Healthy Communities/Healthy America Fund

Because of the approximately 45 million Americans without health insurance, hundreds of communities nationwide have developed free clinics. These non-profit clinics bring together health care professionals and other community volunteers to offer free or low cost health care to low-income, uninsured and underinsured people. Funding is generally raised on the local level and there is little if any government funding or support.

While the AMA works to expand medical coverage at the advocacy level, the AMA Foundation supports these efforts by recognizing the extraordinary physicians and volunteers working at these free clinics.

Through the Healthy Communities/Healthy America program, the AMA Foundation awards $10,000-$25,000 grants to physician-led free clinics.
The Healthy Communities/Healthy America grant program is supported in part by a generous grant from Pfizer Inc.

Eligibility criteria

* This program follows the National Association of Free Clinics' definition of a free clinic.

Grants will be awarded to free clinics that:

• at the time of application, have been incorporated as a 501c3, or equivalent tax-exempt status, nonprofit for at least 3 consecutive years, but no more than 10 years;
• provide 20 or more hours of medical care per week, not administration; this is defined as having clinicians (doctors/physician assistants/advance practice nurses) providing direct hands-on patient care; this does not include hours that involve the provision of pharmacy/medication/treatment or only blood pressure screenings/immunizations; (Note: clinics that provide both medical and dental services, but are requesting funds for a project that is dental care-specific will not be considered);
• have significant physician involvement (e.g. a physician serves as medical director or head administrator, or there are a substantial number of physician volunteers on the project); and
• are requesting funds for specific projects, not for activities such as routine operations, maintenance or facility repairs.

Preference will be given to applicants who demonstrate how grant dollars will be leveraged to provide the greatest amount of care. 

Federally qualified health centers, and referral networks that coordinate care but do not provide direct care themselves (e.g. Project Access programs), are ineligible to apply. Past Healthy Communities/Healthy America grant recipients are ineligible to apply for the 2009 program.  No grants to individuals; fundraising activities or any sort including endowment or other campaigns and grant preparation; debt reduction, deficits, or previous obligations; political projects or lobbying; or religious activities.  Preference will not be given to free clinics that are subsidiaries of another organization such as a hospital system, university, church, or social service organization. 

Grant amounts and timelines

Applications for the 2009 program will be available on this website around November 2008.  There is a Letter of Inquiry selection process, followed by an invitation to submit a full proposal.  In 2009, the Foundation plans to award up to 20 grants of $10,000-$25,000 in July.  The grant period and project duration is up to one year from the date of the grant check.

Congratulations to our 2008 recipients:

Community Health-In-Partnership Services 
St. Louis, Mo.
Grant Amount: $24,641

Community Volunteers in Medicine
West Chester, Pa.
Grant Amount: $25,000

DuPage Community Clinic 
Wheaton, Ill.
Grant Amount: $25,000

Ebenezer Medical Outreach, Inc.
Huntington, W.Va.
Grant Amount: $25,000

Free Medical Clinic of Greater Cleveland  
Cleveland, Ohio
Grant Amount: $25,000

Health Care Access, Inc. 
Lawrence, Kan.
Grant Amount: $20,737

Hope Medical Clinic, Inc. 
Ypsilanti, Mich.
Grant Amount: $12,000

Hope Within Community Health Center 
Elizabethtown, Pa.
Grant Amount: $24,937.87

Kansas City Free Health Clinic   
Kansas City, Mo.
Grant Amount: $25,000

Martin Luther King Health Center  
Shreveport, La.
Grant Amount: $22,400

Milan Puskar Health Right   
Morgantown, W.Va.
Grant Amount: $22,902

Mountain View RotaCare Free Clinic  
Mountain View, Calif.
Grant Amount: $25,000

Open Door Health Center 
Homestead, Fla.
Grant Amount: $25,000

San José Clinic 
Houston, Texas
Grant Amount: $25,000

Social Welfare Board  
St. Joseph, Mo.
Grant Amount: $25,000

The Clinic   
Phoenixville, Pa.
Grant Amount: $25,000

List of 2007 recipients (PDF, 90KB)

Instructions for all recipients
Grant recipients must submit a final report form  (Word, 76KB) upon completion of their project. All forms should be sent to the AMA Foundation office.