With nearly every new venture that anyone begins, the thought of funding needs to be brought into consideration. Funding can come from angel investors, non-profits, and even governmental agencies. It all comes down to who can benefit, and what can benefit from this proprietary venture, and whether the elevator pitch catches their attention quick enough. Or accepted through an extensive application process with these governmental agencies. When accepted, all the nitty gritty details must come to the surface. How much funding does the program need? What is the main objective, and how long will it take to meet? These are a few of the questions that will need answered to the potential program funders. We must incorporate all the information into one solid program directive to get accepted for the funding. The targeted population here in Casper, Wyoming will be the adolescent aged individuals, both male and female. This is to promote their health with physical activity habits that they can take with them into their future.
Grants for community health promotion is a large contributor to all different kinds of health within certain communities. There is funding for nearly anything you can possibly think of. You can receive funding in a large lump sum, or a specific amount each year for a set number of years. The grant that I found that will go along with my health promotion program is the Health Promotion and Disease Prevention Research Centers: 2022 Special Interest Project Competitive Supplements (SIPS). This grant uses special interests to promote health within a community in different sectors, such as: health disparities, health promotion, access to care, and much more. There are four domains that are offered in this grant; however, this program will be directed towards domain II which is environmental approaches that promote health and support/reinforce healthful behaviors (CDC, 2022).
This is a governmental grant that is offered by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, along with the National Institute of Health. The purpose of the funding is focused around the four domains, which are as follows: Domain I: epidemiology and surveillance, Domain II: environmental approaches that promote health and support and reinforce healthful behaviors, Domain III: Healthcare systems interventions, and finally Domain VI: community programs linked to clinical services (CDC, 2022). The type of activities that are supported in the grant are physical activity to reduce health disparities or chronic illnesses. Securing good environmental factors for adolescents/young adults (AYA). Disability and health data collaborative: using data to promote the health and wellness of people with disabilities. Disabilities can include anything that is a physical disability, or even mental health problems. These go right along with the current objectives for this program since the desire to expand the amount of fitness centers and other activity locations for adolescents, which is the served population.
The eligibility requirements of this grant aren’t as extensive as other grant applications, however, there are still the underlying factors that must be considered. Non-Profits, Public and state-controlled institutions of higher education, private institutions of higher education, along with some additional eligibility requirements that need to be met to be accepted. Hispanic-serving institutions, historically black colleges and universities, tribally controlled colleges, and universities, and finally Alaska native and native Hawaiian serving institutions are other eligibility requirements. Foreign organizations are not eligible for this grant. I think if we were to become a non-profit, then we would be considered in the application process.
The overall amount of funding for this grant is 8,280,000 dollars, which can be divided up between up to 14 different awards. There isn’t necessarily a ceiling or floor amount for the funding, it would be split between who was awarded, but the maximum amount that can be awarded in a 12-month period is 1,990,000 dollars. This transfer of funds can be direct or indirect to the organization, and the span can be two years, where another acceptance may be required for further funding (CDC, 2022). With the time frame of our program, we would potentially need to apply for the second year. However, with our SMART goals, most of our objectives would be close to being met within the first year.
As stated in the previous sections, our programs mission aligns with this health promotion grant, and application of our objectives within our community. Finding our way to obtaining buildings for more fitness centers can be easy with the amount of large commercial shops that are around here. Converting them into a fitness center would be fairly easy. Leasing the buildings will give us the ability to pay over a longer span of time. And with the other extracurricular activities, volunteer work would be obtained through other local corporations/ organizations. Special interest projects and competitive supplements (SIPS) can be placed into a broad category within our community. With hiking trails, kayaking, swimming in lakes or rivers, and cycling around the city are all supplements of health that can be done with a small amount of funds. The relevance of adolescents and young adults pertaining to this grant and the program is also aligned.
According to Walsh (2016), a health promotion program budget must put employment factors, building fees, equipment, utilities, and other investments into consideration on top of the larger expenditures. No body really budgets in the small expenditures that happen throughout the entirety of the program. However, our program will keep those in mind, and shoot for volunteer work over employment. Of course, the main people of the Non-Profit will be on some sort of salary, but it will be a smaller amount. Making payroll lower at the beginning, can really save up money for the larger expenditures like fitness center buildings and trails being built. Once the larger factors are established, then payroll may begin to rise. According to Walsh (2016), budget lines should be determined and set forth for at least six months’ worth of operations, so that funds will always be available.
A budget line of ours would be the coordination of fitness centers with at least two more facilities. Typical pricing would be per square footage of the commercial property that is being leased. On the website cityfeet.com (2022). There is a 2,300 square foot commercial property that is being leased for 11 dollars per sq. ft./year. Added up, that would be a total of 25,300 a year, with monthly payment being 2,108 per month. Finding another one along those lines give or take even 10,000 dollars, then our month expenditure would be minimal. The biggest expenditure would be providing all the equipment for the facilities. According to Gym Pros (n.d.), you can purchase nearly every piece of workout equipment at wholesale pricing with the more product bought, the more you are discounted, and can be paid in installments. Finding an accurate number without actually having a full layout of the facility would be difficult. Furthermore, giving our program a 450,000-dollar budget per year for equipment between both facilities would suffice.
