Forge AHEAD Center announces 2025 Community Microgrant awardees improving health in the Deep South
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (Sept. 25, 2025) – The Forge AHEAD Center awarded six community-based organizations through its 2025 Community Microgrant Program. The program, administered in partnership with the University of Alabama at Birmingham’s Center for Clinical and Translational Science (CCTS), provides up to $10,000 in funding to support innovative, community-driven projects that address pressing health challenges in Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana.
The Community Microgrant Program recognizes that local organizations are often best positioned to identify needs, build trust and lead change. By investing directly in community partners, Forge AHEAD affirms its commitment to supporting organizations that bring deep knowledge, cultural understanding and long-standing relationships to their work.
“We are proud to partner with CCTS to invest in local organizations whose work reflects the needs and priorities of their communities,” said Andrea Cherrington, M.D., MPH, UAB director of the Division of General Internal Medicine and Population Science, and Forge AHEAD multiple principal investigator. “These projects are powerful examples of how grassroots leadership can make a real difference in people’s lives.”
2025 Awardees
- El Pueblo (Mississippi): Bilingual hypertension self-management program tailored for limited English proficient adults, with education, goal-setting and weekly support.
- Edward Street Fellowship Center (Mississippi): Food Is Medicine initiative integrating monthly produce vouchers and clinical monitoring for patients with diabetes and hypertension.
- BirthWell Partners (Alabama): Expansion of postpartum care with free doula and lactation services for low-income families, training a new workforce of doulas and educators.
- Pinktopps (Alabama): Survivorship program for young breast cancer survivors, offering wellness education and mental health support.
- Metromorphosis (Louisiana): Resident-led community garden project to increase access to healthy food, reduce neighborhood blight, and build local leadership.
- Louisiana Organization for Refugees and Immigrants (Louisiana): Development of a maternal health risk assessment tool co-designed with immigrant and refugee women to improve maternal health outcomes.
Throughout the year, the Forge AHEAD Center will provide technical assistance, evaluation tools, and opportunities for peer learning. This ongoing collaboration reflects the center’s belief that lasting solutions emerge when universities and communities work together, with communities leading the way.
“These organizations are at the forefront of improving health in their communities,” said Caroline E. Compretta, Ph.D., University of Mississippi Medical Center assistant vice chancellor for research and Forge AHEAD Community Engagement Core lead. “We look to them as leaders and assets whose vision, creativity and dedication will have a measurable impact on the individuals and families they serve.”
The Community Microgrant Program is part of the Forge AHEAD Center’s broader mission to strengthen partnerships, build community capacity and support innovative approaches to improving health in the Deep South.
For more information about the Forge AHEAD Center and its programs, visit https://www.forgeaheadcenter.com/.
