Impacting Our Core Values One Grant At A Time

Written by 5 Healthy Towns Foundation staff

Community leaders from Chelsea, Dexter, Grass Lake, Manchester, Stockbridge, and organizations serving those communities have been meeting to find ways to improve the mental well-being of our service area since 2019 through a project called One Big Thing (OBT). One of the most recent activities of One Big Thing was the launch of One Big Thing grant opportunities in May 2025.

Grant opportunities are offered to community organizations and nonprofits serving the 5 Healthy Towns region, which support mental health and emotional well-being. We are specifically interested in projects that improve vital conditions and address community-wide education and awareness-building on topics related to:

•General social isolation

•Mental health support

•Prevention of substance use disorders and recovery support

These grants are open to any 501 (c) (3) organization, government, or school district directly serving Chelsea, Dexter, Grass Lake, Manchester, and/or Stockbridge communities. Organizations represented on the review committee may only apply for funding in a secondary or fiduciary support role.

Three kinds of funding are available, including:

— Sponsorship Grants centered on awareness-building, community education, and community events that seek to connect individuals to resources/social groups.

— Impact Grants are intended to develop, strengthen, or expand services that decrease social isolation, promote community/civic engagement, increase access to mental health resources, impact the prevention of substance use disorder, or provide resources that increase social supports for individuals.

— Systems Change Grants are multi-sector projects addressing community-level problems in a regional context. These grants are intended to support innovative proposals that seek to address the root causes of complex community issues that require a mix of actions from various collaborative entities. Collaboration with another professional entity is expected for applicants.

Since the grants were made available, two Impact Grants and two sponsorships have been approved for funding. A $10,000 Impact Grant was awarded to Ballet Chelsea for the continued expansion of their Adaptive Movement for All program in the 5 Healthy Towns service area, and $10,000 to Washtenaw Area Council for Children to implement their Evidence-Based Cyber Safety in a Digital World program in all five local school districts. $1,000 sponsorships were awarded to Home of New Vision and Faith in Action, respectively, for fundraiser assistance.

To learn more about One Big Thing grant opportunities, contact Matt Pegouskie at matt@5healthytowns.org .