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Founder and CEO
Children’s Healing Center
Founder and CEOSince opening the country’s first recreation center for children with weakened immune systems and their families in 2015 on Grand Rapids’ east side, Amanda Barbour has grown the Children’s Healing Center to become a refuge for nearly 3,000 kids.
The idea for Children’s Healing Center stemmed from Barbour’s cancer diagnosis in her early 20s. While being treated at Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital, Barbour witnessed children fighting for their lives but who were isolated and alone.
Over five years of gathering community support, Barbour raised $3.2 million to launch the center in 2015. Since opening, the center’s membership has grown from 50 families to 275.
That rapid success has prompted the need for a larger location in West Michigan and also spurred plans for a second location in Ypsilanti Township, which secured $5 million in state budget funding in 2020. The southeast Michigan location is on track to open in July, while the new Grand Rapids location is set to open in September. The two projects represent more than $10 million in new construction.
The state budget allocation also allowed Children’s Healing Center to develop a pilot program with Priority Health that tests a reimbursement model for its members and tracks health outcomes to better understand social determinants of health in the healing process.
In addition to her work leading the Children’s Healing Center, Barbour serves on the First Steps Kent Commission’s board as well as the Community Impact Council for the Catholic Foundation of West Michigan.