Federal Project Grant Award Summary

The Metrohealth System received a $500,000 Project Grant from the Department of Health and Human Services Bureau of Health Professionals under the Primary Care Training and Enhancement (PCTE) program (CFDA 93.884), awarded July 1, 2026, with a completion date of June 30, 2031. The grant funds an expanded Residency Training in Street Medicine program designed to increase the primary care workforce capacity to serve the unhoused population in Ohio, where chronic homelessness increased 64% between 2020 and 2023. The program will enhance resident training through expanded hours and scope of dedicated street medicine education, delivered through the MetroHealth System's existing Homeless Outreach Program, which provides primary care services onsite at community organizations serving individuals experiencing homelessness.

The core products and services delivered through this five-year award include: (1) culturally sensitive primary care training with applied quality improvement methods to reduce health disparities; (2) resident education in medication-assisted treatment (MAT) and mental health care to address substance use disorders and serious mental illness prevalent among the unhoused; (3) strengthened community partnerships with organizations such as the Northeast Ohio Coalition for Homelessness (NEOCH); and (4) interprofessional collaboration training. By training residents to provide care in nontraditional settings such as street locations and community shelters, the program addresses the ongoing clinical and basic healthcare needs of the unhoused across the housing continuum—from unsheltered individuals to those in shelter-based and permanent supportive housing arrangements.