Featured Grant Opportunity: The Highmark Foundation’s Creating a Healthy School Environment Grants

The Highmark Foundation is building lasting change in schools through their Creating a Healthy School Environment grant program.  The grants are available to schools in central and western Pennsylvania and in West Virginia who present programs within three categories in order to improve health and wellness in their schools: Building Sustainable and Lasting Changes in Schools; Advancing Excellence in School Nursing Awards; and Meeting Health Needs Through Supportive Services. Creating a Healthy School Environment grants fall under the Building Sustainable and Lasting Changes in Schools focus area. Priority Areas for the grant program are Bullying Prevention, Child Injury Prevention, Healthy Eating and Physical Activity, and Environmental Health. Applicants must select one and only one priority area on which to focus their funding requests.

In Pennsylvania, grants of up to $10,000 will be awarded to 20 districts implementing programs that improve access to quality school-based health and wellness programs. Mini-grants up to $5,000 will also be awarded to 20 non-public (private, parochial and charter) schools in Pennsylvania. Schools in West Virginia are only eligible to apply for $5,000 mini-grants; awards will be granted to 15 schools.

Applications due Friday, March 18, 2016.  You can find more information at the Highmark website www.Highmarkfoundation.org or follow this link for complete program guidelines:  http://www.highmarkfoundation.org/pdf/2016 CreatingHealthySchoolEnvironmentGrant.pdf.

By Jen Adams