Health Equity Grants Awarded to Two Local Organizations

ST. JOHNSBURY – Northern Counties Health Care (NCHC) and its community partners awarded a portion of $307,300 in grant funds to the Center for an Agricultural Economy and the Civic Standard, both in Hardwick.

The two local organizations were part of ten projects who received funds working to address health equity and to improve the lives of residents in the Northeast Kingdom. The projects build capacity to combat systemic inequities and ensure a fair and just opportunity to be healthy, especially those who have experienced socioeconomic disadvantage, historical injustice, and other avoidable inequalities that are often associated with social categories of race, gender, ethnicity, social position, sexual orientation, and disability.

Northern Counties Health Care (NCHC) acts as the regional backbone organization and works with two accountable health communities in the Northeast Kingdom, NEK Prosper! and Vibrant ONE (Orleans and Northern Essex). These groups work to bridge the gap between clinical care and community services to build healthy and thriving communities. NCHC facilitated a process to award the grant funds, and the ten projects receiving grant funds were all designed with input from the intended beneficiaries.

This grant process was made possible by the Vermont Community Health Equity Partnership, a project of the Vermont Department of Health, and the Vermont Public Health Institute, and a COVID-related grant from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC).