FINDING CLINICS
Locating the right community clinic for you is not always easy. It becomes much more challenging if you’re uninsured or underinsured. Healthy Houston wants to help you find affordable and quality health care.
GRANT APPLICATION
Healthy Houston is dedicated to funding community clinics – and in particular, those trying to become Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) – that provide access to quality health care for people who need it the most: the underinsured and uninsured.
UNDERSTANDING FQHCs
Federally Qualified Health Centers are one of several types of community “safety net” clinics. Information about what they are and how you can qualify for funding is plentiful but often confusing. We hope we can help answer some of your questions below.
A HEALTHIER HOUSTON
Our goal as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization is to expand access to health care for uninsured and underinsured people by providing grants to community clinics in the process of trying to become Federally Qualified Health Centers. To qualify as an FQHC, clinics must be self-supporting, a goal very few Houston area clinics have been able to attain.
THE REALITY
- More than one million people in the Houston area are uninsured.
- People without insurance are forced to turn to already overcrowded emergency rooms for primary care, a factor in higher health care costs.
- One of the primary reasons people are uninsured is the high cost of health insurance coverage.
- Any meaningful new health care legislation in the near future appears unlikely.
HOW COMMUNITY CLINICS HELP
- By providing affordable, quality health care, often on a sliding fee scale.
- By offering primary and preventative health care, immunizations, dental and mental health care, cancer screening, and other services to men and women.
- For women specifically, by providing prenatal care and well woman and well child exams.
- By taking strain off overcrowded hospital emergency rooms.
- By creating a network of health care professionals in the event of a disaster.
Healthy Houston is part of the solution.
GRANT WRITING TIPS
Start early. Avoid the stress of writing your application at the last minute, diminishing its overall quality.
Do your homework. Make sure the funding agency is a good fit with your project’s goal. Applying is an energy- and time-consuming process.
Read the full application and instructions to help organize your thoughts, documents, and approach.
Answer all questions in the order they are given and follow all instructions. You never want to force reviewers to search for information unnecessarily.
Always keep your audience and the funder’s criteria in mind. Don’t assume the reviewers are familiar with your organization.