Families will have access to comprehensive resources at community high schools starting with five opening in the fall of 2023.

Detroit Public Schools Community District (DPSCD) announced that it has received $4.5 million in funding from Ballmer Group,  W.K. Kellogg Foundation, The Kresge Foundation, and The Children’s Foundation to launch 12 health hubs over the next three to four years. The DPSCD health hubs will expand basic support available to students and families by providing comprehensive services at select schools that have existing school based health centers or clinics, ensuring that students and families are able to access services right in the neighborhoods where they live.

“The 12 health hubs located at the designated high school sites are designed to address behavioral, mental and physical needs to support our students and families. We know that academic growth and consistent attendance require our students and families to be healthy and stable,” said Dr. Nikolai Vitti, superintendent, Detroit Public Schools Community District. “This is another step to ensure our students and families are able to access the support they need through their neighborhood school in alignment with the District’s strategic plan’s whole-child commitment.”

The neighborhood health hub sites are Cody, Osborn, Mumford, Henry Ford, Central, Western, Denby, Pershing, East English Village at Finney, Southeastern, Northwestern and Martin Luther King Jr. High Schools. The School at Marygrove is an additional demonstration site.

Each of the health hubs will co-locate resources that serve the needs of the whole child and whole family, providing additional wrap around support in addition to the school-based health centers or clinics at each site. The longstanding school based health center partnerships with Ascension, Henry Ford Health and the Institute for Population Health are the essential building blocks for the health hubs. Hubs also co-locate after-school programs, basic needs resources, parent and caregiver engagement and services, and other resources ranging from legal aid to housing counseling. Health hubs build on the nationally recognized and evidence-based community schools model, which centers schools as places where students and families can experience opportunity and growth in learning, health and economic stability.

The total $4.5 million in philanthropic funding is comprised of $2.7 million from Ballmer Group, $750,000 from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, $550,000 from The Kresge Foundation, and $500,000 from The Children’s Foundation.

Ballmer Group’s funding supports a full-time coordinator position servicing the health hub location, who will provide case management, referral and navigation services to students, families and neighbors to facilitate access to critical services. Coordinators will also be responsible for enhancing each school site’s connectivity with the broader community around it.

“Ballmer Group’s investment in DPSCD’s health hubs reflects our commitment to support the well-being of Detroit students and their families,” said Kylee Mitchell Wells, executive director of Ballmer Group-Southeast Michigan. “We believe that it is critical to ensure that our schools are a hub for resources and can expand access to services that our children and families need to advance their health, education and economic mobility.”

Kresge’s funding will augment Ballmer Group support for the 12 neighborhood health hubs and will establish a demonstration site at The School at Marygrove for an enhanced health hub, which will provide additional district and external partner-run services, such as before school care, a Family Resource Center that will provide basic needs resources and establish a neighborhood hub for after school and enrichment programs.

“Kresge is proud to support this effort as a part of our commitment to ensure that Detroit’s neighborhoods center the priorities of children and families,” said Wendy Lewis Jackson, managing director of Kresge’s Detroit Program. “Schools are hubs of their neighborhoods, and health hubs will further ensure that these neighborhood school anchors provide a foundation of health and stability for our city’s children and families.”

The W.K. Kellogg Foundation’s funding will specifically support oral health services at health hubs and launch a districtwide oral health clinic in northwest Detroit.

“The W.K. Kellogg Foundation is committed to ensuring that Detroit is a city that puts its children and families first,” said Faye Alexander Nelson, Michigan director for the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. “We are proud to support the oral health components of DPSCD’s health hubs initiative, recognizing the critical importance of oral health screenings and treatment for a child’s overall health and their ability to attend and focus on learning in school.”

Children’s Foundation funding will support the development of a health hub at Central High School, as well as school nurses at five DPSCD schools, including two health hub locations: Central High School and Osborn High School.

“A recently established $10.5 million endowment funded by a DPSCD graduate enabled our support of this initiative,” said Andrew Stein, President & CEO at The Children’s Foundation. “We know from compelling data that school nurses help improve students’ physical and mental health, as well as reduce chronic absenteeism. The Children’s Foundation is proud to be part of this effort that will remove barriers to care for so many kids in our community.”

Over the next several months, DPSCD will engage with each of the 12 schools to identify the services that are prioritized by students and families. Upon identifying service providers and any external partners that will support in launching these hubs, DPSCD expects to launch hubs at its neighborhood high schools using a phased approach over the next three to four years. For more information about DPSCD please visit detroitk12.org.