Grant Project Types

1.Project Planning: Grants between $5,000 and $20,000 are available to support the planning of projects requiring further research/investigation, outside expertise or significant inter-agency collaboration. The goal of Project Planning is to incorporate the resulting information into a successful, larger-scale full proposal or to determine that the project should be postponed or not carried out.

Project Planning grants were created in response to receiving proposals that did not include sufficient literature review, environmental scanning (investigation into the best practice models, strategies and success rates of others conducting similar work locally and nationally), baseline data to measure progress, outcome indicators, sustainability planning and input from experts in the given field. Without these components, proposals are often declined.

2. Direct Services: Grants are provided to support projects that increase access to preventive, primary, oral and behavioral health services and/or promote healthy eating active communities such as regular physical activity and healthy eating habits. Proposed projects should be designed to improve individual and/or community health outcomes.

Examples of Direct Services' grants include:

• Start-up or expansion of a primary care or dental clinic
• Healthy eating active communities promotion initiative within elementary schools
• Primary care outreach and engagement in order to increase number of clinic patients

3. Organizational Capacity Building: Program excellence requires a strong organization with a well-developed management infrastructure. Organizational Capacity Building enables organizations to identify their own management priorities for strengthening or expanding management operations.

This category provides support to organizations with a clear plan for increasing their effectiveness, efficiency and sustainability. This may include, but is not limited to, staff training, information management, program design, development and evaluation, business planning for revenue-generating activities, marketing and communications, financial management, board development, executive leadership training and strategic planning.

4. System / Policy/Environment: Grants are provided to agencies supporting a variety of strategies designed to improve public policy and inter-agency procedures leading to increased system effectiveness and efficiency. Other grants are provided to make community environments more health promoting.

Examples of system /policy/environment requests include:

• Expanding eligibility for a public health program
• Incorporating Complete Streets into local government development policy
• Advocating for daily physical education requirements for students
• Fluoridating a public water system