The North Dakota Department of Human Services encourages North Dakota organizations to apply for grant funding to help improve their capacity to develop, strengthen and integrate programs that allow older adults to remain in their homes and communities as long as possible.
“Many older adults need support to remain living safely in their homes, especially in rural areas,” said the department’s Medical Services Division Director Caprice Knapp. “This grant opportunity is meant to spark conversations and encourage collaborative thinking on ways both large and small communities can provide services and support to older adults, so they can maintain their independence.”
The department anticipates funding four community grants up to $105,000 each. The funding can be used for projects such as, but not limited to, expanding and supporting a network of volunteer caregivers, providing health promotion and wellness activities, coordinating transportation to medical appointments, and other home and community-based services and supports. Applicants are encouraged to collaborate with other organizations to address their community’s needs. The community grants are one-time funding and must be invested in a project by June 30, 2021.
“What’s exciting about this opportunity is that applicants can get creative and propose ideas and solutions specific to an unmet need for older adults in their community,” Knapp said. “We do ask that applicants identify both formal and informal supports as part of their proposals to help bridge any gaps between a community’s need and what services are currently available.”
Public, private and nonprofit entities are eligible to apply. The application form and other information is online at www.nd.gov/dhs/info/pubs/medical.html. Deadline to apply is Monday, Dec. 2 at 5 p.m. Central Time.
During the 2019 legislative session, North Dakota lawmakers appropriated the grant funding to the department for continued expansion of the state’s in-home and community-based services for older North Dakotans.