Brownfield Grant Writing Tip #28 - Health Monitoring (another point or two)

Up to 10% of your Brownfield Assessment Grant can be used for "Health Monitoring".  The guidelines state that "a local government may use up to 10 percent of the grant funds in three ways to develop and implement a brownfields program. These activities may include use of up to 10 percent of its grant funds for: monitoring the health of populations exposed to one or more hazardous substances, pollutants, or contaminants from a brownfield site; and, monitoring and enforcement of any institutional control used to prevent human exposure to any hazardous substance, pollutant, or contaminant from a brownfield site. To effectively oversee assessments and cleanups, local governments may use grant funds (subject to the 10 percent limit) for other related program development and implementation activities. Local government applicants may not exceed 10% in total for all three types of activities planned and the budget submitted as part of the proposal should reflect the tasks to be conducted with the 10% of funds."

For rural communities who don't have health data at a neighborhood level (rural communities typically have obesity, diabetes, infant mortality rates on a county basis, not at the neighborhood or small town level), using a portion of the grant to gather (i.e., "health monitoring") the health on that level appears to be a good use of grant funding.  I'm not suggesting blood and urine tests, but rather an effort coordinated with the local health department (i.e., another "partner") where the health (e.g., obesity, childhood obesity, diabetes, etc.) is monitored in and around your targeted area.

There are a couple of reasons to do this: (1) collecting information (i.e., "health monitoring") about the health of the citizens in your targeted area can get you an extra point or two; (2) you add another "partner" to the effort by including the local health department, (3) you will have more focused data (i.e., local neighborhood level) on your targeted area; and (4) there may truly be some geospatial correlation associated with pollutants or contaminants.  For #3, large urban cities have an advantage when it comes to health data.  Most rural communities have health data listed on a countywide basis.  If your targeted area is in a rural county, the data that you have (e.g., countywide infant mortality), may not reflect the true "Community Need" that exists for your target area.  Collecting this information could help in future grant opportunities.

Good Luck!