DPH to issue RFR for health grant program

The Department of Public Health has announced that it will issue a request for responses (RFR) this month for the Public Health District Incentive Grant Program.

The Public Health District Incentive Grant Program is funded under the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 as part of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s “Strengthening Public Health Infrastructure to Improve Health Outcomes” initiative.

The program provides financial support for groups of municipalities to enter into formal, long-term agreements to share resources and coordinate activities in order to improve the scope, quality and effectiveness of local public health services for their combined populations. The DPH has received a five-year award from the CDC for the program.

The DPH will hold six public meetings across the state to answer questions about the program and to accept comments about the draft RFR.

The meetings will be held on the following schedule:

Friday, Dec. 10
9:30-11 a.m.: Lenox Town Hall, 6 Walker St.
12:30-2 p.m.: DPH Western Regional Health Office, 23 Service Center Road, Northampton
3:30-5 p.m.: Worcester Health Department, 25 Meade St., Room 109

Monday, Dec. 13
9:30-11 a.m.: DPH MetroBoston Regional Health Office, Donovan Building Conference Room, 5 Randolph St., Canton
12:30-2 p.m.: DPH Northeast Regional Health Office, Tewksbury Hospital, Saunders Building, 365 East St., Tewksbury
3:30-5 p.m.: DPH Southeast Regional Health Office, 1736 Purchase St., New Bedford

The RFR will seek planning grant proposals from applicants representing groups of municipalities who seek to form public health districts. Planning grant recipients will be eligible to submit proposals by Sept. 30, 2011, under an additional RFR process to receive multi-year implementation grants.

This notice is being sent for distribution through the Health and Homeland Alert Network and through the five statewide public health professional associations that comprise the Coalition for Local Public Health.

To review the draft RFR on Comm-PASS, visit www.comm-pass.com. Click on the Solicitations tab and then click on Search for a Solicitation. Enter 107212 in the Document Number field, then click on Search.

The DPH invites public comment about the draft RFR before the final RFR is issued in late December. Interested parties may submit comments to Senior Policy Advisor Geoff Wilkinson at geoff.wilkinson@state.ma.us by 5 p.m. on Dec. 16.