The Michigan Health Endowment Fund has announced grants totaling $14.6 million in support of efforts to strengthen behavioral health systems and improve community health in the state. 

In the area of behavioral health, the organization awarded grants totaling $6.6 million to seventeen organizations, including the Community Mental Health Association of Michigan, which will receive $257,905 to develop a telehealth resource center for mental health practitioners; the Family Medical Center of MI, which was awarded $500,000 to expand its hybrid school-based/telehealth model and train new primary care physicians and psychiatric nurse practitioners; and the Greater Flint Health Coalition, which will receive $499,785 in support of a peer recovery support project.

To address food insecurity and expand access to healthy lifestyles in underserved communities, the fund awarded twenty grants totaling more than $7.3 million, including $190,000 to Access of West Michigan in support of a redesign of its food-delivery system and to pilot a new farming model that addresses the lack of access to affordable, locally grown produce for low-income residents of the region; $499,985 to the Henry Ford Health System to integrate food delivery and nutrition education into its pediatric care delivery services; and $500,000 to Playworks to ensure access to the kind of safe, healthy play children need for their physical, social, and emotional development. The fund also awarded three grants in the areas of community health impact, healthy aging, and special projects. 

"It's critical that we continue to support school-based mental health access and help children who have experienced trauma — in addition to expanding the use of technology," said MHEF program director Becky Cienki. "These projects will improve integration and expand access to care for some of Michigan's most vulnerable populations."

(Photo credit: Michigan Health Endowment Fund)