(DETROIT, Mich. – November 19, 2024) The Priority Health Total Health Foundation announces its latest round of grants totaling almost $500,000 to eight nonprofits working to address the Social Determinants of Health in Southeast Michigan’s underserved populations.
At the top of the list is Rx Kids, a maternal and infant cash program, set to expand to Pontiac after establishment in Flint and Kalamazoo earlier this year. The program provides a $1,500 cash gift, no strings attached, to qualifying pregnant moms and then a monthly stipend of $500 for one year after the baby’s birth to assist with economic security and improved health.
“The Priority Health Total Health Foundation is deeply committed to strengthening maternal and infant health in Southeast Michigan and we are excited to partner with Rx Kids to provide new moms in Pontiac with a head start on their parenting journey, ” said Shannon Wilson, executive director of the Priority Health Total Health Foundation.
Other grant recipients include:
Detroit Life is Valuable Everyday (DLIVE) serves as a hospital-based, community focused violence intervention initiative to break the cyclical disease of violence. DLIVE works with youth and young adults who have sustained acute, intentional violence to prevent retaliatory violence and incarceration and facilitate a pathway towards success and prosperity.
House of Kadence focuses its works on women impacted by domestic violence with the goal of improving overall well-being, housing stability, interactions with the child welfare system and addressing maternal and infant health.
UM Flint College of Health Science (HEART) faculty and students offer pro bono services to more than 3,500 community members annually who are medically uninsured or underserved with a focus on New Mother Education and Diabetes Education.
Wayne State University Early Childhood Support Clinic provides social needs navigation and mental-behavioral care for parents and children attending well child visits at Wayne Pediatrics, a nonprofit clinic of WSU’s School of Medicine’s Department of Pediatrics.
Hope Network will use its grant to provide two full-time Michigan Education Corps interventionist positions to serve K-3 Reading Corps in the Detroit Public Schools Community District at Munger Elementary School to significantly improve reading proficiency among its students.
MDHHS- Perinatal Oral Health in Detroit partners with the University of Detroit Mercy School of Dentistry to use its grant to implement the Pregnant People Dental Days project providing dental services to women in the perinatal period.
BULK space with a focus on community health and art will conduct workshops and publications addressing maternal health, food sovereignty and health literacy to share with partnering organizations in and around Detroit.
Since 2020, the Priority Health Total Health Foundation has remained committed to the most underserved residents of Southeast Michigan by awarding more than $17 million in grants to nonprofits working to address the Social Determinants of Health that impact overall health and well-being that include housing, food insufficiency, education, literacy and maternal/infant health.