FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Heather White
Communications Coordinator
Revere CARES Coalition
[email protected]
781-485-6404
Mini Grants Will Fund Residents’ Ideas for a Healthier Revere
Total of Over $23,000 Available for Community Proposals
REVERE (October 23, 2015)—For the first time since Revere on the Move began offering mini grants, the program will partner with the Alcohol, Tobacco, and Other Drugs Task Force to fund residents’ ideas that continue making Revere a healthy place to work, play, and raise our families. Both initiatives of the Revere CARES Coalition and their community partners welcome ideas from community organizations, City departments, schools, neighborhood organizations, businesses or youth groups to apply for funds.
“Our ultimate goal for these mini grants is to put money in the hands of our community to do things we may not have thought of or been able to do. The community knows best how to improve the health of the city, and what would work or not work,” said Sylvia Chiang, Director of Revere CARES.
The Revere on the Move Task Force, a partnership between Revere CARES and the City of Revere, is once again offering two types of mini grants. Up to $7,500 is available for permanent changes to the community through changes to policies, the way organizations do things (systems changes), or to the environment. Examples include community gardens, bicycle clubs at the Seacoast, and urban trails. Up to $6,000 is available for programs that may not have a permanent effect but may teach valuable skills or ready the community for longer-term changes. Examples include healthy shopping or cooking programs, and healthy biking or walking trainings around Revere.
The Alcohol, Tobacco, and Other Drugs Task Force (ATOD) is offering up to $10,000 to fund community ideas that reduce youth substance use, improve their mental health, and increase opportunities for positive youth engagement. Examples for reducing substance use in youth include any youth activities prescribed by the Above the Influence Campaign, setting up peer-to-peer mental health support groups, or small trainings on stress reduction and management.
To make the application and financial processes as smooth as possible, free technical assistance is available to all who wish to apply. “We want to help the community’s ideas be as strong as possible and to make implementing them as successful as we can. If someone has an idea that they aren’t sure quite fits, or they need help with the application, they can call or email us and we can help them. And we can also give help to awardees when they hit bumps in the road. The goal is to make these great ideas work,” said Viviana Cataño-Merino, ATOD Task Force Manager at Revere CARES.
Dimple Rana, Co-Leader of Revere on the Move and Manager of the Department of Healthy Community Initiatives stated that the task forces “are proud to have watched the community do so with healthy eating and active living for six cycles, and are glad to expand into addressing substance use and mental health as well. I am excited to see what the community comes up with.”
For more details, visit http://bit.ly/minigrants2016. For assistance with an ATOD mini grant, contact Viviana Cataño-Merino at [email protected] and for assistance with either of the Revere on the Move mini grants contact Dimple Rana at [email protected].
