Community Responsive Grants Program

Applicants may apply for either a one-year planning grant up to $30,000 or an implementation grant for one or two-years up to $50,000 per year.

We don’t have health equity when some groups are favored with extra resources or advantages and other groups run into barriers that result in them getting less. This might have happened in the past, or may be happening now. We can achieve equity first by identifying those barriers that some groups run into in our health systems and services, and second working to remove them. This work can lead to health systems are more fair and just for everyone.

The Community Responsive Grants (CRG) program is based on the idea that those closest to a problem often have the best ideas about potential barriers and solutions. The purpose of this program is to use those community-led solutions to respond to community needs. These may be to address emerging opportunities, or to test new, or creative ideas. They may also be solutions that are based on the community’s experience and what it sees as the best ways to overcome the barriers to health equity it experiences.

We use the term community to refer to the specific group that is the focus of your work. This community is a group of people who have a shared identity, history, or experience. While your project may help a broad range of people, for this grant program, your community means those people who will directly benefit from your project. This may be a group with a shared identity, a common cause, common geographic location, similar health and health access needs, or other shared experiences or characteristics.

Projects most likely to be funded improve health equity by focusing on changing policies, practices, and perceptions that create barriers to health care and good health and align with one or more of MeHAF’s Four Goal Areas: equitable access, systems change, better health for specific groups, and shared leadership.

For information on past project funded through the CRG program, click here.