CPIMP211266
Project Grant
Overview
Grant Description
Rockford Citywide Health Literacy Initiative
The Mayor and City Council of Rockford, Illinois, an urban community with over 55% of its 145,000 residents considered "socially vulnerable" by the CDC (SVI - .75) and nearly half in the highest percentage (SVI - .90), has identified community health and health literacy as key priorities. With the Office of Minority Health grant, the city will launch a dedicated health literacy project working with the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) School of Medicine Office of Health Literacy (UIC-OHL), a federally designated minority serving institution. UIC-OHL will provide subject matter expertise, quality improvement activities, and program evaluation.
The program will advance Healthy People 2030 objectives related to improving the quality and efficacy of communication between adult patients and their healthcare providers, with the goal of helping patients make better-informed personal decisions about their health in general and COVID-19 testing and prevention interventions in particular. The grant will allow the City of Rockford to form and lead a health literacy task force with influential community organization subgrantees including the UIC School of Medicine, Crusader Community Health (a federally qualified health center), SwedishAmerican Hospital (a local health system), and Rockford Regional Health Council (a cross-sector, multi-stakeholder community health organization).
The task force will develop, promote, and implement a specific health literacy action plan based on the city's current disparities impact plan, and evidence-based and culturally and linguistically appropriate health literacy strategies. The task force will seek input and commitments from other community partners, all connected through quarterly virtual town halls and monthly newsletters. Additionally, five to eight individuals will serve as the health literacy initiative's community outreach coordinators, providing input on implementation, tactical ideas, and feedback on material development, as well as participating in community outreach initiatives.
As part of the initiative, linguistically and culturally appropriate print, multimedia materials, and toolkits will be created, distributed, and available for download through the initiative's dedicated website to empower partners. These materials will be provided in English, Spanish, and other languages deemed necessary by the task force. The material development will incorporate input, feedback, and ongoing messaging refinement from community outreach coordinators to ensure readability, usability, and effectiveness. These influencers will also serve as peer ambassadors for the program. Materials and resources will be promoted through an integrated communications campaign using a balanced approach of owned, earned, and paid media aimed at addressing vaccine hesitancy and promoting health literacy.
The grant will also allow us to encourage dedicated and ongoing participation by providing small sub-grants that support local events with churches and community organizations to educate their constituencies on health literacy topics. Downloadable partner toolkits will be offered with materials empowering them to host events on their own. Provider engagement, education, and buy-in are critical parts of the proposed program. UIC-OHL will lead the development and availability of training seminars for healthcare providers on health literacy, health disparities, and cultural competence, and will train participants on the initiative's toolkits, ideally boosting participation with continuing medical education credits (CME). UIC-OHL is the City of Rockford's partner for ongoing quality improvement activities and program evaluation. UIC-OHL will work with a research firm to conduct pre-, post-, and midpoint surveys to measure progress on the stated goals and will provide the required quarterly reports on how the program is meeting its stated objectives.
The Mayor and City Council of Rockford, Illinois, an urban community with over 55% of its 145,000 residents considered "socially vulnerable" by the CDC (SVI - .75) and nearly half in the highest percentage (SVI - .90), has identified community health and health literacy as key priorities. With the Office of Minority Health grant, the city will launch a dedicated health literacy project working with the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) School of Medicine Office of Health Literacy (UIC-OHL), a federally designated minority serving institution. UIC-OHL will provide subject matter expertise, quality improvement activities, and program evaluation.
The program will advance Healthy People 2030 objectives related to improving the quality and efficacy of communication between adult patients and their healthcare providers, with the goal of helping patients make better-informed personal decisions about their health in general and COVID-19 testing and prevention interventions in particular. The grant will allow the City of Rockford to form and lead a health literacy task force with influential community organization subgrantees including the UIC School of Medicine, Crusader Community Health (a federally qualified health center), SwedishAmerican Hospital (a local health system), and Rockford Regional Health Council (a cross-sector, multi-stakeholder community health organization).
The task force will develop, promote, and implement a specific health literacy action plan based on the city's current disparities impact plan, and evidence-based and culturally and linguistically appropriate health literacy strategies. The task force will seek input and commitments from other community partners, all connected through quarterly virtual town halls and monthly newsletters. Additionally, five to eight individuals will serve as the health literacy initiative's community outreach coordinators, providing input on implementation, tactical ideas, and feedback on material development, as well as participating in community outreach initiatives.
As part of the initiative, linguistically and culturally appropriate print, multimedia materials, and toolkits will be created, distributed, and available for download through the initiative's dedicated website to empower partners. These materials will be provided in English, Spanish, and other languages deemed necessary by the task force. The material development will incorporate input, feedback, and ongoing messaging refinement from community outreach coordinators to ensure readability, usability, and effectiveness. These influencers will also serve as peer ambassadors for the program. Materials and resources will be promoted through an integrated communications campaign using a balanced approach of owned, earned, and paid media aimed at addressing vaccine hesitancy and promoting health literacy.
The grant will also allow us to encourage dedicated and ongoing participation by providing small sub-grants that support local events with churches and community organizations to educate their constituencies on health literacy topics. Downloadable partner toolkits will be offered with materials empowering them to host events on their own. Provider engagement, education, and buy-in are critical parts of the proposed program. UIC-OHL will lead the development and availability of training seminars for healthcare providers on health literacy, health disparities, and cultural competence, and will train participants on the initiative's toolkits, ideally boosting participation with continuing medical education credits (CME). UIC-OHL is the City of Rockford's partner for ongoing quality improvement activities and program evaluation. UIC-OHL will work with a research firm to conduct pre-, post-, and midpoint surveys to measure progress on the stated goals and will provide the required quarterly reports on how the program is meeting its stated objectives.
Awardee
Grant Program (CFDA)
Awarding Agency
Funding Agency
Place of Performance
Rockford,
Illinois
United States
Geographic Scope
City-Wide
Related Opportunity
Analysis Notes
Amendment Since initial award the End Date has been extended from 06/30/23 to 06/30/24.
City Of Rockford was awarded
Rockford Health Literacy Initiative
Project Grant CPIMP211266
worth $3,614,521
from the Office of Minority Health in July 2021 with work to be completed primarily in Rockford Illinois United States.
The grant
has a duration of 3 years and
was awarded through assistance program 93.137 Community Programs to Improve Minority Health Grant Program.
The Project Grant was awarded through grant opportunity Advancing Health Literacy to Enhance Equitable Community Responses to COVID-19.
Status
(Complete)
Last Modified 7/5/23
Period of Performance
7/1/21
Start Date
6/30/24
End Date
Funding Split
$3.6M
Federal Obligation
$0.0
Non-Federal Obligation
$3.6M
Total Obligated
Activity Timeline
Transaction History
Modifications to CPIMP211266
Additional Detail
Award ID FAIN
CPIMP211266
SAI Number
CPIMP211266-626481773
Award ID URI
SAI UNAVAILABLE
Awardee Classifications
Other
Awarding Office
750SHA OASH OFFICE OF GRANTS MANAGEMENT
Funding Office
75ACC0 OASH OFFICE OF MINORITY HEALTH
Awardee UEI
L8CRGBLX2DA3
Awardee CAGE
4C7J3
Performance District
16
Senators
Richard Durbin
Tammy Duckworth
Tammy Duckworth
Representative
Darin LaHood
Modified: 7/5/23