South Country awards $2.1M in grants
South Country Health Alliance has announced the recipients of $2.16 million in grant funds through its South Country Cares Community Impact Program. The grants are for initiatives that will benefit South Country members and other community members and help address the challenges and health disparities of living in rural Minnesota.
South Country is a county-owned health plan. Through partnerships with public health, social services, and local health care providers and organizations, South Country supports accessible, quality health care for enrollees in Minnesota’s publicly funded health care programs.
“Over the years, South Country has reinvested in our communities when our financial conditions allow,” said Leota Lind, South Country’s CEO. “We are proud to announce the recipients of this round of grant funding through our South Country Cares Community Impact Program this holiday season, which will help 15 community organizations improve the health well-being of our members and others in our rural communities.”
South Country Cares Community Impact Program Grants awarded include:
Blooming Prairie Parks, Steele, Overall Wellbeing, $50,000
CARE Clinic, Goodhue and Wabasha, Behavioral Health and Dental, $200,000
Community Pathways of Steele County, Dodge, Steele and Waseca, Food/Clothing Insecurity and Homelessness, $75,000
Elder Network, Dodge, Social Isolation and Behavioral Health, $165,000
HealthFinders Collaborative, Dodge, Steele and Waseca, Behavioral Health, $174,000
Heart of New Ulm, Brown, Behavioral Health and Social Isolation, $4,500
Hispanic Outreach of Goodhue County, Goodhue and Wabasha, Cross-cultural Advocacy/Support and Social Isolation, $208,021
Hope and Harbor, Goodhue, Homelessness and Social Isolation, $250,000
Let’s Smile, Steele and Waseca, Dental, $130,000
NAMI Minnesota, all counties, Behavioral Health, $129,771
NUMAS Haus, Brown, Homelessness and Behavioral Health, $250,000
Oak Hill Community Connections, Dodge, Steele and Waseca, Behavioral Health, Food/Clothing and Homelessness, $75,000
Rachel’s Light, Dodge, Steele and Waseca, Homelessness, $160,000
Sibley County FoodShare, Sibley, Food Insecurity and Social Isolation, $250,000
Wabasha Area Food Share, Wabasha, Food Insecurity, $38,708
The grant funds will be provided to the recipients the beginning of 2025. These grants will bring South Country’s community reinvestment funding to over $24 million since its inception.
“Reinvesting in the communities in our service area has been hallmark and a goal since we started,” Lind said. “We are proud to support these organizations, which help so many people.”
South Country serves more than 24,000 members in eight counties throughout southern Minnesota.