Community Health Mini-Grant

URMC faculty, staff, and community partners working on community health improvement efforts are invited to apply for the next round of the Community Health Mini-Grant Awards. Please note that some changes have been made to the Request for Proposals (RFP) and grant process; therefore, please read this message and RFP carefully.

Applications are now being accepted for Community Health Mini-Grants for up to $1,000 to help offset costs associated with community health projects and research. Below are the details.        

Grant Sponsor

Center for Community Health, University of Rochester Medical Center (URMC).

Eligible applicants

Faculty, staff, and advanced trainees (post-docs, residents, etc.) at the University of Rochester Medical Center, and community partners associated with a community-based organization with 501c3 status are eligible to apply. The URMC or community applicant must be part of a community-URMC partnership with activities serving the Rochester/Monroe County/Finger Lakes region.

Purpose

To provide small grants up to $1,000 to support the development, strengthening, or evaluation of community-URMC health improvement partnerships and collaborations for research, education, intervention, or service. In general, funds could be used to:

  • Initiate new research or program partnerships between URMC and community partner(s);
  • Help sustain ongoing community efforts in periods of transition (e.g., between grant funding);
  • Help existing partnerships grow to the next level (e.g., adding research activities to an ongoing community service project).

Definition of Community

For the purposes of the Mini-Grant program, note that “community” refers to community members, persons affected by a condition/issue being addressed or studied, and other key community stakeholders, including community-based health practitioners.

Details

The mini-grants will be one-time awards, limited to one community project per year, per partnership. However, exceptions may be considered under unusual circumstances. The intention is to fund a wide range of projects. Ordinarily, applications are accepted on a quarterly basis in February, May, August and November on the 10th of the month. However, due to changes made to the RFP and grant process, which delayed the posting of the RFP for this quarter, the new deadline for applications this round is August 24th by noon; award decisions for this round will be made within four to five weeks.

Examples of grant-covered expenses include:

  • Research-related expenses (e.g., research questionnaires);
  • Focus group expenses (e.g., transcription, facilitation, transportation/parking fees, child care for participants’ children, non-cash incentives);
  • Meeting space rental;
  • Refreshments for meetings (up to $400 per grant);
  • Materials and supplies.

PLEASE NOTE:

  • These awards should not be used to replace funds already allocated or available in funded grants, or to support personnel expenses.
  • If your budget includes food/refreshments, no more than $400 per grant award will be allowed.
  • If your budget includes incentives for program or research participants, gift cards are allowed. Cash incentives are not permitted under the mini-grant program.
  • When developing your project and budget, keep in mind that all grant funds must be expended within six months of the award date.  Requests for grant extensions will not be approved.

To Apply

The application deadline for this quarterly round has been extended to August 24th by noon. The application and instructions are located here

under “Mini-Grants.” As described in the application instructions, both URMC and community partners must submit a brief letter or e-mail stating their support for the application.

 

If you have any content questions regarding the Mini-Grant Program, please contact Gail Newton at gail_newton@urmc.rochester.edu or (585)224-3057.  For any process questions, please contact Judy Russell at Judith_russell@urmc.rochester.edu or (585)224-3062.

Grant Review Process

A Review Committee comprised of three members, including two URMC faculty or staff and one member from the community, will review each application. Reviewers will complete a rating sheet for each application that includes both a numeric rating and comment section. Funding decisions are made based on the rating sheets and availability of funding. Applications are judged on the following criteria:

  • How project activities will contribute to a community-URMC partnership;
  • If project activities are consistent with the purpose of the Mini-Grant program;
  • If project activities support achievement of the project’s purpose;
  • If the budget is complete and reasonable to meet the goals of the project and within funding guidelines;
  • If the project activities support and contribute to the partnership’s long term goals;
  • If all of the community/URMC partners are clearly identified and relate to the project.

In addition to notifying applicants who are awarded funding, letters will be sent to applicants who are not funded, which will include suggestions by the reviewers to help strengthen applications in the future.

 

NIH Funding Acknowledgement ** Important ** All publications resulting from the utilization of CTSI resources are required to credit the CTSI grant by including the NIH FUNDING ACKNOWLEDGEMENT and must comply with the NIH Public Access Policy.