Fresno State's Department of Recreation Administration is interested in collaborating on any appropriate grant applications to engage our faculty and students in the community. Please let me know if there is a way we can partner!
The U.S. Department of Health and Humans Services is now accepting proposals for the Children and Youth Resilience Prize Challenge. They are looking for "innovative community-led solutions to promote resilience in children and adolescents affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and other man-made or natural disasters."
Promoting youth resilience – their ability to adapt in the face of adversity – is critical to avoiding long-term negative mental health outcomes. The Children and Youth Resilience Prize Challenge will award prizes to innovative community-led solutions to promote resilience in children and adolescents affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and other man-made or natural disasters. The Challenge is recognized as part of the President's Unity Agenda and Mental Health Strategy.
The Challenge aims to:
- Award prizes to community-led solutions that promote resilience, advance mental health and well-being, and reduce the risk for negative mental health outcomes among children and youth
- Promote positive strategies and solutions that help children and youth – and their families and support systems – thrive
- Identify and elevate promising practices that promote culturally and linguistically responsive protective factors to improve resilience and advance mental health and well-being
- Support community-led innovation in promoting resilience among children, youth, and their families (in places such as community organizations, early childhood education settings, schools, primary care, and other children- and youth-serving or youth-led organizations)
- Increase understanding of gaps and opportunities to promote resilience, especially in underserved communities
- Catalyze action through public-private partnerships to broaden impact, address local needs, and promote sustainability
For the purposes of this Challenge, we consider community-led solutions to be those identified and driven by members of the community who are experts in their own contexts, needs, and solutions. A community-led solution involves community members working together – or in collaboration with other entities – to identify goals and develop plans that build on community strengths and implement those plans to achieve the goals.
Submissions are open now until July 7, 2023. Up to 14 finalists will receive $25,000 to implement and refine a pilot program, and potentially qualify for a grand prize of $300,000, or a runner-up prize of $175,000!
This challenge is part of the President Biden's Unity Agenda and Mental Health Strategy.
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Brandon Taylor
Assistant Professor
California State University, Fresno
brtaylor@csufresno.edu------------------------------