Where and how we live matters
All of us need safe housing, transportation, physical activity, access to healthy food, community engagement, and affordable living. At the Michigan Health Improvement Alliance, we collaborate with community, government, education, and nonprofit leaders to identify priorities, solutions, and the resources needed to take action and improve outcomes.
Initiatives we’re supporting
Recovery Housing
With the Michigan Health Improvement Alliance as the nonprofit partner, a Recovery Housing facility will be developed in the Great Lakes Bay Region to assist residents recovering from drug use.
The original Andy’s Place in Jackson is a success story of helping those addicted to opioids and other drugs recover in a safe space, learn life skills and regain their lives. We’ve taken that model in an effort to develop the Great Lakes Bay Recovery Housing.
It will provide affordable housing and ongoing, on-site recovery support for local residents who are participating in an intensive rehabilitation and probation program through the county Recovery Court system.
Project Partners:
- Midland County Recovery Court
- Bay County Recovery Court
- Saginaw County Recovery Court
- Milner and Caringella
Healthy Community Zones
This project aims to decrease racial disparities in health outcomes by supporting the Saginaw community in implementing community-led initiatives in the focus areas of food security, built environments, healthy children and youth, and social cohesion.
Community Alliance for the People (Saginaw CAP), fiscally sponsored by MiHIA, is leading this project funded by MDHHS. This program includes funding to bolster local food drives, improve and upgrade parks, host community events, create a youth golf program, and boost a program to provide a safe and gentle space for seniors to engage in social activities.
Project Partners:
- MDHHS Physical Activity and Nutrition Unit
- Community Alliance for the People (Saginaw CAP)
- Saginaw County Community Action Center
- Mission in the City
- World Outreach Church
- Saginaw Citywide Food Collective
Sunrise Community Resource Center
MiHIA serves as the fiscal agent for the Sunrise Community Resource Center, which brings health, education, and community services together under one roof to serve the residents of Arenac and surrounding counties.
A $1.1 million grant from the Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity allowed the east wing of a shuttered elementary school building to be renovated to house the Central Michigan District Health Department in Standish. The health department joins a licensed childcare center, baby pantry, alternative education, and workforce development lab among the services housed by the comprehensive community resource center, which also includes event and meeting space. MiHIA’s goal is to ensure that the center is community-owned, and is guiding a steering team of local community members to create a business model that is sustainable and allows the center to provide an attractive, safe, and lively space for residents and organizations.
Project Partners:
- Standish-Sterling Community School District
- Central Michigan District Health Department
- The WELL Outreach
- Arenac County Child Protection Council
- Bay-Arenac Community High School
- Bay-Arenac ISD
- F.E.D. Design Builders
Environmental Justice
Community Alliance for the People (Saginaw CAP), fiscally sponsored by MiHIA, is leading two projects in Saginaw centered around environmental justice that are empowering residents to learn about the environmental challenges in their neighborhoods and how they impact public health, take action by initiating community environmental improvement projects, and empower them to become advocates for prioritizing environmental health through the community.
Resilient Roots, funded by the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy, will culminate in a strategic priorities plan that provides a framework for continuous environmental improvement throughout the Saginaw community. This will be accomplished in part through an interactive elicitation session with the community and other stakeholders, gathering information on their concerns and values regarding the environment. The other primary component of this program is the Community Stewards Institute, in which two cohorts will complete environmental improvement projects that will be documented through the Resilient Roots webinar series.
Climate Crew Collective, funded through a subaward from the Minneapolis Foundation, is a youth-led environmental justice project engaging young adults in green jobs training, climate health education, and environmental data collection. This program will culminate in a mini-documentary to cultivate young leaders and encourage community stewardship.
Project Partners:
- Community Alliance for the People (Saginaw CAP)
- Neptune and Company
- The Neighb Community Center
- Saginaw Valley State University