Deadline: 7 November 2018

Government of Canada is seeking applications for its Promoting HealthEquity: Mental Health of Black Canadians Fund will support Black Canadians to develop more culturally focused knowledge, capacity and programs to improve mental health in their communities.

Streams

This Fund consists of two separate streams (applicants may apply to only one funding stream):

• Implementation Stream: It provides funding to recipients for community-led projects that implement and evaluate culturally focused programs that promote mental health and address its determinants for Black Canadians.
• Incubator Stream: It provides short-term funding to support community-based applicants that operate with limited organizational capacity and resources to first undertake steps to increase their capacity to design, develop, implement, and evaluate culturally focused programs that promote mental health and address its determinants for Black Canadians. Incubator Stream funding recipients who demonstrate success in increasing their capacity and readiness will be invited to apply for additional funding to implement the project idea developed through this initial incubation process.

Objectives

• Increase understanding of the unique barriers to and social determinants of mental health for Black Canadians;
• Increase knowledge of effective, culturally focused approaches and programs for improving mental health and addressing its key social determinants for Black Canadians, including a focus on youth and their family and community environments; and
• Increase capacity within Black Canadian communities to address barriers to mental health.

Principles

• Leadership by Black Canadians: Projects are led by, or developed in close collaboration with, Black Canadian community groups, not-for-profit organizations, and/or researchers.
• Evidence-based: Projects are anchored in meaningful data and evidence that demonstrate the potential of the proposed program to have a positive impact on mental health among Black Canadians.
• Social determinants of health approach: Projects address one or more social determinants of mental health for Black communities, such as anti-Black racism, education, housing, policing and criminal justice systems, poverty, and/or social exclusion.
• Health equity lens: Projects integrate throughout their design, implementation and evaluation a health equity lens that considers and addresses unfair and avoidable differences in determinants of health, health outcomes, and reach and impact of interventions for various subgroups with the diverse Black Canadian population.
• Cultural competence and safety: Where applicable, projects recognize and challenge unequal power relations between program providers and participants by building equitable, two-way relationships characterized by respect, shared responsibility, and cultural exchange.
• Partnerships and collaboration: Projects are informed by, and benefit from, in-kind and/or financial support provided by partners from various sectors.

Funding Information and Duration

• Applicants to the Implementation Stream may request funding of up to $200,000 per year for 1 to 4 years. The maximum funding request is $800,000 over four years.
• All Implementation Stream project activities must be completed by March 31, 2023.

Eligibility Criteria

• The following types of applicants are eligible for funding under the Implementation Stream and Incubator Stream:
  • Canadian not-for-profit organizations and unincorporated groups, societies, and coalitions, with priority given to those led by and serving Black communities in Canada;
  • Non-federal Canadian public institutions such as boards of education, schools, colleges and universities, chambers of commerce, law enforcement and police agencies, hospitals and other health care institutions (must apply in partnership with at least one not-for-profit organization);
  • Crown Corporations as defined in the Financial Administration Act (must apply in partnership with at least one not-for-profit organization);
  • Provincial, territorial, regional and municipal governments and their agencies (must apply in partnership with at least one not-for-profit organization);
  • Research organizations and academics affiliated with post-secondary institutions (must apply in partnership with at least one not-for-profit organization); and
  • Private sector organizations (must apply in partnership with at least one not-for-profit organization).

How to Apply

Applicants can submit their applications via email at the address given on the website.

For more information, please visit Government of Canada.