Healthcare Workforce Mini-Grants
Supporting Local Solutions to Michigan’s Workforce Challenges
Michigan Health Council’s Healthcare Workforce Mini-Grant Program provides funding to organizations developing practical, community-informed solutions to Michigan’s healthcare workforce challenges.
Launched in 2026, the program builds on the goals of the Michigan Healthcare Workforce Plan, a statewide framework for creating a stronger, more sustainable healthcare workforce. During its inaugural year, MHC awarded $30,000 across three projects focused on career pathways, experiential education, and workforce recruitment and retention.
About the Michigan Healthcare Workforce Plan
The Michigan Healthcare Workforce Plan was developed with input from healthcare employers, educators, workforce organizations, state agencies, and other partners across Michigan. It identifies four priorities for collective action:
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Grow interest in healthcare careers
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Improve access to healthcare education
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Increase experiential education capacity
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Explore recruitment and retention strategies
The mini-grant program helps turn these shared priorities into action by supporting organizations as they develop, implement, and evaluate promising workforce solutions.
Current Mini-Grant Projects
Mosaic Healthcare Career Pathway
Michigan Workforce Training and Education Collaborative
This stackable Direct Care Worker-to-Certified Nursing Assistant pre-apprenticeship program will serve 10 unemployed or underemployed adults in Benton Harbor. Participants will earn industry-recognized credentials, receive assistance overcoming barriers to training, and connect with employment interviews and registered apprenticeship opportunities.
Workforce Plan focus: Improving access to healthcare education and creating pathways into healthcare careers.
Vital Pathways
Detroit Regional Chamber Foundation
Vital Pathways will help Detroit-area high school students explore and pursue healthcare careers. Through social media, webinars, and student-created content, the project will connect young people with information about healthcare education, certifications, internships, volunteer experiences, and other career-building opportunities.
Workforce Plan focus: Growing interest in healthcare careers and increasing awareness of available pathways.
Nurse Preceptor Training Program
Memorial Healthcare
Memorial Healthcare will develop an in-person training program for approximately 150 experienced registered nurses who serve as teachers, mentors, and evaluators for newly hired nurses. The project is designed to strengthen onboarding, enhance the transition into practice, and improve first-year nurse retention across the health system.
Workforce Plan focus: Increasing experiential education capacity and strengthening workforce retention.
Learning From the Projects
In addition to receiving funding, grant recipients will work with MHC Insight, Michigan Health Council’s research and evaluation division, to assess project outcomes and identify lessons that can inform future workforce efforts.
By evaluating what works, MHC aims to help promising approaches grow, improve, and potentially be replicated in other communities.
Building What Comes Next
Michigan’s healthcare workforce challenges cannot be solved by a single organization or initiative. Meaningful progress will require collaboration, local innovation, and sustained investment in approaches that meet the needs of workers, employers, students, and communities.
Through the Healthcare Workforce Mini-Grant Program, MHC is helping organizations turn ideas into action—and build knowledge to support workforce solutions across Michigan.