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Healthy Lifestyles Initiative
Deadlines | Guidelines | Requirements | Criteria & Areas of Interest | Application Procedures | Report Forms | Recent Grant Approvals | Printer Friendly Version
As part of a long-range planning effort, the Oklahoma City Community Foundation Trustees are currently evaluating the granting programs. We anticipate revisions to be completed in time for the April 1 deadline. The next grant deadline for grant programs will be April 1, 2009. Thank you.
The Healthy Lifestyles Initiative was an initiative created by the Trustees to promote the integration of simple physical activity, such as walking, into the daily routines of children and adults in central Oklahoma. The initiative seeks to assist organizations in developing innovative community-based programs that motivate people of all ages to engage in a sustainable program of daily physical activity and inspires them to adopt an active lifestyle that minimizes the potential of future illness and disease.
Grant support up to $7,000 will be provided to charitable organizations, schools, churches and park groups to develop new programs or significantly expand current programs related to promoting physical activity and wellness.
By developing partners and resources to create a community-based strategy to improve the health of residents living in central Oklahoma, the Oklahoma City Community Foundation seeks to accomplish the following goals:
1. Raise the awareness in the community of the benefits of exercise to good health
2. Build the infrastructure in the community to make it easy and fun for all residents to take part in a simple and potentially sustainable regimen of daily exercise
3. Increase the availability and awareness of public spaces of facilities and programs that encourage individuals to participate in daily exercise
4. Include exercise and basic health education as part of the school curriculum for all school students
5. Provide both school and non-school based opportunities for children and teenagers to learn and practice healthy lifestyle habits
Programs that encourage walking and other basic exercise on a regular basis to promote basic health and fitness among:
• Individuals who do not participate in regular exercise
• Individuals who are at risk for health problems for which regular exercise and activity would be beneficial
• Groups of individuals that would provide motivation to other individuals who do not regularly exercise to encourage their participation
• Programs that promote walking and other basic exercise in conjunction with a geographic location that provides a safe and appropriate place to walk. This would include promotion of walking activities at the location and/or the enhancement of the location to encourage greater participation
• Programs that encourage children and teenagers who do not currently participate in organized physical activities to walk or participate in regular daily exercise at school and after school locations.
*Or first business day after the deadline.
Guidelines
The Oklahoma City Community Foundation invites proposals from charitable organizations, schools, churches and park groups to develop and expand their programs and services related to promoting physical activity and wellness.
All programs proposed should:
• Occur regularly during the timeframe proposed (no less than three times per week).
• Be sustained for at least six months and have the prospect of being sustainable for a longer period.
• Have identified and measurable participation goals and activity levels.
• Address the creation of new activities or provide a significant expansion of an existing successful program to a completely new population.
• Provide matching cash and in-kind support for the funds requested and evidence of volunteer participation that demonstrates commitment on the part of the organization and other contributors to the activity and its sustainability.
• Incorporate the creative use of existing facilities and spaces that can be adapted or improved with minimal investment as the site for the program component to occur.
• Grants for equipment or facility improvement must be associated with a program component that addresses the goals of the Healthy Lifestyles Initiative and be for the primary use of the program.
SPECIAL NOTE: These guidelines exclude funds for construction of walking tracks and trails. Please refer to the program guidelines for the Margaret Annis Boys Trust or the Parks & Public Spaces Initiative for further information.
Requirements
1. Nonprofit organizations with a vested interest in building healthy communities may apply including, schools, churches, neighborhood organizations that have been in existence for two or more years to the date of application.
2. The organization must have fiscal accountability. A current statement documenting the financial status of the organization will be required.
Criteria & Areas of Interest
• Proposals should address the creation of new programs or the significant expansion of a current program or service. Once the proposal is accepted, program implementation should be initiated within three months and accomplished within six to nine months from the date funds are awarded. Grant will be available to qualifying organizations for proposals that fall within the guidelines outlined below:
• Programs that engage people of all ages who are physically “inactive” in a form of simple exercise occurring no less than three times per week.
• Efforts to develop new partnerships and collaborations among neighborhood groups, civic and charitable organizations, corporate entities and other groups to create a community-based physical activity program.
• Intergenerational or mentorship programs that bring together adults, children, youth and seniors to achieve physical health and activity goals.
• Marketing efforts to promote the program and the physical location of the program’s activities to increase the potential for individual participation and community support.
• Projects will be evaluated on the potential to increase the number of individuals regularly engaged in walking or other basic physical exercise.
Application Procedures
1. You must contact Sandy Wright at 405.606.2916 or Brian Dougherty at 405.606.2908 to determine the eligibility of your project and ensure you understand the guidelines before you develop your written proposal.
Proposals submitted without prior discussion with Community Programs staff will not be considered.
2. Complete the Organizational Information Form including the attachments requested. Questions must be completed in the space provided.
