northwestern, and Martin Luther King Jr. high schools. The School at Marygrove is an additional demonstration site.

The Ballmer Group funding will support full-time coordinator positions at the health hub locations while the grant from Kresge will augment that support and establish the demonstration site to provide additional district and external partner-run services. The funding from WKKF will support oral health services and help launch a districtwide oral health clinic in northwest Detroit, while the funding from Children’s will support development of a Central High School hub and help pay the salaries of nurses at five DPSCD schools.

“The 12 health hubs located at the designated high school sites are designed to address behavioral, mental, and physical needs to support our students and families. We know that academic growth and consistent attendance require our students and families to be healthy and stable,” said DPSCD superintendent Nikolai Vitti. “This is another step to ensure our students and families are able to access the support they need through their neighborhood school in alignment with the district’s strategic plan’s whole-child commitment.”

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