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Michigan Nonprofit Association builds a network, with $1.4 million from three foundations, to help residents keep Medicaid

The Medicaid Community Support Network, announced Sept. 9, plans grants, training and shared information for nonprofits whose clients face work requirements and six-month renewals in the Healthy Michigan Plan from 2027. A full launch is planned for this fall.

A white stone capitol building with a tall dome and two flags at half staff, seen across a wide lawn scattered with autumn leaves, with evergreen and leafy trees in front under a cloudy evening sky
The Michigan State Capitol in Lansing, photographed in November 2019.Carol M. Highsmith / The Library of Congress, Carol M. Highsmith Archive

Lansing. The Michigan Nonprofit Association is building a statewide network to help nonprofits keep eligible residents on Medicaid when federal work requirements and more frequent renewals reach the Healthy Michigan Plan in 2027. It announced the Medicaid Community Support Network on Sept. 9 and plans a full launch this fall, before the work requirements start in January.

The network has $1.4 million in committed grants from the Michigan Health Endowment Fund, the W.K. Kellogg Foundation and the Kresge Foundation. It plans grants for statewide, regional and local outreach, training for nonprofit staff, a clearinghouse of information for nonprofits and their clients, and closer coordination with the state.

Who can take part

Any nonprofit may join; membership in the association is not required. The association expects to support up to 40 grantees with its initial funding, and as many as 800 if it secures more. How grants will be decided is still being developed, but it intends to let community organizations and people with lived experience help set priorities.

Nonprofits are not asked to decide who qualifies, the association says, only to tell the people they serve what is changing and where to get accurate help.

“We're building the connective tissue so that when someone walks into a food pantry or a clinic confused about a new Medicaid notice, there's a nonprofit ready with the right information and the right next step.”

Kelley Kuhn, president and CEO of the Michigan Nonprofit Association

What changes in 2027

H.R. 1, the federal budget law passed in 2025, requires some adults to work or take part in approved activities to keep Medicaid. In Michigan it applies to Healthy Michigan Plan enrollees ages 19 to 64 from Jan. 1, 2027, and to current enrollees at renewals on or after March 1, 2027, according to the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services. They can meet it by earning at least $580 in one month of the review period or by completing 80 hours of work, volunteering, school or a work program in one month. People who are pregnant or gave birth in the past year, parents of children 13 or younger and some caregivers are among those exempt. Most enrollees will also move from yearly to six-month renewals, the department said in July.

The association cites an Urban Institute analysis that 171,000 to 355,000 Michigan residents are at risk of losing coverage, and says many could lose it because of new paperwork and reporting rather than because they are no longer eligible.

Separately, the department opened a competition on Sept. 15 for about $12.25 million in grants to 501(c)(3) organizations to build a statewide network of community navigators for Healthy Michigan Plan and SNAP enrollees. Applications are due Sept. 30.

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501c3.help wrote this story from the sources listed with it, not from material an organization sent. Our editors approved it on Sept. 29, 2026. Stories in The Nonprofit Herald are free, and nothing is asked in return. Editorial rules.

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