Highmark Foundation Creating a Healthy School Environment Grants are Now Open! (PA and WV)
The Highmark Foundation is currently offering Creating a Healthy School Environment grants to schools in Pennsylvania and West Virginia. Applicants may be public or private schools located within the Highmark service area, which includes 49 Pennsylvania Counties and all 55 West Virginia Counties.*
Applicants must select 1 of the 4 priority areas on which to focus their projects: (1) Bullying Prevention, (2) Child Injury Prevention, (3) Healthy Eating and Physical Activity, and (4) Physical and Environmental Health. Projects must be based on and inclusive of evidence-based programs. The RFP provides a list of suggested evidence-based programs and resources for each priority area, as well as checklists to support baseline and progress data collection and project evaluation. The specifically suggested evidenced-based programs and resources are not required for the Child Injury Prevention, Healthy Eating and Physical Activity, and Physical and Environmental Health priority areas–other evidenced-based options may be proposed. Applicants applying for funds through Bullying Prevention, however, MUST select from the list of programs and resources provided.
Eligible applicants and allowable award sizes for 2015 are described in the RFP as follows:
PENNSYLVANIA SCHOOLS
1. PUBLIC SCHOOL DISTRICTS (Individual school buildings are not eligible to apply.)
a. Grants up to $10,000 will be awarded to 15 school districts implementing programs that improve access to quality school-based health and wellness programs. We are interested in public schools applying as districts for implementing programs.
b. If awarded, school districts should identify and select schools within their district to receive funding.
2. PRIVATE, CHARTER, VOCATIONAL AND PAROCHIAL SCHOOLS (Grades K-12)
c. Mini-grants up to $5,000 will be awarded to 20 non-public school buildings.
d. Private, parochial and charter schools may only apply for the $5,000 mini-grants.
WEST VIRGINIA SCHOOLS 1. PUBLIC, PRIVATE, CHARTER VOCATIONAL AND PAROCHIAL SCHOOLS (Grades K-12)
a. $5,000 mini-grants will be awarded to 15 schools.
b. West Virginia schools may only apply for the $5,000 mini-grants.
Potential applicants should note the funder indicates, “Grants will not be awarded exclusively for equipment such as treadmills, bikes, etc. Equipment will only be considered if necessary for the implementation of an evidence-based physical activity program such as SPARK.”
All applicants must apply online by the May 8, 2015.
*Highmark service area:
Western Pennsylvania Counties served: Allegheny, Armstrong, Beaver, Bedford, Blair, Butler, Cambria, Cameron, Clarion, Clearfield, Crawford, Erie, Elk, Fayette, Forest, Greene, Huntingdon, Indiana, Jefferson, Lawrence, McKean, Mercer, Potter, Somerset, Venango, Warren, Westmoreland and Washington
Central Pennsylvania Counties served: Adams, Berks, Centre, Columbia, Cumberland, Dauphin, Franklin, Fulton, Juniata, Lancaster, Lebanon, Lehigh, Mifflin, Montour, Northampton, Northumberland, Perry, Schuylkill, Snyder, Union and York
West Virginia: All counties in West Virginia are eligible to apply.
Good Luck! :o)
Grant Opportunity: Kaiser Permanente Programs
One of America’s leading health care providers, Kaiser Permanente, offers multiple areas of grant opportunities. Grants are broken down to national and regional sections. National grants are made to programs that serve multiple Kaiser Permanente regions and/or have a national impact on health and policy. Complete details on the national grant program eligibility as well as the program application are available through Kaiser Permanente’s website. Applications are reviewed on a quarterly basis throughout the year.
Regional grants are made available near the locations of Kaiser Permanente regional offices. The regions listed are Northern California, Southern California, Colorado, Georgia, Hawaii, Mid-Atlantic, and Northwest. From a broad perspective, the organization states that successful grant applicants fit within Kaiser Permanente’s funding priorities with work that examines social determinants of health and/or addresses the elimination of health disparities and inequities. Funding priority areas include community health initiatives, safety net partnerships, care for low-income people, and developing and disseminating knowledge but do differ by region and sub-region, so be sure to consult the region and sub-region relevant to your specific target population’s location.
