Finalists Announced in Competition to Combat Social Isolation

The Administration for Community Living (ACL) and the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health has announced the winners and finalists of the first phase of the MENTAL Health Innovation Challenge to combat social isolation. Launched earlier this summer, the challenge will award $750,000 for development of an easy-to-use online system that offers suggestions for activities, programs, resources, and technologies that can assist people in connecting to others and engaging in their community. Out of 38 proposals, eight were invited to present their solutions to a panel of judges. No Wrong Door Virginia's Social Health Connector and United Way Worldwide's You Connect were chosen to advance to the competition's second phase. "Each was awarded $75,000 to support continued development and testing of their solution as they compete for a first-place prize of $450,000 and a second-place prize of $100,000," notes ACL. The winning system will be announced and demonstrated in January at the annual CES trade show produced by the Consumer Technology Association.