Systems Improvement and Innovation Responsive Grants Program

Applicants may apply for a one-year planning grant up to $30,000 or one-or-two-year implementation grant of up to $50,000 per year.

Health inequities result when some groups are favored with extra resources or advantages and other groups run into barriers that result in them getting less than they need. This might have happened in the past, or may be happening now. We can move toward health equity first by identifying those barriers that some groups run into in our health systems and services, and second working to remove them. This work can lead to health systems that are fair and just for everyone.

The purpose of the Systems Improvement and Innovation Responsive Grants (SIIRG) program is to reduce health inequities by removing structural barriers to services meant to support health.

The goal of our grantmaking is to advance changes in policies, practices, and perceptions at a system or organizational level that result in fair access to services that are tailored to the needs of the community. The SIIRG program design emphasizes ensuring that the community has a meaningful and ongoing voice that helps to inform and shape improvements and innovations in one or more of four MeHAF strategic priority areas:

(a) Rural health

(b) Aging/older adults

(c) Behavioral health/substance use disorder

(d) Maternal & infant health

We use the term community to refer to the specific group that is the focus of your work. While your project may help a broad range of people, for this grant program, your community means those people whose health will directly benefit from your project. This may be a group with a shared identity, a common cause, common geographic location, similar health and health access needs, or other shared experiences or characteristics. It is essential that community members identify and prioritize the health concern or issue your project will address. In addition to defining the problem, we expect that community members will play a meaningful role throughout the project, by informing project activities and identifying indicators of the project’s success.

MeHAF experience suggests that the most successful projects are designed to leverage local resources, talents, and opportunities. We are unlikely to fund projects that propose education, research, or simple replication of models.