With the RFP and grantmaking process different for each region, interested applicants within one of the listed regions should visit their regional page. Links to each regions grant section can be found under “Regional Grants” on the grants overview page. Additionally, we have broken out some information below:
- Central Valley (Organizations that meet basic eligibility requirements and seeking an unsolicited grant for a program that fits with current priorities may submit a Letter of Intent (LOI) application at any time.
- Diablo (Letter of Interest due March 2nd, 2015)
- East Bay (2015 information hasn’t been announced)
- Fresno (2015 application dates have passed)
- Greater Southern Alameda (2015 information hasn’t been announced)
- Marin/Sonoma (2015 information hasn’t been announced)
- Napa-Solano (2015 information hasn’t been announced)
- Roseville (Application due March 23, 2015–mandatory letters of interest were due in early February)
- Sacramento (Applicants who submitted required letters of intent due earlier in the year will be notified March 5th, 2015 if they are invited to submit a full proposal)
- San Francisco (Next solicitation is scheduled for Fall 2015)
- South Bay/San Jose/Santa Clara (Letters of Interest are due February 27th, 2015, Full applications due April 17th, 2015.)
- San Mateo (Applications due March 13th, 2015)
- South Sacramento (Applicants who submitted required letters of intent due earlier in the year will be notified March 4th, 2015 if they are invited to submit a full proposal)
Featured Grant Opportunity: General Mills Champions for Healthy Kids
General Mills offers a grant funding program, Champions for Healthy Kids, that focuses on promoting healthy nutrition and fitness for America’s youth.
We’re including some basic information on the grant below. For complete details, be sure to visit the General Mills Champions for Healthy Kids Grant webpage.
Program Overview: Projects offering physical activity and nutrition education to youth ages 2-18 that involve a Registered Dietitian (RD) or a Dietetic Technician, Registered (DTR) can be funded.
Award: 50 total grants of $20,000 each will be awarded. This is double the $10,000 award amount they offered annually for over 10 years!
Who Can Apply: Applicants must be 501(c)(3) non-profit organizations, schools, or units of government to be eligible to receive funding. In 2014, your Dietitian must be the official applicant. That person must agree to submit the application on behalf of your organization.
When is the Deadline? March 14th, 2014.
Something Cool or Unique About This Opportunity: This year the funder has included an optional proposal design self-assessment as part of the online application. While use is not required, once you have your project plan details in mind, you can use this tool to determine plan strengths and weaknesses and improve upon your design prior to application submission! Make good use of this valuable tool!
Where Can I Get More Information? Access the application here, and find FAQs put together by General Mills about the grant program here.
Featured Grant Opportunity: AstraZeneca Connections for Cardiovascular Health
The AstraZeneca Healthcare Foundation is offering grant funding through their Connections for Cardiovascular Health Program. This exciting program was first offered in 2010.
We’re including some basic information on the grant below. For complete details be sure to visit the AstraZeneca Healthcare Foundation program website.
Program Overview: Grant funding will be awarded to US-based, nonprofit organizations working to improve cardiovascular health in their communities.
Schools are eligible applicants, and a school-based project could be competitive, although we caution schools that they will be competing with all kinds of projects for cardiovascular wellness. While a project involving Physical Education (PE) program improvement one piece of a multi-component project, we aren’t confident a project that is aiming solely at PE improvement would be very competitive.
Award: The minimum annual request amount is $150,000. Awards typically range from $150,000 to $250,000 per year. In 2014, applicants may request funding for one- or two-year projects, although the funder indicates that only exceptional projects will be considered for multi-year awards and that even those applicants will have to complete an application process for the second year of funding–funding for both years is not guaranteed by an award made for the first year.
Who Can Apply: Applicants must be US-based, nonprofit organizations with a 501(c) designation or public schools, government entities or municipal institutions that are eligible to accept tax-deductable, charitable contributions. Both individual schools and school districts are eligible to apply! Organizations that have a 509(a)(3)designation are ineligible for funding unless the organization is renewing previously awarded CCH program funding.
When is the Deadline? 2/27/2014
How Much Work is Involved in the Application? This application requires quite a bit of effort. As would be expected with a large award size, the funded is requiring a thorough plan that is well-thought out and justified, and applicants need to present a substantial amount of detail on all aspects of their projects. The funder notes that in 2013, they received 500 applications and made 19 awards. This means 1 in about 26 applicants–3.8%–received awards, making this program extremely competitive. We include these statistics not to discourage you from applying but to underscore the necessity of a very detailed and well-articulated project plan in line with the funder’s rules, requirements, and overall aims.
