EnvisionUnlimited | Application Preview
EnvisionUnlimited is applying for government grants to support its mental health services in Springfield, Illinois. The organization has an established residence with an attached mental health community center, which initially received funding from 2013 to 2016 and then reestablished funding of $160,000 in 2022 through ARPA. The current application seeks to replace this funding to continue providing essential clinical services for both residents of the facility and local community members, particularly those living in Housing Authority properties. Services offered include counseling, medication monitoring, peer support, care coordination (including SOAR services), crisis management, and employment assistance.
EnvisionUnlimited plans to expand its mental health services to new facilities in Normal and Douglas County, focusing on seniors and low-income families, respectively. Additionally, they aim to extend their reach to other properties within the Springfield Housing Authority by offering telehealth services from their licensed mental health department in Chicago and transitioning ongoing services to Medicaid funding.
The organization argues that funding approval is crucial as low-income families often experience a lack of access to mental health care, leading to higher rates of emergency room utilization. Their efforts in Springfield have already shown a significant reduction in emergency room admissions at their 36-unit building, decreasing the rate from five to 1.5 per week over two years. Maintaining funding is necessary to prevent a regression in these improvements and to offer similar support to nearby Housing Authority sites.
While competitors like Southern Illinois University and Memorial Behavioral Health provide some mental health services in Springfield, their focus on limited supportive housing does not align with EnvisionUnlimited's comprehensive approach. The organization highlights its competitive advantage through its commitment to more extensive engagement, offering on-site counseling for 60 hours a week and better care coordination, which has positively impacted the health of their clients.
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General Information
Business Registration Number: EnvisionUnlimited
Location: Chicago, IL, United States
Length of Operation: 11plus
Number of Employees: 101+ Employees
Annual Gross Income: More than $10M
Annual Gross Expense: More than $10M
Open to Loans: NO
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Funding Usage
We have a residence in Springfield Illinois with an attached mental health community center. This was funded from 2013 to 2016, at which point the State terminated the funding. We reestablished funding (now $160,000) in 2022 using ARPA money. We are seeking funding to replace the ARPA grants. The funding will provide clinical services to residents as well as neighborhood residents, particularly residents in Housing Authority properties in the immediate area of our residence. These include counseling, med monitoring, peer services, care coordination (including SOAR) services, crisis management, and employment services.
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Business Plan
We are taking over buildings in Normal Illinois and Douglas County Illinois and are seeking to provide mental health services to these properties as well. The Normal building is for seniors only. The Douglas County properties are for low income families only. We are also planning to extend our services to other properties belonging to the Springfield Housing Authority. We plan to do this by offering telehealth services from our fully licensed mental health department in Chicago, and to shift shift on-going grant supported mental health services to Medicaid (Rule 132) funding. Very low income families and individuals are usually under-resourced in mental health and health care services, and as a result, their utilization of emergency rooms and services is typically well beyond the average utilization rate of other populations. In the last two years, our the introduction of mental health and care coordination services to our 36 unit building in Springfield has lowered the average weekly admission to the ER from 5 admissions a week to 1.5 admissions. Our goal is to prevent these gains from disappearing after the elimination of ARPA funds and to provide similar supportive services (especially mental health counseling) as well as care coordination services to nearby Housing Authority sites
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Self Identified Competition
In Springfield, Southern Illinois University and Memorial Behavioral Health provide the majority of mental health services in the City. However, though both have a limited presence in our project, the services are limited and "supportive" housing does not seem to be a target for them. As mentioned above SIU and Memorial have a limited presence in our building. But mostly they provide case aides to visit clients on a weekly basis for several minutes each week. We have found this very frustrating for the clients who want more engagement. In late 2022 we started providing our own care coordination and in 2023 we started offering telehealth counseling. The difference in response is striking. We have on-site counselors available 60 hours per week both at night and during the day. While there are still three or four tenants who are frequent users of the hospital, their needs are now strictly physiological: they go in for treatment of serious medical conditions like COPD and cancer.
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Contact Applicant
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