Two West Central Illinois Health Departments are set to receive portions of $11.5 million in grant funding. Illinois U.S. Senators Tammy Duckworth and Dick Durbin jointly announced that $11.5 million will be going to support 44 Community Health Centers throughout the state yesterday. The funding comes from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services health center cluster grant program.
A Health Department receives the Community Health Center designation for providing primary health care services either to a medically under-served population or area or to the uninsured population of Illinois under state statute. The centers often receive federal assistance through the Health Care Financing Administration or the Illinois Department of Public Health.
The Cass County Health Department is slated to receive $334,952 and the Macoupin County Health Department is set to get $272,544. The CCHD grant is the 8th largest amount of the 44 grantees. Durbin and Duckworth both said in a joint press release that the funding will be directed to each organization’s continued COVID-19 response costs.