Rockford Sun

The City of Rockford’s Health and Human Services Department is providing a Health Literacy Micro-Grant opportunity for community-based organizations in the city. These micro-grants aim to support initiatives that promote health literacy and COVID-19 adoption among residents, including access to the updated COVID-19 vaccine.

Anqunette Parham, Executive Director at the City of Rockford’s Health and Human Services Department, highlighted the importance of collaborating with community-based organizations in reaching at-risk populations: "Working directly with community-based organizations that are entrenched in people and parts of our community that are most at-risk for poor health outcomes, has been at the heart of the Advancing Health Literacy Project since our initial application for funding from the federal government. We are pleased to extend that reach even further, and have the opportunity to spread the critically important message of the importance of health literacy in communities of color, in more creative ways with new, fresh and hopefully innovative approaches. We look forward to what will come out of this process."

The micro-grant details are as follows:

- Application Period: December 11th, 2023, to January 8th, 2024

- Grant Amount: $7,500.00 - $10,000.00

- Eligibility: Open to active community-based organizations within Rockford that have previously attended Rockford Ready Health Literacy and Cultural Humility Trainings and serve the zip codes 61101, 61102, or 61104.

The funding will focus on two areas:

1. Health Literacy Promotion: Organizations will share information about individual and/or organizational health literacy strategies in Rockford.

2. COVID-19 Vaccination Promotion: Organizations will promote the COVID-19 vaccine through program themes such as the science of the vaccine, accessibility of the vaccine, the seriousness of "Long COVID," the relevance and threat of COVID-19 infection today, and how to keep the community safe.

Interested organizations can access the application form on the Rockford Ready Initiative's official website [rockfordready.org]. The deadline for submission is January 8th, 2024, and applications will be reviewed by the Rockford Ready Health Literacy Task Force. The successful grantees will be notified by January 15, 2024.

Shelton Kay, a member of the Rockford Ready Health Literacy Task Force, emphasized the value of grassroots community organizations in reaching the target population: "Grass root community organizations already have a relationship with the population we are trying to reach, that may not realize the value of their involvement in this initiative. [This funding opportunity] gives them the opportunity to express themselves in whatever creative ways they may choose."

For additional information or inquiries regarding the Rockford Ready Micro-Grant, please contact Rockford Ready at rockfordready@rockfordil.gov.

The City of Rockford's Health and Human Services Department serves as the designated public Community Action Agency for Winnebago and Boone Counties. Their goal is to break the cycle of generational poverty and mitigate the immediate effects of poverty on individuals, families, and neighborhoods.

The Rockford Ready Initiative is a health initiative for the community, by the community, in partnership with the City of Rockford, the University of Illinois Chicago (UIC), College of Medicine, Office of Health Literacy, UIC College of Medicine Rockford, CURA Strategies, and trusted leaders in Rockford. This program is supported by the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health/Office of Minority Health of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) as part of an award with 100 percent funding by the OASH/OMH/HHS.

For more information, please visit the official website of the Office of Minority Health at https://minorityhealth.hhs.gov.

For additional details, please follow this link: https://rockfordil.gov/CivicAlerts.aspx?AID=119