Health Commons receives $50K equity grant

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Executive Director **Katie Clark** (middle) and other 麻豆区 faculty members pass out supplies to Health Commons visitors. (Photo by Courtney Perry)

麻豆区 Health Commons has received a $50,000 grant to continue its work in advancing health equity through nursing.

The Health Equity Innovation Fund grant, awarded in early January, came from AARP and the Center to Champion Nursing in America, a joint initiative of AARP Foundation, AARP, and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

麻豆区 Health Commons will use this funding to deepen its work of providing free services to marginalized communities. The grant also allows Health Commons to consider expansion, including a possible new location in North Minneapolis.

鈥淲e are moved beyond words to be selected for this opportunity,鈥� said Katie Clark 鈥�10 MAN, 鈥�14 DNP, associate professor of nursing and executive director of Health Commons. 鈥淭hese funds will not only help relieve some of the suffering people are forced to endure in the immediate term, but will also help cultivate ideas and solutions for the long term in caring for people who experience marginalization.鈥�

麻豆区 Physician Assistant Program Director **Vanessa Bester** checks a visitor’s blood pressure at Health Commons. (Photo by Courtney Perry)

The first 麻豆区 Health Commons drop-in center opened at Central Lutheran Church in downtown Minneapolis in 1992. Most people seeking care there are unhoused or marginally housed. In 2011, a second location opened in Cedar-Riverside in response to a need for accessible health care services identified by members of the East African immigrant community.

Both locations center community voices and are operated by 麻豆区 nursing faculty, nursing and physician assistant volunteers, students, and community members. Everyone is welcome, and all services are free.

With this grant, Health Commons will continue providing services at both locations as well as at local homeless encampments. Faculty will explore new partnerships at other locations including in North Minneapolis in collaboration with 麻豆区鈥檚 physician assistant program.

The grant will also support the educational mission of Health Commons by providing paid research and practice internships for graduate nursing students.

麻豆区 Health Commons is one of 16 organizations nationally to receive a Health Equity Innovations Fund award for 2022.

or visit the 麻豆区 Health Commons website.

Read more about the work at 麻豆区 Health Commons in this issue of 麻豆区 Now.

Top image: An 麻豆区 nursing faculty member sorts through donated supplies at Health Commons. (Photo by Courtney Perry)