Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
The Grant Committee of the Kosciusko 21st Century Foundation met again Thursday in a continuing effort to define what types of programs are worthy of the foundation's support.
In the end, the committee agreed to recommend to the full board the following guidelines to be used in evaluating grant applications expected to be received by March 2000.
Those guidelines include:
• The requesting program must be designed to address currently unmet health needs within the county;
• The funding provided must support programs, not agencies. And the evaluation of those programs will be based on achieving desired outcomes.
• K21 support must not interfere or duplicate programs of other funding sources, such as the United Way.
• Programs will be evaluated for funding on a categorical basis, i.e. preventive health services, health education, catastrophic health services, indigent child dental health, etc.
• Program funding will be for a fixed term, with three years being the consensus funding duration.
Willis Alt, foundation executive director, said plans call for initial funding proposals to be accepted in February 2000, with the awarding of grants in August. This schedule is dependent on approval by the full K21 board, he said.
In other business, the committee discussed the option of having the Home Health Care corporation, a subsidiary of the K21 Foundation, administer referrals to the Cancer Care organization and the indigent child dental service program.
Julie Bowers, director of Home Health Care, said her office is well suited for the additional responsibilities.
"We already have the infrastructure and the system in place to handle these types of services," she said.
Bowers said the Home Health Care board is investigating the possibility of offering the dental services through the existing well baby program.
