SWMO health centers selected for $3M in federal grant funding

The federal government has awarded nearly $3 million in funding to community health centers in southwest Missouri.

The recipients are Springfield-based Advocates For A Healthy Community Inc., dba Jordan Valley Community Health Center; Fordland Clinic Inc.; Ava-based Douglas County Public Health Services Group Inc.; Neosho-based Ozark Tri-County Health Care Consortium; and Hermitage-based Ozarks Resource Group. Each received roughly $600,000, according to a news release.

The funding comes from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Health Resources and Services Administration, which announced $240 million nationwide to launch and expand mental health and substance use disorder services.

"With today’s announcement to establish and expand behavioral health care in hundreds of community health centers, we are further demonstrating our commitment not only to health coverage but to access to care,” HRSA Administrator Carole Johnson said in the release. "Mental health and substance use disorder treatment are essential elements of primary care, and there should be no wrong door for families to get the behavioral health care they need."