For families in the South struggling to find gender-affirming care, small grants make a huge difference

Care Ring, in collaboration with other organizations like the University of North Carolina School of Nursing, launched The Bridge, a community-based healthcare initiative that aims to make preventive care easier to access. The Bridge features a mobile care unit that provides free health screenings, counseling support and connections to community resources. Since December 2022, The Bridge has provided care to more than 100 people, 39% of which didn’t have a regular doctor.

The National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) is a social health insurance program that provides access to free, quality healthcare services to corps members and civil servants and protects families from the financial hardship of medical bills. The NHIS covers out-patient care, medicine, diagnostic tests, maternity care, eye examinations and dental care, among other services. Since it was launched in February 2022, more than 2,000 corps members have benefited from the NHIS benefits.

The Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative provides a 10-step approach to hospital-based breastfeeding support in an effort to increase breastfeeding rates and reduce the racial disparities Black women often face during breastfeeding initiation. Breastfeeding has been shown to have a significant impact on a baby and mother’s health outcomes and the breastfeeding medicine clinic is available to anyone who is interested, including Medicaid patients who wouldn’t be able to afford the services otherwise.

Clinica Amistad is a free, volunteer-driven primary care clinic addressing the healthcare access gap for uninsured and underinsured residents, particularly among the Hispanic/Latine community. Operating on $600,000 or less per year, the clinic offers a wide range of services, including chronic disease management, behavioral health counseling, and a Spanish-language pre-diabetes education program. In 2024, the clinic served 956 patients across nearly 2,500 visits, with patient volume growing 10% since 2017.

Helpster Charity operates a tech-enabled emergency financing model that connects families facing urgent medical bills with donors through a website and app. The nonprofit uses volunteers stationed at partner health facilities to identify patients who can’t afford critical care for conditions like malaria, sickle cell anemia, and kidney problems. The organization has helped provide treatment for over 2,000 families across Nigeria, Kenya and Bangladesh.

NGOs like The Fred Hollows Foundation and Vision Spring provide vision screenings and free or low-cost corrective glasses to empower marginalized workers, including tea pickers and garment factory employees, to regain their productivity and independence. Workers who received glasses saw an increase in their daily tea-picking output of about 21.7%.

The OmniSalud program provides zero-premium health care coverage to low-income immigrants without documentation, helping make health care more accessible for those who normally struggle to get it due to their legal status. This year, the program expanded to 11,000 slots and hopes to continue growing.

LGBTQ+ youth centers, like The Ruth Ellis Center, are working to provide a sense of community and access to necessary services to uplift local LGBTQ+ youth. The Ruth Ellis Center offers shelter to LGBTQ+ youth facing homelessness and serves about 1,200 people each year. Along with shelter, the Center also works to bridge the healthcare gap in the LGBTQ+ community by partnering with Henry Ford Health to provide general wellness visits, STI/HIV screening, contraceptives and gender-affirming care.

The Citizens-Led Tracking Campaign bridges the gap between the implementation of the Basic Healthcare Provision Funds and the effective delivery of healthcare by sending citizens — called community champions — out on the grassroots level to track healthcare funding and ensure everyone who is eligible takes advantage of the care. Through the community champions’ efforts, 32,000 low-income and vulnerable individuals have been enrolled in the program.

The Michigan LGBTQ+ Elders Network (MiGen) works to provide aging LGBTQ+ adults with necessary healthcare, like long-term care facilities. The Network also offers culturally responsive training for adult care providers.