Network for a Healthy California Local Incentive Award (LIA) and Non-profit Incentive Award (NIA) Programs Request for Application

The California Department of Public Health (CDPH), Network for a Healthy California (Network) is releasing the Local Incentive Award (LIA) and Non-Profit Incentive Award (NIA) Request for Applications (RFA) 2010 on February 2, 2009. The Network is pleased to announce this funding opportunity for public agencies and non-profit organizations who wish to actively implement innovative nutrition education interventions and promote access to healthy food on behalf of food stamp eligible Californians.

The mission of the Network is to create innovative partnerships that empower low-income Californians to increase fruit and vegetable consumption, physical activity and food security with the goal of preventing obesity and other diet-related chronic diseases. The overall goal of the Network is to reform the norm which accepts the conditions that cause overweight, obesity, and sedentary lifestyles and replace it with a norm that expects fresh, healthy food and active living. We must focus on eliminating the disparities that place low-income California families at greater risk of so many chronic diseases and empowering them to make healthy choices. To achieve our goal, we specifically focus on increasing fruit and vegetable consumption, increasing physical activity levels, increasing food security and preventing diet-related chronic diseases. These are the four pillars of the Network. These in turn support the key United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Food Stamp Nutrition Education Plan (FSNE) behavioral outcomes:

Eat fruits and vegetables, whole grains, and fat-free or low-fat milk products every day;

Be physically active every day as part of a healthy lifestyle;

Balance caloric intake from food and beverages with calories expended.

The funding for the FSNE is made possible by in-kind contributions from public agencies and non-profits that qualifies for federal financial participation dollars from USDA’ Food Stamp Program. For every dollar an organization spends on qualifying nutrition education activities, USDA reimburses the Network a dollar. The Network then reimburses each organization fifty cents to enhance their nutrition education program and uses the other fifty cents to fund technical assistance, media and public relations services, a regional infrastructure, materials production and development for participating contractors, evaluation and branded social marketing campaigns and programs. The Network is 100% federally funded through USDA.

The term of the LIA/NIA contracts will begin on October 1, 2009. There are one-year contracts ending September 30, 2010 and three-year contracts ending September 30, 2012.

Thank you for your interest in applying. We look forward to receiving your final, hard copy application by April 3, 2009 at 4:00 pm. Applicants are required to submit a non-binding, mandatory Letter of Intent by 4:00 pm on February 27, 2009.