We are pleased to kick-off our grants solicitation and application process for the August 14, 2012 grant submission deadline. As promised in our November 2011 letter, we expect that the information presented below will also frame the application process for our February 2013 cycle with some minor variations. We hope this allows longer-term planning on your part and reflects the long-term philanthropic strategies that we are embracing.

The Trust will be accepting applications in all four of the Health Care Division’s issue areas:

• Access to Primary Care (Tier 1 counties)
• Community-Centered Prevention (Tier 1 counties)
• Diabetes (Tier 1 and Tier 2 counties)
• Mental Health and Substance Abuse (Tier 1, 2 and 3 counties)

Proposals in these issues will be limited by the Tier designation of the county served; the Trust will accept applications based on the county’s Tier designation in both 2012 and 2013 (should they change). Funding for proposals in the issue area of diabetes will be limited to programs that are embedded in primary care medical homes or with ongoing mental health services and that have a strong likelihood of working with patients long-term (tracking data over time). Further information for proposals in the Diabetes issue area is available here.

As you may know, the Trust has been working for over a year now on an intensive, rural county strategy that will be locally led, reaching far beyond our traditional healthcare stakeholder groups. The initial three communities we have invited to be a part of this effort– called Healthy Places NC –are Beaufort, Halifax, and McDowell counties.

Program officers will engage with these three counties (based on their region assignment) in a variety of ways, spanning a five to ten-year effort that capitalizes on these communities’ existing assets to measurably improve the health of their residents. Fully implemented, the work will include 10 to 15 counties and a Trust commitment of $100 million over 10 years. Healthy Places NC is consistent with the Trust’s intent to be the private philanthropic leader in rural health improvement in the state.

County-specific questions regarding Healthy Places NC can be directed to the program officers, while general questions about Healthy Places NC can be directed to Allen Smart. We will be sharing a good deal of information regarding Healthy Places NC over the next 12 months.

In addition to our issue and county-specific work, the Trust continues to work on exciting and aligned efforts that will support and enhance our work. These include:

• Announcing the Trust’s first formal goal statements, which describe our commitments in specific and measurable public health metrics
• Establishing The New Rural – The Kate B Reynolds Charitable Trust Innovations in Rural Health Award, a national award to advance rural health innovation in North Carolina (to be announced shortly)
• Launching a more interactive and user-friendly website
• Partnering with the North Carolina Department of Public Health on Community Transformation Grants (CTG), an intensive county training program for Tier 1 counties that advances local policy around healthy foods, built environment, and joint use planning
• Partnering with Prevention Partners to pilot a county-specific effort to support employers’ efforts to help improve their low-wage workers’ health

For an initial conversation about proposals for the August cycle, we ask that all interested parties contact John Fulk, our Program Associate, by email at johnf@kbr.org or by phone at 866-551-0690.

As always, an advance consultation is required before submission of a proposal, and can be scheduled by contacting John. Advance consultations should be completed well before August 14th. Deadline for online submissions is August 14, 2012 at 5:00 p.m.

Click here for more information.