Organizational Information Form
3. Submit a Proposal Narrative, no more than five pages in length, in the order that addresses the following:
Organizational Overview and Need for the Project
Provide a brief overview of your organization (s), the programs and services currently provided the graphic area and the demographics (age, income levels and ethnicity, and special needs, if any, of the individuals served.
Provide a statement about why the project is needed, how this need was determined and the anticipated number of participants in the project.
Proposed Project Description
Describe your proposed physical activity project. Include information about the type of physical activity, startup activities, specific program components, incentives to motivate participants’ continued participation, marketing and promotional strategies to attract participants, volunteer recruitment and retention, and methods for tracking participant progress.
If the proposal includes physical improvements to the location selected for the program, please describe why they are needed and how these improvements are related to the proposed program.
Provide a timetable for the project, including anticipated project start and end dates.
Describe who will be involved in implementing the project, including their roles and qualifications.
If other groups will be involved through collaboration and partnerships, please describe their role and contribution
Describe in measurable terms, the goals and objectives you would like to achieve through this project and how these goals will be evaluated.
Location Evaluation and Improvements
Emphasis of the project should be on the actual program you plan to implement.
Creative use of existing spaces and locations that can be enhanced with a minimum of investment or improvement – using a church parking lot or existing park, adding some strategic signage or lighting, etc.
If improvements or enhancements to the proposed project site are necessary to carrying out the project, submit a site plan of the location that includes the proposed additions.
Budget
Provide a complete budget, both income and expense, for the overall project. Be specific about the amount you are requesting. Please use the budget form provided via the link below.
List other potential sources of funding received or being sought for the project.
Sample Budget
Sustainability
Outline the projects short term and long term plans for sustaining the project in the community and the short term and long term funding plans to continue the project after the funds are expended
Evaluation & Reporting
Applicants should provide a specific plan for establishing program goals and measuring both the outcomes and impacts of the proposed program.
Outcomes or the statistical data generated during the course of the project should include:
a. Headcount = number participating, served during the course of the project (unduplicated count for the total of the project rather than per activity)
b. Retention = number completing the program as outlined
c. Change = increase or decrease from the baseline data established at the beginning of the project
The evaluation process should also include a process for collecting and documenting the impacts or anecdotal stories that communicate the effect of the program or project on the community.
The proposal narrative outlining plans for program evaluation must answer the following questions:
- What are the goals of the program?
- Based on the program goals, what tangible and measurable outcomes are expected?
- What process will be used to establish the baseline of information from which outcomes, retention and changes will be measured?
- What kind of tool(s) will be used to measure outcomes and how will the information be quantified?
- How will the impacts or long-term effects of the program be collected and documented?
- Because we encourage programs that result in sustained health and wellness, what, if any, will be your process to track participants beyond the duration of the grant?
Applicants should submit examples of forms or documents that will be used for the evaluation process. For examples of program evaluation tools that can be adapted as needed by applicants, please visit Evaluation Tools.
Reporting
Grantees will be required to submit an interim report six months into the project and a final report at the end of one year. Six-month reports should include outcomes and impacts gathered to that point and may include a site visit by program staff.
Your program officer will conduct an exit interview with the grant representative either prior to or immediately after submission of the final grant report.
4. Complete the Proposal Abstract, which should be a summary of your written narrative. Use the only the space on the form provided. Attachments will not be accepted.
Proposal Abstract
5. Complete and submit the Checklist and Summary Sheet
Checklist and Summary Sheet
6. Submit 15 copies of the following order:
a. Organizational Information Form
b. Proposal Abstract
c. Proposal Narrative
d. Proposal Budget
7. Submit one copy of the following:
a. Applications Checklist & Summary Sheet
b. Required documents (items 1-6 on the Organizational Information form)
8. Mail above documents to:
Oklahoma City Community Foundation
P.O. Box 1146
Oklahoma City, OK 73101-1146
NOTE: Faxed or e-mailed applications will not be accepted.
Completed grant application packets must be received in the office by 5:00 p.m. of the deadline date. Grant application packets may also be hand delivered to 1000 N. Broadway Ave.
All grant applications that are prepared according to the guidelines outlined above will be reviewed by the initiative committee. Grant applications recommended for approval by the committee will be submitted to the Board of Trustees of the Oklahoma City Community Foundation at meetings in February, May and September. All grant applicants will be notified of the Trustees’ decision.
Please contact Sandy Wright at 405.606-2916 to discuss your organization's needs.
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Report Forms
Interim Report Form
Final Evaluation Report Form
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Recent Grant Approvals
Grant approvals from the April 2, 2008 deadline:
Langston University Extension -- $6,000 to support a jump rope physical fitness initiative for at-risk youth in northeast Oklahoma City.
Metropolitan Better Living Center -- $5,000 for the purchase of exercise equipment.
Greater Bethel Baptist Church -- $2,500 to support a fitness program for adults.
Grant approvals from the January 2, 2008 deadline:
No grants approved
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Updated Jan/08