When it comes to building trails, we wouldn’t necessarily need to use concrete or asphalt for all of them. Most of them can be rant through with a skid steer in order to level off the ground or clear any debris out of the way. The trails in town to use for cycling, running, or simply walking would be in consideration, however, that wouldn’t be until further. The most important line item in our budget would be getting the facilities up and running, with construction costs for internal walls and screwing the machines down to the concrete. When it comes to payroll, I believe 50,000 a year per board member would be affordable at the beginning. That would put us at four board members, 200,000 a year for payroll purposes. Advertisement would be fairly minimal with the non-traditional means of social media. We can also conduct 5K, 10K, or even half marathon events to bring people to us. Managerial positions would open upon the grand opening of these facilities as well. Giving us another budget line increase of about 80,000 dollars. Utilities expenses should be anywhere from around 5,000 to 10,000 per year respectively. Additional advertisement and merchandise would be around 2,000 dollars. So, with the current plot, it would be approximately 767,000 within the first year of operations. If we were guaranteed the grant for 1,990,000 in the first 12 months, then we will have a lot of left-over funds to disperse in other means, such as gym membership scholarships to individuals that cannot afford the fees. Building an obstacle course racing event would be in the works as well, however, it isn’t a priority.
This program to date has the official means of promoting health within our community of Casper for a few different reasons. The probability of funding is in the process of being applied. Available volunteers are already in place that would help us coordinate events like 5K’s and 10K’s to help raise awareness of the program. Also, the mirror Program here in town would be willing to work with us, and promote physical activity in the schools, the juvenile detention center, youth crisis shelter, and Wyoming Behavioral institute. The Big Brothers and Sisters Foundation would also work along with us in promoting health in our adolescent/ young adult aged students. Finding the location of the facilities was quite easy with the number of commercial buildings that are being leased. And finally, our board members are all willing to take the next step into implementing this program as soon as funding has been secured.
Staffing would be formally volunteer work at the beginning. However, finding the right candidates for our group members that help brainstorm ideas would give us the steppingstone. We would begin with just the President/Chair, Vice President/Chair, Operations coordinator, and treasurer. These four would be full time responsibilities, while the others would be part time. As the program ages, we can bring more people on to coordinate separate branches of operations. Sine the gyms will be locked 24/7, the only way to enter is with a key card. These key cards will log who was in the gym at a certain time, and how long they were there. This will assist us in knowing who was there when damages occurred. Having a cleaning staff for both facilities would need to be included as another part-time job. No body would need to be there through the night. Managers would just need to be there to ensure cleanliness of locations, and that employees are doing what they need to be doing. Also, to relay accounting to our board treasurer so that monthly income and expenditures can be tracked.
In conclusion, there is a lot that goes into this program, and though I have made it out to be easy, I know that people within the community would work together. The good thing about small towns like Casper, with only 60,000 people, we have a great sense of community. Volunteer work would be easy to find, and people would be more than willing to provide their time and resources if they know it is to help the community. Any health promotion program that gets advertised well enough, and reaches the right people, can flourish in its first year. That is our goal with the SIPS funding offer, and our local members of society. I believe bringing this information into the school district, then their physical activity classes may be increased. Instead of making P.E. classes easier to fit the needs of different individuals, maybe have it broken down into two separate classes. I have noticed in my personal training career, that having a calm, yet firm voice has shown to work well with individuals that aren’t too interested in exercise. All great things must start somewhere, and we can begin passing it off to our younger generation.
-Cyral I Callender III
References:
Center for Disease Control and Prevention. (2022). Health Promotion and Disease Prevention Research Centers: 2022 Special Interest Project Competitive Supplements (SIPS) RFA-DP-22-003. Retrieved from: https://www.grants.gov/web/grants/search-grants.html
Cityfeet.com. (2022). Casper, WY Commercial Properties for Lease. Retrieved from: https://www.cityfeet.com/cont/casper-wy/commercial-properties-for-lease?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI5tXxl_Hz9QIVXyGtBh0Q4QpxEAAYAiAAEgKrBvD_BwE&sk=deac17375fcf4cc88d3f8c782b6878e6
Gym Pros. (n.d.). Wholesale Gym Equipment. Retrieved from: https://www.gympros.com/wholesale-gym-equipment/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIxIu58_Lz9QIVJD2tBh2qcwvEEAAYASAAEgLwKPD_BwE
Walsh K. (2016). Managing a Budget in Healthcare Professional Education. Annals of medical and health sciences research, 6(2), 71–73. https://doi.org/10.4103/2141-9248.181841
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