2005 Vermont Code - § 104b. — Community health and wellness grants

§ 104b. Community health and wellness grants

(a) The commissioner shall establish a program for awarding competitive, substantial, multi-year grants to comprehensive community health and wellness projects. Successful projects must:

(1) use comprehensive approaches designed to promote healthy behavior and disease prevention across the community and across the lifespan of individual Vermonters and address issues which may include promoting nutrition and exercise for children, community recreation programs, elderly wellness, lead poisoning abatement, obesity prevention, maternal and child health and immunization, mental health and substance abuse, and tobacco prevention and cessation;

(2) be consistent with the blueprint for health and other state health initiatives as well as the overall goals of the applicant community;

(3) be goal and outcome driven;

(4) use strategies that have been demonstrated to be effective in reaching the desired outcome; and

(5) provide data for evaluating and monitoring progress.

(b) The commissioner shall assist community projects by:

(1) providing technical assistance;

(2) providing access to best and promising practices and approved public policies;

(3) helping projects obtain and maximize funding from all applicable sources;

(4) providing other assistance as appropriate.

(c) No later than September 1, 2006, the commissioner shall establish a grant committee, which the commissioner or deputy commissioner shall chair, that shall consist of:

(1) the commissioner of education or designee; the commissioner for children and families or designee; the secretary of agriculture, food and markets or designee; the commissioner of disabilities, aging, and independent living or designee; and the director of health access or designee;

(2) a representative from the Vermont school boards association;

(3) a representative from the Vermont league of cities and towns;

(4) the administrator of the Vermont tobacco evaluation and review board or designee;

(5) a member of the governor's commission on healthy aging; and

(6) six individuals appointed by the governor representing local communities, collaboratives, or coalitions.

(d) The grant committee shall, consistent with this section:

(1) design comprehensive project parameters, including criteria for evaluating the success of community projects;

(2) create an integrated funding framework;

(3) determine grant application criteria and procedures that are community-friendly, including use of a single, simple grant application and simple reporting requirements;

(4) develop criteria for preparation of grants designed to enable a community to obtain initial funds for the purpose of preparing the community for application for a full grant;

(5) encourage and facilitate private participation in community projects;

(6) write requests for proposals to request grant applications; and

(7) review and score grant applications and recommend to the commissioner which grants to fund and in what amount for grant funding to begin no later than July 1, 2007.

(e) By January 15 of each year, the commissioner shall report on the status of the program to the general assembly, the senate committee on health and welfare, and the house committees on human services and on health care.

(f) The commissioner may adopt regulations pursuant to chapter 25 of Title 3, the administrative procedure act, necessary for the implementation of this program.

(g) The commissioner is authorized to accept donations or contributions from private sources for community wellness grants. (Added 2005, No. 215 (Adj. Sess.), § 322.)