2025 Grantees Announced for the Mental Health Improvement Fund
July 10, 2025
Achieving and maintaining good mental health is important during all stages of life, from conception through childhood, into adulthood and through older adults.
Good mental health is essential at every stage of life, from childhood to adulthood and old age. The well-being of a community depends deeply on the mental wellness of its people. Yet, far too many individuals face barriers to accessing the mental health care they need.
The Mental Health Improvement Fund (formerly the Health Improvement Fund) supports organizations that provide mental and behavioral health services for low-income, underserved adult and youth populations in Milwaukee County. The goal is to increase access to mental health care, improve mental health outcomes, and promote health equity.
In 2025-26, we are funding the work of programs dedicated to providing support for mental health and substance use programs and services that focus on early identification and intervention, outpatient diagnostics and treatment, crisis intervention, and care coordination for people of all ages.
Meet the 2025-26 grantees for funding:
Advocate Aurora Walker’s Point Community Clinic
Program Purpose: Behavioral Health Programming
Program Description: Supports Community Health Worker's efforts to facilitate the Creciendo Juntas program that provides mental wellness classes to Spanish speaking adults, primarily for uninsured adults.
Ascension Wisconsin Foundation
Program Purpose: St. Ben's Clinic
Program Description: Strengthens the mental health program specifically for adults who are primarily uninsured. Supports identification capabilities, outreach, services and referral pathways, as well as care coordination.
Benedict Center
Program Purpose: Women's Harm Reduction Program
Program Description: Sustain and expand outpatient mental health and substance use services provided to justice impacted women.
Bread of Healing, Inc.
Program Purpose: Improving Behavioral Health Access to Uninsured Adults in Milwaukee
Program Description: Supports staff to provide licensed mental health counseling to uninsured adults. The program anticipates providing 1,800 mental health counseling sessions.
City on a Hill, Inc.
Program Purpose: Integrated Tele-Behavioral Health Initiative
Program Description: Supports staff that will provide over 1,000 counseling sessions via telehealth and in-person for primarily uninsured adults.
Jewish Family Services, Inc.
Program Purpose: Late Life Counseling
Program Description: Provides end of life counseling for homebound Milwaukee County residents 60 years old and older with limited resources.
Meta House, Inc.
Program Purpose: Intensive Outpatient Program and Welcoming Specialist for Women in Recovery
Program Description: Supports Welcome Specialists that support clients in crisis through the initial intake process to ensure clients can access services.
Milwaukee LGBTQ Community Center
Program Purpose: Expansion of Mental Health Services
Program Description: Enables the organization to hire a clinician and supervise an intern to increase capacity for providing therapy to more clients.
Outreach Community Health Centers
Program Purpose: Outreach Community Health Centers
Program Description: Launch and sustain a much-needed psychological testing program. This will help reduce months-long wait times.
Pathfinders
Program Purpose: Crisis Intervention and Flexible Mental Health Resources in Pathfinders’ Drop-In Center
Program Description: Supports staff that will provide crisis mental health services to low-income, underserved homeless youth aged 11-25 in an accessible and responsive way so that clients are more likely to agree to services.
Penfield Children's Center
Program Purpose: Penfield Children's Center: Behavior Clinic
Program Description: Provides bilingual, trauma-informed, home-based therapy for children under six in Milwaukee & Waukesha counties.
Sixteenth Street Community Health Clinic
Program Purpose: Fast Track to Substance Use Recovery
Program Description: Supports early identification and increases referrals to existing specialized substance use disorder services, including therapy, and medication management.
Wellpoint Care Network
Program Purpose: Expanding Access to Community-Based Screening and Early Intervention
Program Description: Provide free, trauma-informed mental health screenings and assessments in trusted community spaces and strengthen follow-up and care coordination.
Grants are awarded to organizations through the Milwaukee Health Care Partnership (Ascension Wisconsin, Aurora Health Care, Children’s Wisconsin, and Froedtert Health) and United Way.
Learn more about The Milwaukee Health Care Partnership here.
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