Something Cool or Unique About this Opportunity: The application must be submitted online, but the funder includes a full PDF of all of the questions and notes to consider as you generate your responses. Even better, the Foundation provides a sample application for potential applicants to help them better understand the types of responses the Foundation is looking for! Make use of this great tool!
More Information/How to Apply: Visit the AstraZeneca Healthcare Foundation website for complete program information and click the “how to apply” tab.
We’ll continue to add more featured grant opportunities to the Insight Blog. If you would like more information on Insight’s grant writing, editing, or research services, please contact us by phone at 716-474-0981, email info@insightgrants.com, or fill out our online contact form.
Kenston School District Play Blue in Motion Community Day!
Back in 2010, the Insight Team had the privilege of working with the folks at Kenston Local School District in Ohio to complete a needs assessment for, write, and submit a Carol M. White Physical Education Program (PEP) grant. We were thrilled when Kenston’s grant was awarded for the full requested amount of $677,706 for Year 1, and $53,894 per year for Years 2 and 3!
Kenston’s program is known as Play Blue (Promoting Learning for Active Youth). The district has put the funds to great use through district-wide programming that includes an ongoing process for involving district staff and community members and partners in decision-making, implementation of wide-spread physical activity and healthy eating policy changes, and brand new age-appropriate fitness centers at each of their five school buildings.
Policy changes include instituting use of uniform assessments for Physical Education district wide, implementing “Brain Breaks” (breaks for physical activity during core academic classes) for all grades, and numerous changes in Food Service. Impressively, Kenston’s Food Service participates in the Farm to School program and purchases primarily locally grown produce, makes available and clearly labels foods for students with special dietary needs (including but not limited to Gluten-Free and Vegetarian options), and has ensured all beverage and food vending options are in compliance with recommendations made by the Alliance for a Healthier Generation.
The fitness centers serve all 3,100 students in the district in grades K through 12. Centers include a mix of standard cardiovascular fitness equipment (treadmills, stationary bikes, ellipticals, etc.), exergaming equipment (physically active video games), and strength training equipment (sand bells, climbing walls, obstacle course elements, Railyard, etc.) appropriate to the grades of the students served by each.
As part of the Play Blue initiative, Kenston held the 1st Annual Play Blue in Motion community wellness day on April 15, 2012. The event was planned as a way for local community residents and families to see all of the new fitness equipment, learn more about the program, and pick up some healthy tips for themselves. Kenston even had a special appearance by 1996 US Olympic Gold Medal gymnast Dominique Moceanu. The event brought together members of the community, families, students, and local businesses and turned out to be a great success!
Kenston put together a nice slideshow from the Play Blue in Motion community day, which had over 1300 attendees! Watch it here:
You may be wondering, “But does it work?” The answer is a resounding yes! Kenston is reporting a tremendous increase in the percentage of students who are active for at least 60 minutes every day.
Great job, Kenston!
Local Health Foundations as Organizers in the Battle Against Childhood Obesity: Part 1–The Greater Rochester Health Foundation
Last week was an exciting week for The Greater Rochester Health Foundation (http://www.thegrhf.org/) located here in Rochester, NY. Wednesday they held their annual Grantee Showcase, and Friday was the deadline for the 2009 Community Mini-Grants. (Watch for these in 2010!) As Insight was a 2008 Round 1 Community Mini-Grant awardee, I read the current Request for Proposals (RFP—the grant application guidance) and noted the key changes prior to heading over to participate in the Showcase. I was really impressed with what I found at the event and really disappointed to see there wasn’t a higher turn out by community members. I was pleasantly surprised to learn what a great opportunity the Showcase is for networking, learning about the wide range of currently active health initiatives in our community, further connecting with Foundation staff, and increasing my understanding of how this Foundation operates and what it views as important. I realize I have a hometown bias here, but I truly believe GRHF is a national model for health foundations as community leaders—particularly regarding childhood obesity reduction and prevention.
