San Bernardino County Department of Public Health Nutrition Program
Desert
Sierra Health Network-Mini-grants
Funding Priority

Funding priority will be given to applicants who reach the target population with nutrition education activities and promote the goal and the stated objective of the DSHN.

Examples include, but are not limited to:

photo of people dressed as fruits and vegetables
bullet Nutrition education that empowers FSNE eligible families to advocate for community and school nutrition and physical activity initiatives by informing and supporting FSNE families to become advocates for healthier communities.
bullet Expansion of existing nutrition education projects serving the target population (increased activities, sites or numbers of people reached).
bullet Promotion of physical activity as part of nutrition education. Stand-alone physical activity efforts are not allowable
Expertise in nutrition is not necessary to apply for funds. The DSHN and can provide access to approved educational materials, many of which are free, or downloadable from the Internet. We encourage applicants to be creative in developing their project and innovative in collaborating with the target population.

Mandatory Bidder’s Conference
A mandatory bidder’s information conference will be held approximately one month prior to the application deadline. You must participate in the conference to apply. There will be a teleconference option available for those unable to attend in person.

Funding Details
bullet All payments will be made in arrears (after project completion)
bullet The minimum award amount is $500 and the maximum award amount is $4,999
What does the sub-contract include?
Upon approval of your proposal, the Fiscal Agent will send you an agreement packet consisting of a cover letter, a Standard Agreement, Terms of Contract, approved Scope of Work, approved Budget, Invoice Form, Final Report Form, and Evaluation Report Form. Your agency’s authorized individual must sign and return the standard agreement within five working days of receipt.

Fiscal Agent
Applicants awarded a Mini-grant (Grantee) will enter into an agreement with San Bernardino County Department of Public Health (Fiscal Agent). Grantees will be considered subcontractors and are responsible for their own local, state and federal taxes, medical, disability or other benefits. Grantees will be required to submit a final report detailing how the project met its objectives, evaluation report, and invoice to the Committee within ten days of the end of the grant cycle.

Mini-grant Projects Previously Funded by Desert Sierra Health Network

City of Colton - Community Services Department Mission…Nutrition
Provide FSNE eligible adults and their families with nutrition education designed to encourage increased fruit and vegetable consumption and regular physical activity. This will include nutrition, fitness and empowement classes for youth and monthly community events for families, with food demonstrations, nutrition education and pa promotion.

Healthy Families International
Be Smart, Eat Right
Provide nutrition education to FSNE eligible school children in grades 1-3, to include presentation of Be Smart, Eat Right puppet show and assembly promoting healthy eating and physical activity at 3 schools. Parents and teachers will receive nutrition education materials for use in classroom and at home.
Budget Limitations
Mini-grant funds cannot be used for conducting health screenings, medical nutrition therapy, or obesity treatment programs; purchasing medical or physical activity equipment, food for meetings, plants, seeds, soil, or gardening equipment; lobbying elected officials or supporting political campaigns. See Appendix for Food Stamp Nutrition Education Policy Clarifications. You can use the USDA allowable and unallowable expenses chart for your project.

All projects must be designed with nutrition education as its primary focus. Examples include purchase of: nutrition educational materials and promotional items that cannot be provided by the Network for a Healthy California, one-time physical activity demonstration items, such as dynabands or jump ropes (less than $4 each), food and cooking utensils for nutrition education cooking demonstrations; and workshops for nutrition education and physical activity promotion.

Examples of acceptable mini-grant activities:
bullet Training for target audience members on how to advocate for improving access to healthier foods as a part of general nutrition education classes.
bullet As part of nutrition education classes to a group of parents, provide a map showing the walking distances to locations that provide affordable fruits and vegetables in the neighborhood. The map, when paired with empowerment information, can begin the process of the target audience pursuing environmental changes (safer walking areas, improved bus routes, improved quality of produce available in store, addition of farmers’ markets, etc.).
bullet Combining nutrition education discussions with photographs taken by target audience members. For example, teen participants learn about the importance of proper nutrition and physical activity in the prevention of chronic disease and the role of their environment. Teens become active observers of their neighborhoods by taking photographs and developing display boards. The display boards can be shared with other community members and leaders by the teens in order to promote actions for improving access to healthier foods.
Review Process
Funding may be granted for all or part of a proposed project. Evaluation of proposals will be conducted by the mini-grant Review Committee (Committee) comprised of reviewers representing the DSHN. A scoring matrix will be used to evaluate the applications. No member of the Committee can be associated with an organization submitting a proposal as a board member, staff member, client or volunteer.

Awards will be based upon the organization’s demonstrated capacity to address the goal and stated objective of the DSHN and clearly describe measurable objectives, implementation activities and evaluation strategies within the prescribed timeframe. Proposals selected by the Committee will require final approval by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). Priority will be given to projects that do not currently receive Network for a Healthy California funding. All decisions made by the Committee and the USDA are final. There is no appeal process for proposals that are denied.

If selected, the awardees may be asked to adjust activities to ensure compliance with USDA funding guidelines or maximize the effectiveness of the proposed project.

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