Frances Chalmers, MD, FAAP
Trustee, Washington Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics
Chapter Co-Facilitator, CATCH
Are you a pediatrician with a passion to plan or take on a project within your community that will improve the health and wellbeing of your Community’s children? Could you use a little financial support to make this happen? If so, CATCH is for you.
The next CATCH grant cycle applications are due January 31, 2019 at 3 pm CST. CATCH, a national initiative of the AAP, stands for Community Access to Child Health. It is a small (up to $10,000) grant program whose mission is to “support pediatricians to collaborate within their communities to advance the health of all children”. CATCH’s vision is that every child in every community reaches optimal health and wellbeing.
There are some fairly significant changes this year at CATCH as it celebrates its 25th birthday. Although centered around the concept of Medical Home from the onset, CATCH leadership has slightly redefined the program to still include but also look beyond Medical Home to encompass the concept of community involvement.
There are two 60 day grant cycles each year and each cycle (new this year) includes Resident (combined planning and implementation), Planning, and Implementation options. There are clearly defined sets of 5-6 requirements for each grant type plus 7 Priorities that when met increase the application’s chance of being selected.
The PowerPoint slides from the Strengthening your CATCH Proposal webinar that was held in December 2018 provides an overview of the CATCH Program, tips on writing a strong proposal, special funding opportunities, and more.
For additional information regarding the requirements and priorities, go to https://www.aap.org/en-us/advocacy-and-policy/aap-health-initiatives/commpeds/catch/Pages/CATCH-Grants.aspx.
Your WCAAP Chapter CATCH Co-Facilitators are Brad Hood (bradhood@mac.com) and Francie Chalmers (fchalmers.md@gmail.com). Their role is to offer support, answer or find the answer to your questions, and along with the other national CATCH facilitators they will be scoring your grant. Contact them with questions and for technical support. Asking for technical support not only serves as a resource for grant related questions, but also results in a higher score on your application. Technical support must be requested prior to January 14, 2019 for this current grant cycle.