Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Alliance seeks several grants

Grants, grants and more grants. This is what the Prescott-Nevada County Health Alliance discussed at its meeting Friday, Oct. 14.

Vicki Willis, with the Boy Scouts of America, told the group of a grant for an in-school program based on Boy Scout principals. The program, Learning for Life, is based on ethics, values and leadership, all important to scouting.

She said there will be $2.9 million available for the K-12 program for five years.

Willis asked if the PNCHA was interested, as it would have to be the group to apply for the grant. The program, she said, has 61 lesson plans and can take children from basic life lessons all the way to college life and their career as they get into high school.

Prescott Elementary School, she said, has a similar program done through the counselors office. The program is adaptable and open to everyone. According to Willis, no one can fail the program.

Susan Rumph said the PNCHA would have to show a network and put forth a good proposal. But, she added, the funding for the Learning for Life program wont be available for at least another year.

However, should the PNCHA be interested, Janet McAdams, a member of the group, has been through training in how to write this grant and can write it properly, Rumph said.

Rumph talked about a grant through the Alcohol Tobacco Prevention Office for $1,500. She said each county in the state can apply for this grant, but the funds must be used for prevention.

Actually, the grant is for community coalition development and no one else can compete for it, she said. If you (the PNCHA) dont want to apply, no one else in the county can.

The deadline to apply for the grant is in early December, but the grant providers need to see the PNCHA is interested, Rumph said, by a motion in the minutes. This was done.

As the funds can only be used for coalition development, McAdams suggested a planning retreat for the organization to develop plans for the coming year. This, she said, could be done in the way Leadership Nevada Countys retreat is done.

The Leadership group has its retreat at Grandview Prairie in Columbus.

Edie Greenwood said the PNCHA could have an evening or weekend retreat and invite younger people to get them interested in the PNCHA.

Greenwood also told the group about a diabetes grant for up to $10,000. The grant, if applied for and received, could only be used for educational purposes and the project would have to be completed by March 2006.

McAdams said there is another $10,000 grant available for exercise and nutrition in the schools. The application for it must be in by Nov. 14, if anyone is interested.

In other business, Greenwood updated the members on the recent Health-A-Rama, saying 29 prostate screenings were done, with Dr. Mike Young performing the digital rectal exams.

Phil McAdams, PNCHA president, said more than 400 people showed up for the event, held in the Potlatch Building. I only heard good things about it.

Greenwood said she was upset because the Red Cross didnt show up with its bloodmobile. We told them the date six months in advance, and where it would be. However, representatives from the Red Cross called a few days before the event saying they would be in Prescott on Sept. 20 for the blood drive.

Greenwood informed them their services wouldnt be needed then as the Health-A-Rama would be over. She also said if the Red Cross couldnt bother to come up when needed, another agency could be contacted for these services.

There was one problem with the Health-A-Rama, she said, a bottleneck at the cholesterol screening table. Next year, she suggested, people may need to be given numbers and called when its their turn to be screened.

Otherwise, she said, the Health-A-Rama went well.