Small rural communities can now apply for NSW Healthy Town Challenge funding of $15,000 each for 2017. Grants are available for five towns in NSW to organise healthy eating active living projects. First prize is an extra $5,000 to spend on improving the healthy living environment. Projects need to include referring people to the Get Healthy Information and Coaching Service, which provides free telephone health coaching over a period of six months.
To apply for funding, towns must have a population of 1000-15,000 people, be located in the regional area and did not participate
in the previous challenges. Projects could include community weight loss efforts, walking events, healthy cooking classes or any healthy living idea you can think of. Strong partnerships between health workers, community groups and local businesses need to be outlined in the application to produce long-term benefits.
The funding is provided by the NSW Office of Prevention and Health and Heart Foundation NSW. If your town is big on community initiatives and has a group of people with time, passion and skills get an application in by closing date of 14th November, application forms can be found at www.preventivehealth.net.au
The website also has a Healthy Town Challenge summary fact sheet, application process and a list of available support for successful towns. Don’t miss the opportunity to get funding to help make your community healthier.