Greater Falls Connections receives Health Disparities Grant. The Vermont Health Department (VHD) and Vermont Community Foundation recently awarded a roughly $74,000 Health Disparities Grant to Greater Falls Connections (GFC) in Bellows Falls, Vermont (VCF).
A community review committee was put together by VHD and the VCF and assessed each proposal. 48 applications totaling more than $8.8 million were submitted to VHD, according to Song Nguyen, MPH, Manager of Health Equity at VHD.
“We were unable to award each applicant, but are able to award 21 organizations totaling about $3.5 million. Evaluations from the committee were presented to the VHD Health Equity Integration Team to determine the funding amount,” said Nguyen.
The grant support will enable GFC collaborate with Friends For Change (FFC), a club in Bellows Falls that is democratically run, youth-led and adult-guided, trauma-informed, and play-based to implement Passion Empowerment Project (PEP). PEP is a programme that aims to engage youth and community members who have been affected by generational trauma and substance abuse. With a focus on finding methods to heal or have fun together, the PEPs will provide students the chance to share or educate their peers about a subject they are passionate about.
The award will also enable GFC and FFC contribute to the creation of the Community Opportunity Center, which is now in the planning phase and has strong support from the local community.
The award will also allow the director of GFC to work with the advisory board and staff to ensure that the most impacted individuals of the community are represented on the board.
In order to do this, the organization’s policies and procedures will need to be updated, and the board will need to have mini-workshops that are developmentally and culturally suitable for historically marginalized communities.
