Fund Seeking Skills
To fund a public health intervention, seeking and using grant resources can be a great skill to have. For this post, I identified two Requests for Proposals (RFPs): one public from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and one private from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF).
The NIH publishes RFPs on its grants webpage, with accessible filters for health-related topics. One RFP focuses on community-based approaches to prevent chronic diseases. This is appropriate for my intervention, which aims to reduce chronic illness through community health education and requires evidence-based public health understanding (Brownson, 2018). The NIHs focus on scientific rigor and outcome-based health promotion fits with what I would be needing. I would focus on what Gilbert et al. (2014) describe as health education, lining up the intervention's goals with evaluating program efficacy.
The RWJF also lists funding opportunities on its website, with some focus on health equity and preventive health strategies. I selected an RFP for initiatives targeting health disparities, which suits the projects focus on community-specific interventions. RWJFs interest in innovative approaches to public health complements my interventions design to address health disparities in underserved communities.
My strengths in grant writing include identifying health issues using evidence-based research and designing outcome-focused interventions. However, I know that I have limitations in budgeting skills and also in evaluating intervention efficacy. Budgeting and aligning financial requirements with intervention activities are challenges I need to address. I also need more knowledge of research methodologies for evaluation purposes. To improve these skills, I would look for some mentorship in budgeting and try to familiarize myself with grant-funded program evaluation methods. Some challenges I might face in seeking guidance would be time and getting access to experienced mentors.
References
Brownson, R. C. (2018). Evidence-Based Public Health. Oxford University Press.
Gilbert, G. G., Sawyer, R. G., & McNeill, E. B. (2014).Health education: Creating strategies
for school & community health. Jones & Bartlett Publishers.
