FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT: Jenni Bowring-McDonough
Media Relations Coordinator

ST. PAUL, Minn. - MNsure today announced the 28 recipients of MNsure's outreach and enrollment grants. Grantees include respected community organizations from across Minnesota.

"This year's grants program is coordinated, comprehensive and designed to help reach those people who lack affordable, comprehensive health coverage," said MNsure's CEO, Scott Leitz. "This round of grants builds on critical relationships with many existing community partners and establishes relationships with partners new to MNsure."

MNsure is issuing nearly $4.6 million in grants targeted to fund outreach and enrollment efforts from September 1, 2014 until June 30, 2015. In 2013, MNsure distributed $4.75 million in Outreach and Infrastructure grants to 41 lead organizations to support outreach and enrollment among uninsured communities and to build organizational capacity.

Changes were made to improve upon MNsure's grant process for the 2014 - 2015 Open Enrollment period, Leitz explained. "Those changes include issuing the Request for Proposals and announcing the grantees more than two months ahead of the November 15 enrollment date, to allow grantee organizations ample time to establish necessary infrastructure, complete training and begin work in earnest," Leitz said. "Our grantee partners have been invaluable in educating and connecting with hard-to-reach populations. Recognizing this, we have asked grantees this year to focus on those populations to ensure we are reaching the uninsured and addressing disparities."

MNsure has engaged a diverse range of organizations to promote enrollment through MNsure. The 28 grants will fund more than 80 organizations. Many MNsure grantees will work with partner organizations.

Grantees include:

• Arrowhead Economic Opportunity Agency, Inc.
• Asian Economic Development Association (AEDA)
• Centro Cultural Chicano
• Communicating for America, Inc.
• Community Resource Connections
• Comunidades Latina Unidas En Servicio (CLUES)
• Generations Health Care Initiatives
• Health Access MN, Inc.
• Hmong American Partnership
• Intercultural Mutual Assistance Association
• Mid-Minnesota Legal Aid
• Minneapolis Urban League
• Minnesota AIDS Project
• Minnesota Chippewa Tribe
• NAMI Minnesota
• Native American Community Clinic
• NorthPoint Health and Wellness Center
• Pillsbury United Communities
• Planned Parenthood Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota
• Portico Healthnet
• Saint Cloud Area Somali Salvation Organization SASSO
• Somali Health Solutions
• Southside Community Health Services, Inc.
• Stairstep Foundation
• The Arc Greater Twin Cities
• United Family Medicine
• West Side Community Health Services, Inc.
• Western Community Action, Inc.

/mnsure/about-us/rfp-contract/index.jspThe Outreach and Enrollment Grant RFP can be found here (https://www.mnsure.org/about-us/rfp-contract/).

Goals for the grant program include assisting populations with barriers to coverage, building regional navigator resource and referral networks and educating uninsured Minnesotans about the importance of health insurance and how they can enroll through MNsure.

Since the launch of MNsure, 311,432 Minnesotans have enrolled in quality, affordable coverage through MNsure. 54,158 are enrolled in a qualified health plan, 188,554 in Medical Assistance and 68,720 in MinnesotaCare. Between September 30, 2013, and May 1, 2014, the number of uninsured Minnesotans fell by 40.6% to a record low. Open enrollment for 2015 coverage begins November 15, 2014.