The goal of GRHF’s Community Mini-Grant Program is “To increase physical activity and improve nutrition for Monroe County children and youth from age 2 years through high school.” In 2009, Mini-Grants of $500-$7,500 (depending on the number of children to be served) were open to nonprofit organizations serving Monroe County children ages 2-18. Grassroots nonprofits who do not yet have 501(c)(3) status were even eligible provided an established bank account in the organization’s name existed. This is a prime example of one of my favorite things about this Foundation: accessibility. GRHF makes sincere and ongoing efforts to ensure that any organization with good ideas and commitment to increasing activity and/or improving nutrition can access Mini-Grant funds—even if the organization doesn’t have any grants experience and isn’t large. This is further reflected in the RFP layout. Every RFP this program has released to date has been easy to understand, but what amazes me is that they continue to get clearer. (Anyone who’s spent any amount of time applying for grants knows RFP clarity is a rare and wonderful thing.) Deb Tschappat is the manager for this program. An experienced grant writer herself, Deb does a terrific job of listing succinct, direct questions that keep the focus of the grant proposal scoring on the content and not necessarily the writing. As a proponent of physical activity programs—and particularly those that are locally-based—and a writer who has seen a lot of vague RFPs, I really appreciate this approach. I’m certain it was helpful to me when Insight applied to GRHF last year, and I have a very significant amount of experience with grant funding on this topic.
So… What did we do with our money? Insight created the Maplewood Kids Get Moving project. Maplewood Kids Get Moving is simply aimed: offer more opportunities for Maplewood Neighborhood children to be physically active. We did this by offering two different activity programs: MKGM Summer Program and Healthy Activity Preschool PlaY Times (HAPPY Times). Both programs have been entirely free to participants. The Summer Program ran three mornings a week for three weeks last summer in a local park and was open to children ages 2-10. HAPPY Times is meeting every Tuesday morning (October to June) at our neighborhood library and is open to children ages 2-6 and their parents or caretakers. For both programs, we utilized the research-based, proven-effective Coordinated Approach To Child Health (CATCH; http://www.catchinfo.org/) Physical Education (PE) program to give us a wide range of fun activities we knew would work. We also offer healthy snacks at every session. Most of the staffing is volunteer. Our grant from GRHF paid for liability insurance, CATCH training (which we opened to many other organizations in the neighborhood), a CATCH PE equipment set, Polar E40 heart rate monitors (www.polarusa.com/education), pedometers, obstacle course materials, jogging trampolines, etc.
At the Showcase I learned the many ways other grantees have used Mini-Grant funds. Here are just a few examples:
· Creating new opportunities for physical activity through afterschool fitness programs for adolescents and teens
· Parent and child cooking classes focused on healthy eating
· Expanded dance programs
· School-based skating programs operated by outside organizations
· Improved indoor and outdoor play spaces and playgrounds at child care centers and schools
· More physical activity equipment for afterschool programs, churches, and PE classes
You may be thinking, “This is all great, but does it really constitute a national model?” On its own, it’s just a great grant program, but combined with GRHF’s comprehensive approach, it does. The Mini-Grants are one piece of a larger effort that includes:
· a full strategic plan complete with measurable goals
· local research on trends, parent views, activity levels, and BMIs
· larger physical activity and healthy eating grants for area schools
· educating physicians and other primary care providers in obesity prevention and reduction practices
· Healthy Hero awards that honor individuals in the community that are working to reduce childhood obesity
· a 5-2-1-0 ad campaign that leverages stickers, magnets, flyers, mailings, billboards, TV and radio commercials, and parent education events (5-2-1-0 is a nationally-recognized model program. It reminds students and their caretakers that students should strive for: five fruits and vegetables per day, two hours or less of computer and TV time, one hour of active play, and zero sugary drinks.)
· partnering with other organizations and initiatives to go after major national funding streams in order to make policy and environmental changes
· support for other health projects (childhood obesity is a major initiative of the Foundation but not the only initiative) including neighborhood health improvement projects that include policy and environmental assessment and changes aimed at increasing physical activity and healthy eating.
GRHF is outstanding because it has recognized that the issue of childhood obesity is not one that is solved quickly or by one or two types of action. It takes efforts at all levels of the community and the engagement of many people and organizations to turn the tide. GRHF has adopted and invested in a wide range of efforts that will decrease childhood obesity in the Rochester Region by empowering each child to be active and make healthy eating choices every day!
Do you know a funder we should feature? If so, email us at info@insightgrants.com. I’d definitely like to talk about the Highmark Foundation, including but not limited to the Highmark Healthy High 5 School Challenge grants, so anyone who is willing to share their experience with that funder, please email!
