Minority health grants target minority communities challenged by access to and lack of adequate healthcare and resources. Funding sources seek to increase communities' capacities by providing funding for services and resources.
State Grants
Some states offer minigrants---smaller pools of money usually in the range of $1,000 to $10,000---to nonprofit, faith, and community-based organizations that serve minority groups. These funding sources provide money for providing services such as cooking classes and fitness instruction to minorities. The Minority Health Program run by the Wisconsin Department of Health Services and Florida's State Partnership Grant Program's Closing the Gap grant encourage government, community, and private healthcare organizations to help address minority health needs. They do this by fostering screening, education, and awareness, as well as offering a statewide minority health strategy plan.
Federal Grants for Nonprofits
The Public Health Service Act was instituted by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in an effort to help community health organizations develop, implement, and institute projects; fund programs that integrate screening and outreach services; and provide treatment services and access to regular healthcare. Funding is also available to research the environmental factors that contribute to health problems among minority groups, such as asthma in youth, high infant mortality, diabetes, suicide, and HIV. Applicants can be private or nonprofit community groups, or the faith-based organizations that serve them.
Community Outreach Programs
The federal government's Office of Minority Health makes close to $1.5 million available for community outreach programs such as healthcare clinics and mobile cancer screening centers. Grants are designed to reduce health disparities among minorities, provide funding for research, provide access to healthcare for children, and provide services for disabled individuals including the hearing, visually, mentally, and physically impaired. For example, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Minority Health offers the Reducing Health Disparities Among Minority and Underserved Children grant under an initiative "designed to stimulate research that targets the reduction of health disparities among children." Eligible applicants include private-, public-, and state-controlled institutions of higher education; nonprofit organizations; state governments; the Native-American tribal government; and faith- and community-based organizations.
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