Aetna Foundation: Cultivating Healthy Communities Grant Program

Sponsor Name: 
Aetna
Amount: 
2,000,000
Description of the Award: 
  • Although Aetna expects to award up to $2 million in grants through this RFP. Applicants can request a total grant amount between $50,000 and $100,000 for the entire project period. Projects can last between 18 and 24 months, and must start between August 15, 2017 and October 15, 2017.

 

The Cultivating Healthy Communities (CHC) grant program is geared specifically to local nonprofit organizations that work with underserved, low-income, and minority populations in the continental United States. Through this Request for Proposals, we invite proposals that address the social determinants of health and participants’ physical, mental, social, and emotional well-being. This lens for understanding community health shaped our selection of the five domains shown below:
 
Domain & Indicators
 
Built Environment
• Improved walkability, bikeability, and public spaces in a community
• Increased access to healthy foods through development of new or enhanced retail spaces
 
Community Safety
• Decreased incidences of bullying, harassment, and/or intimidation in schools
 
Environmental Exposures
• Decreased exposure to air and water contaminants
• Increased understanding, monitoring, and reporting of local environmental hazards by community residents
 
Healthy Behaviors
• Increased consumption of fruits and vegetables
• Increased (at home) healthy meal preparation
• Increased physical activity and fitness
• Increased practice of stress reduction and self-care activities
 
Social/Economic Factors
• Increased job readiness and entrepreneurship skills in the fields of urban agriculture and clean energy
• Increased skills in financial literacy and planning (this must be proposed in combination with at least one Healthy Behaviors indicator).
 
We seek grantees committed to improving the health of their participants by focusing on activities that align to one or two of these domains. Applicants also must use at least one indicator in their selected domain(s) to measure their program’s impact. Throughout the life of their project, grantees will be held responsible for demonstrating progress along the indicator(s) of their choosing. We are especially interested in projects that advance resident- or youth-led initiatives and approaches that foster participants’ social engagement and reduce isolation.
Your Limited Submission application should include clear and concise information about the following items:
  1. Domain and Indicators: The domain(s) that your project will address and the indicator(s) it will use to measure results.
  2. Statement of Need: The specific need in your community that the project meets (100 words)
  3. Anticipated Audience: The characteristics of the individuals to be served by the project (100 words)
  4. Project Activities: The project’s activities and how these activities will respond to the stated need (250 words)
  5. Capacity: Your organization’s qualifications to carry out this project (150 words)
Limit (Number of applicants permitted per institution): 
1
Sponsor Final Deadline: 
Apr 14, 2017
To be considered as a Penn State institutional nominee, please submit a notice of intent by the date provided directly below.
This limited submission is in downselect: 
Penn State may only submit a specific number of proposals to this funding opportunity. The number of NOIs received require that an internal competition take place, thus, a downselect process has commenced. No Penn State researchers may apply to this opportunity outside of this downselect process. To apply for this limited submission, please use this link:
OSVPR Downselect Deadline: 
Monday, April 3, 2017 - 4:00pm