Special Needs Funding Under Fire

Charlevoix’s Bergmann Center closes, reopening in the works

By Art Bukowski | June 13, 2026

A Charlevoix nonprofit dedicated to serving those in the community with special needs is hoping to reopen after tensions over funding led to its closure.

The Bergmann Center empowers “individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities through education, employment, engagement and integration” through a variety of programs designed to foster independence, dignity, and community connection. It has served thousands of adult clients over more than six decades, and in recent months has served around 70.

The center closed on May 15 after leaders there said its funding model was not sustainable. It did not have a firm date to reopen at the time this story was written, but CEO Keri Laporte-Montero said she is committed to doing so as soon as possible. 

The bulk of Bergmann’s funding comes from state Medicaid funding that is administered by North Country Community Mental Health, and Bergmann leadership has been frustrated by perceived inflexibility with—and unanswered questions about—that funding.

After a May 29 meeting between NCCMH and Bergmann (along with other front-line providers similar to Bergmann) the decision was made to work to reopen Bergmann and work more collaboratively in the future.

“[The meeting went] as well as it could have gone,” Laporte-Montero says. “We all want what’s best for our people, and we just need to figure out a way to do that sustainably.”

“I thought it was a productive meeting,” adds Brian Babbitt, CEO of NCCMH. “There’s some detail yet to work out, but I definitely see a path forward.” 

Subsequent early June meetings delayed a projected June 8 reopening date as Bergmann and NCCMH are exploring more ways for Bergmann to supplement its funding. 

How We Got Here 

Bergmann is one of four disability-focused providers that receive state Medicaid funding that is administered by NCCMH. The others are Grand Traverse Industries (which receives funding from NCCMH for its Mancelona facility and from Northern Lakes Community Mental Health for its main facility in Traverse City), Straits Area Services in Cheboygan, and Crossroads Industries in Gaylord.

While the funding (in the form of rates that reimburse providers for their services to clients) provided by NCCMH hasn’t decreased in recent years, some providers feel the rates simply aren’t adequate in the face of rising costs and other challenges. Medicaid funding makes up 70 percent of Bergmann’s budget, so movement with that funding has a massive impact.

“The bigger issue…is that rates as they are set with North Country are not sustainable for any of the providers,” Laporte-Montero said before the May meeting. “And we need to find a sustainable solution so that all of the providers can continue serving individuals in Northern Michigan.”

Grand Traverse Industries has more diverse funding sources that allow it to be less dependent on Medicaid, Executive Director Cindy Evans says. But rate issues from NCCMH have impacted the Mancelona facility specifically and have required it to be propped up with other GTI funds, something that’s not sustainable.

“If I look at our Mancelona program and it continues to run in a deficit, there has to come a point where you say, ‘We can't continue to supplement this if we’re going to stay strong [as an organization],’” she says. 

What’s more, Evans said before the May meeting that Grand Traverse Industries has not had similar problems with Northern Lakes CMH, which administers the Medicaid funding for their Traverse City operations.

“We haven’t been able to negotiate rates with (NCCMH), they just take a stance that this is it, this is what we’re going to give you,” Evans says. “Whereas with (Northern Lakes CMH), they sit down with us, we look at our costs, and we work out a rate that covers what it costs to transport individuals, provide the service—all those things.”

Laporte-Montero says she made the decision to close Bergmann while there were still enough funds to reopen in the future.

“I could have ran this program into the ground and we wouldn’t be able to have an opportunity to reopen,” she says. “So I made a difficult strategic decision to stop before that happened. And it was really hard drawing that line.”

The decision was at least in part to draw attention to the funding issue, not only with NCCMH but with the larger funding picture as a whole.

“The system needs a lot of work done to it, and it’s not going to happen if we just sit quiet and watch it happen to us,” Laporte-Montero says. “So we have to keep pushing and speaking loudly for what our people need.”

For his part, Babbitt said the rates provided by NCCMH have gone up over time, and suggested that the structure of programs like Bergmann—everything from its staffing to heavy reliance on Medicaid—might be the bigger problem. 

“I really think these programs will have to change their business model a little bit to be sustainable,” he said before the May meeting. 

Bergmann Returns?

Higher rates were not promised at the May meeting, though Laporte-Montero says the very fact that NCCMH sat at the table for open dialogue was a promising development.

Still, it is likely that Bergmann will need to supplement its funding sources to be sustainable. With lots of people discussing the Bergmann closure, Laporte-Montero hopes it may be at least a bit easier to demonstrate need and have meaningful conversations with potential funders. 

“I think that the attention that this has brought over the past couple months has potentially opened those doors a little further than they have ever been,” she says.

Both Babbitt and Laporte-Montero suggested that reduced staff over time might be on the table for Bergmann to help address its funding concerns. They plan to reopen with a smaller staff and adjust accordingly. 

“We’re not coming back fully staffed, so we’re easing the pressure there. And so we do need to continue to look at staffing,” Laporte-Montero says. “We’ve always paid very close attention to our ratios and codes, but we’re going to be diving even deeper into that.”

Learn more about the Bergmann Center at bergmanncenter.org.