Kent County Community Awards
The Community Commitment Fund was established as a result of a 1997 Consent Decree formed during the merger of Blodgett Memorial Medical Center and Butterworth Health Corporation. The Community Commitment Fund provides targeted contributions to improve the health of medically underserved and economically disadvantaged populations in Kent County through health programs, services, and grantmaking dollars.
Funding
Corewell Health’s community commitment grant-making funding is used to fund three benefit processes: a rapid response fund to address emerging needs in the community, a data-driven multi-year grant award, and the neighborhood-level participatory research “Our Neighborhood, Our Health.”
| Name of Fund | Eligibility | Award Amount | Application Period | Award Decisions |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Organizations with urgent, unanticipated needs requiring immediate action to prevent major disruption or strengthen capacity to serve the community | Up to $20,000 | Monthly, February 2026 to November 2026 | Rolling | |
Organizations whose work improves mental health or access to care | $25,000-$150,000 over two years | Closed | 2027 | |
Projects and organizations serving Roosevelt Park in Grand Rapids | $100,000 divided between grantees – decisions made by the Roosevelt Park Wellness Collective | Closed | Rolling |
| Name of Fund | Eligibility | Award Amount | Application Period | Award Decisions |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Organizations with urgent, unanticipated needs requiring immediate action to prevent major disruption or strengthen capacity to serve the community | Up to $20,000 | Monthly, February 2026 to November 2026 | Rolling | |
Organizations whose work improves mental health or access to care | $25,000-$150,000 over two years | Closed | 2027 | |
Projects and organizations serving Roosevelt Park in Grand Rapids | $100,000 divided between grantees – decisions made by the Roosevelt Park Wellness Collective | Closed | Rolling |
Rapid Response Fund
February to November 2026 or until funds are exhausted
Corewell Health Healthier Communities is deeply committed to supporting the work of community organizations in Kent County to transform the conditions that shape our community’s health. Knowing that providing community services requires flexibility and innovation, we are opening a rapid response grant fund for non-profits or government agencies serving Kent County residents.
Meeting evolving needs
This fund supports Kent County organizations with emerging needs. We define emerging need as a need that has recently arisen, was not anticipated, and must be addressed immediately to avoid a major disruption to operations or to bolster an organization’s capacity to meet community needs.
The fund will prioritize organizations that can show that immediate funding will maintain critical services or expand capacity for services that are new or in high demand.
Examples of emerging needs may include:
- Fixing a disruption to your ability to operate as normal, caused by external or internal (organizational) factors
- Addressing a surge in community need that is beyond your capacity to serve
- Preparing or responding to an emergency response
- Making up for changes in funding that seriously disrupt services or staffing
- Exploring a new opportunity to meet a community need aligned with our Community Health Needs Assessment (PDF), not previously provided
- Other
The rapid response funds will become available in February 2026. Applications will open at the beginning of each month until funds are exhausted, and successful applicants will receive funding in the month following their application. Access the request for proposals (PDF).
CHNA Improvement Partnerships
We are looking to support impactful projects that advance equity and improve the health and well-being of residents in Kent County, Michigan. We seek to award eligible organizations whose work directly or indirectly addresses and improves outcomes in at least one of the following strategic priority areas:
- Access to care: Ability to get to, receive, and use all aspects of care that are medically necessary for a healthy life to their full extent, without experiencing barriers due to language, mobility, race, gender, sexual orientation, disability, and other factors.
- Mental health: Mental health care and emotional well-being support(s).
You may access the Kent County Community Health Needs Assessment (PDF) for additional information, data, and examples of needs in these priority areas. Priority will be given to organizations or projects whose focus is on communities most impacted by the organization’s area of work and strategic priority area.
Our Neighborhood Our Health mini-grants
Our Neighborhood, Our Health (ONOH) is an approach to improving the health of a neighborhood where residents are asked to identify pressing health concerns and their solutions. It is a scalable, collaborative, place-based model built upon community-based participatory research principles. We focus on developing a framework for neighborhood health that relies on neighborhood-driven solutions to neighborhood-identified health needs with broad institutional support in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
Once neighbors prioritize health needs, the Community Advisory Board supports disbursing mini-grants to neighborhood organizations that meet those needs. Today, the ONOH model is implemented in the Roosevelt Park Neighborhood of Grand Rapids, supported by the Hispanic Center of Western Michigan as the Backbone Organization and a Community Advisory Board, The Roosevelt Park Wellness Collective.
For more information on 2025 mini-grant priorities and grant awards, please visit the Roosevelt Park Wellness Collective Facebook page or email Rafa Castanon at rafa.castanon@corewellhealth.org.