ANN ARBOR—The East Side Community Health Insurance Program for Children, a U-M School of Public Health led community outreach program, has been awarded a $15,000 grant by the Metro Health Foundation, a Detroit-based private foundation that financially supports health care organizations.

The program, known as East Side CHIP, was recently begun in cooperation with the Detroit Department of Human Services, Neighborhood Service Organization at Harper/Gratiot Multi Service Center and Wolverine Human Services to locate and enroll eligible children of the working

poor on Detroit’s east side into a newly created state health insurance

program. The program, called MIChild,

is a federally-funded health care program designed to insure children

of the working poor whose families earn too much for traditional Medicaid,

yet not enough to afford private health insurance.

“This is a very intensive community activity that will require a good deal of work from the three outreach agencies. We gratefully accept their contribution. It will enable us to help support staff at three outreach centers and to produce promotional materials, such as posters and signs for buses,” said Richard Lichtenstein, U-M associate professor of health management and policy and one of the coalition’s coordinators.

Families eligible for MIChild must earn no more than $32,000 annually for a family of four. MIChild costs $5 per month, per family. East Side CHIP also will enroll eligible children in Medicaid.

More than 20 other community agencies are also participating in the project.

For more information on MIChild, call the East Side CHIP’s 24-hour number after at (313) 963-2184.

Metro Health Foundation is a private Detroit grant-making foundation supporting Michigan organizations in health care and health-related fields.

MIChildRichard Lichtenstein