PowerUP Grantee Collaborative Brings U.P. Health Organizations Together for Learning and Connection
My UP Now | May 21, 2026
Nearly 80 health-focused nonprofits from across the Upper Peninsula gathered at Northern Michigan University this week for the 2026 PowerUP: Funder Collaborative for Grantee Success, co-hosted by Superior Health Foundation and the Michigan Health Endowment Fund.
The annual event gives U.P. health organizations dedicated time for professional development, peer learning, and collaborative problem-solving. This year's sessions covered board governance, small-team communications, and self-directed sessions on regional health challenges, topics shaped directly by participant feedback from last year's inaugural gathering.
The work of U.P. nonprofits is demanding. Organizations are delivering mental health services, emergency medical care, and countless other health supports, often with lean staff and stretched budgets. PowerUP was designed to give those teams tools and connections that help them do that work well.
Gogebic Community College received this year's Superior Impact Award for its use of SHF grant funding to expand emergency medical training in Gogebic and Ontonagon counties. With support from the grant, the college has extended Emergency Medical Responder classes into the Watersmeet area and added scholarship funding to lower barriers for volunteer EMS trainees. Six trainers, some traveling from as far as Wausau, Wisconsin, deliver the instruction.
The recognition reflects what grantee-centered funding looks like in practice: resources directed toward community-identified needs, with organizations determining how to put them to work.