New community grant programs promote health equity

The two new grant programs are designed specifically to support projects that improve health equity through a focus on the social determinants of health — the nonmedical factors such as income, employment, education, housing and the quality of the places where people live, work, learn and play.

“For more than a decade the Wisconsin Partnership Program has supported community-driven efforts to address local health equity issues,” says Dr. Patrick Remington, chair of the Partnership’s Oversight and Advisory Committee and associate dean of public health at the UW School of Medicine and Public Health.

“However, both the school and the Partnership Program recognize the vital and urgent importance of addressing health equity more explicitly.” He says, “Our new grant programs bring a very intentional and strong health equity focus to our work, and our hope is to help support communities as they tackle the challenging issues around health equity.”

Each community grant program is designed with a unique scope and purpose:

• The Community Catalyst Grant program provides funding to support creative health equity approaches that aim to reduce gaps in access, outcomes, or opportunities. Catalyst Grants will support early-stage projects with innovative plans to reduce health inequities. The new grant program provides up to $50,000 in funding over two years.
• The Community Collaboration Grant program provides organizations with training and technical assistance, as well as funding, to address health inequities stemming from the social determinants of health. This grant aims specifically to support organizations with limited access to resources and high health equity needs in their community. The maximum award for this grant is $300,000 over four years.