Health district to consider grant funds at June board meeting

The Fallbrook Regional Health District Board of Directors will consider next month how to award more than a million dollars in grant money.

The health district provides grant funding through its Community Health Contracts program. According to the district's website, Community Health Contract funds must benefit the residents of the communities served by the Fallbrook Regional Health District, which has a 110-square mile service area and sphere of influence covering Fallbrook as well as Bonsall, De Luz and Rainbow.

To qualify, applicants must either be a registered nonprofit, or a commercial business that can demonstrate it has the ability to provide a service not provided by any nonprofit.

The health district's Strategic Planning Committee, which consists of two members of the health district's full board of directors, was presented with a summary of staff rankings of applications for grant funds. Applications were scored by staff members on a scale of 0-100, and the rankings presented to the committee were based on an average of staff members' rankings.

Staff recommended funding requests with average scores above 70.

Health District Executive Director Rachel Mason said each application had at least two reviewers.

Howard Salmon, chairman of the Strategic Planning Committee as well as the full board of directors, said the review process this year was "far and away a much better process than we have ever had," and thanked Mason and health district staff for their work.

The health district budgeted about $1.25 million to pay out in grant money, which primarily comes out of property tax revenue. The total amount requested by entities whose applications scored above 70 is about $1.4 million.

Some high-scoring applicants include the Fallbrook Food Pantry, which asked for $120,000 to help alleviate hunger in greater Fallbrook and D'Vine Path, which asked for about $21,000 for its Life I Can program.

Salmon said the health district should work with applicants that scored below 70 to help improve their applications in future years.

"We should give them real specific feedback as to why they didn't fit, or where's what you might think about doing next time to make your proposal stronger," Salmon said.

The full list of applicants that scored above 70, some of which applied more than once, is as follows:

Fallbrook Food Pantry

D'Vine Path

San Diego County Medical Society Foundation

Foundation for Senior Care

REINS

Senior/Special Needs Animal Assistance Project Endeavor

Be Well Therapy

Boys & Girls Clubs of North County

Fallbrook Smiles Project

Palomar Family Counseling Service

Neighborhood Healthcare

Palomar Family Counseling Service

Fallbrook Senior Citizens Service Club

Michelle's Place Cancer Resource Center

The health district's full board of directors will consider funding for applicants at its June 10 meeting.

Will Fritz can be reached by email at [email protected].