Community project funding/congressionally directed spending - construction - in 2014, the community of flint experienced a harrowing public health emergency: the flint water crisis

This event, caused by unsafe amounts of lead in city drinking water, exposed 30,000 children to dangerous levels of the neurotoxin, resulting in widescale behavioral, emotional, and neurodevelopmental conditions. As the public mental health care provider for the past 50 years, GHS has been a frontline responder to this crisis, providing treatment to thousands of children in the area and, in 2019, establishing the neurodevelopmental center for excellence (NCE). To address increases in the need for intervention and support, GHS and gfmhf are working together to establish the GHS center for children's integrated services, which will provide essential and high-quality behavioral and physical health services and support to children and families struggling with a wide range of concerns, including effects caused by the flint water crisis. The design for the new facility brings together three core programming areas within GHS' children's behavioral health program - the NCE, autism services, and child and family services - along with a new federally qualified health center (fqhc). The proposed 60,000 square foot building will be designed to significantly increase the capacity and quality of services and support to meet the ongoing and expanding needs of genesee county's children and families. Specifically, the facility will include spaces for the autism program to provide state-of-the-art treatment; modern office facilities for the child and family services and community outreach programs to support the needs of a highly mobile, community- based staff; and specialized clinical facilities for the NCE to accommodate the growing need for assessments as well as to attract top researchers. The proposed project will provide: comprehensive neuropsychological evaluations for at least 750 children per year, more than doubling the number of children and families served in the NCE's first year; case management services for 342 lead-affected families, helping them navigate medical, educational, and other community resources as part of their care plan; community outreach, family navigation, and other community services to 3,845 residents; and the addition of the fqhc will improve the continuum of care for patients as well as provide an important source of primary care, behavioral health services, and dental services. Establishing the GHS center for children's integrated services will allow families to come to one single location for all of their children's treatment and support needs. This comprehensive building will save families time, reduce transportation concerns, and allow for better care coordination. Families that may have otherwise not been able to utilize different treatment options because of time and/or transportation concerns will now be more likely to engage in services, allowing more children to receive the care they need.