Age-Friendly Minnesota (AFMN) Council, in cooperation with the MN Department of Human Services, is launching the AFMN Grants Program to help communities work on age-friendly projects and become better places for all Minnesotans to grow older.

The Consumer Support Grant program is a state-funded alternative to Medicaid home care services of home health aide, personal care assistance and/or private duty nursing. Medicaid services are paid for with a combination of state and federal money. The Consumer Support Grant Program allows eligible consumers to convert the state portion of payments for specific home care services into a cash grant. The monthly cash grants replace fee-for-service home care services payments. With county assistance, consumers can manage and pay for a variety of home and community-based services. The CSG program gives consumers greater flexibility and freedom of choice in service selection, payment rates, service delivery specifications and employment of service providers. Parents, spouses, family members, trusted neighbors or friends can be paid for service, as well as employees of traditional home care provider agencies. Consumers may choose the participant employer option and act as the employer of their direct support workers.

The Customized Living Quality Improvement grant program (CL QI) is for providers of publicly funded Customized Living services. The 2021 Minnesota Legislature further modified the program. The CL QI grant program supports provider-initiated projects to improve quality of services for people receiving Customized Living services. The grant program focuses on the following policy objectives:

• Providing more efficient, higher quality services
• Encouraging home and community-based services (HCBS) providers to innovate
• Equipping HCBS providers with organizational tools and expertise to improve their quality
• Incentivizing HCBS providers to invest in better services
• Disseminating successful performance improvement strategies statewide.

Disability services innovation grants promote new ideas to achieve positive outcomes for people with disabilities. All of them require grantees to use new ways to help people with disabilities in Minnesota:

• Achieve integrated, competitive employment
• Live in the most integrated setting
• Connect with others in their communities.

The Minnesota Legislature has created a HCBS workforce development grant program to attract and retain direct care workers who provide home and community-based services for people with disabilities and older adults.

The Family Support Grant program provides state cash grants to families of children with certified disabilities. The goal is to prevent or delay out-of-home placement of children with disabilities and promote family health and social well-being by providing access to family-centered services and supports.

Live Well at Home grants aim to strengthen a community’s ability to provide affordable Long-Term Services and Supports (LTSS) for older persons. They are available to public and private for-profit and non-profit agencies. The funds are for projects that expand, integrate and sustain the services and infrastructure that enable older adults to remain in their own homes and communities. Grantees may use the funds to support family, friends and neighbors in caregiving.

The 2019-2020 Mental Health Grants report evaluates the programs that are funded under Minnesota Statutes, section 245.4661, subdivision 10 and Minnesota Statutes, section 245.4889, subdivision 3. This report was developed by the Department of Human Services’ Behavioral Health Division and includes both adult and children’s mental health state grant funded services.

This report includes for each grant an explanation of the program, an overview of the activities that the grants funded between fiscal years 2019 and 2020 and outcomes data for the programs in either fiscal year or calendar year, depending upon how specific grant data are collected. 

These grants are for Home and Community-Based Service (HCBS) providers serving older adults and people with disabilities. Grants can go to new organizations looking to become an HCBS provider or to existing providers wanting to expand their services or the number of people they serve.

Technology for HOME offers at-home, in-person assistive technology (AT) consultation and technical assistance to help people with disabilities live more independently. People who want to stay in their own home or move to their own home direct the outcome, and technology for HOME helps with the AT resources.