The Healthy Starkville Committee will be offering $25,000 in grants to individuals, businesses and organizations that join in the committee’s push for healthier lifestyles in the city.
In 2011, Starkville was named Mississippi’s healthiest hometown by Blue Cross Blue Shield Foundation. Ron Williams, committee member and assistant professor in the Department of Food Science, Nutrition and Health Promotion, said half of the award money will be distributed as grants.
Chris Gottbrath, incoming president of the Healthy Starkville Committee, said the grants can be used toward healthier food choices, better exercising opportunities and to increase awareness of the healthcare and wellness resources available to the public.
“The goal is to do things within the community that will help citizens of Starkville to be healthier,” Gottbrath said.
The committee’s award money will be split into 20 mini-grants that will be worth between $500 and $1,000 and one larger grant that will be worth up to $5,000. The mini-grants will not require any kind of matching funds, but the $5,000 grant will require some reciprocation.
Williams said the grants could impact both the city and the university.
“The grants offer individuals and organizations funds to help improve the community both on the Mississippi State campus and in Starkville,” he said.
Williams said the Healthy Starkville Committee is interested in and determined to help any project that might have a positive effect on the Starkville community.
Some of the committee’s goals include increasing awareness of available parks and recreation facilities, promoting community activities that encourage a healthy lifestyle and recognizing individuals and groups who are promoting such lifestyles. The grants will work to make these and other goals become reality.
Ronald Cossman, committee member and associate research professor in the Social Science Research Center, said the grants are available to anyone willing to put in the work.
“We would be really interested in seeing proposals from student organizations or individuals with a good idea,” he said. “We’re not hung up on who the proposals are coming from.”
He said projects submitted in grant applications must address a clear, health-related issue in the community, they must be likely to have a broad impact on the community, they must have outcomes or impacts that can be measured and they must show a possibility for sustainability of the initiative.
Cossman said the committee is able to fund two graduate students in the Department of Food Science, Nutrition and Health Promotion to assist with the recipients of the grants.
Each recipient will be assigned two graduate students and two faculty members to help ensure the projects reach their full potential.
Cossman said he believes the expertise of the graduate students and faculty members, along with the ideas and strategies of the grant recipients, will make it possible to initiate and sustain the projects.
Gottbrath said if these grants establish successful projects, it would definitely be a goal of the committee to continue offering them in the future.
“Hopefully, we’ll have a bunch of people apply, and we can get some good programs going,” he said.
The application is available on the committee’s website, and interested individuals are encouraged to apply.
Frequently asked questions about both types of grants can also be found on the website.