Corktown Health Expands Access to Stigma-Free Health Care for the LGBTQ+ Community with Second Location in Metro Detroit June 20, 2024

Building on decades of work supporting and providing health care for the LGBTQ+ community in Southeast Michigan, Corktown Health broke ground last week on a new facility in Hazel Park, MI—the nonprofit’s second location and first outside of the City of Detroit. 

With the help of a $870,000 loan from IFF closed in April 2023, Corktown Health acquired an 11,443-square-foot commercial facility that is now being redeveloped as a high-quality health center with 8-10 medical exam rooms, six dental chairs, a pharmacy, and community space. Once construction is completed and the new clinic opens in the first quarter of 2025, Corktown Health will be able to serve an additional 1,500 patients per year, while also creating 30 new jobs.  

At the groundbreaking, Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) praised Corktown Health’s dedication to stigma-free health care that focuses on the whole person as a unique individual. 

“We are all better, all stronger when we care for all of us,” Stabenow said. “It’s about health care above the neck just as much as below. It involves setting high standards. Corktown Health continues to improve, to reach, and to redefine those standards, and it starts by making sure services are available here.” 

In addition to the loan used to purchase the property, IFF is supporting Corktown Health’s expansion by serving as the owner’s representative for the Hazel Park project. This continues a long-term relationship between IFF and Corktown Health that has helped facilitate the organization’s growth in several ways. In 2018, Corktown Health used a $1.425 million loan from IFF to purchase and renovate a facility the organization had been leasing, creating a permanent location for inclusive health care in Detroit’s Corktown neighborhood. By purchasing its building, Corktown Health was able to fix its costs and eliminate the possibility of rent increases, providing the organization with long-term financial stability. And, by renovating the facility to open the health center and generate additional revenue through reimbursable services, Corktown Health was able to reinvest net income into service delivery to provide care to patients with no income and no insurance while also building a cash reserve.

That, combined with the organization’s participation in a 2020 cohort of the Stronger Nonprofits Initiative, a financial feasibility study completed by IFF’s real estate team in Michigan, and an American Rescue Plan grant provided by Oakland County, MI, positioned Corktown Health to move forward with its plans for the new location in Hazel Park.

“This clinic, here on the John R. corridor [in Oakland County], is critical to improving access to affordable, quality health care because it is meeting people where they are, here in the community,” said Oakland County Executive David Coulter at the recent groundbreaking. “Corktown Health is the gold standard for health services for underserved communities. It’s a level of care we should strive to provide to everyone.” 

Click the image below to watch a segment from CBS Detroit about the Hazel Park groundbreaking.