CATCH

The Community Access to Child Health (CATCH) Program is proud to announce the 2015 (cycle 2) grant recipients, whose projects seek to improve child health through a variety of innovative ways.  Visit the CATCH page to learn more.

If you’re interested in applying for a CATCH grant, visit the current call for proposal. The deadline is July 31, 2015.

Awarded 2015 CATCH Resident Funds Grant (Cycle 2) from District II

 Awarded 2015 Planning Funds Grants from District II

Congratulations to all the awardees and best wishes for success!

The Community Access to Child Health (CATCH) Planning Funds program provides grants in amounts from $2,500 to $12,000 for pediatricians to plan innovative, community-based initiatives that increase children’s access to medical homes or specific health services not otherwise available.  There are now two cycles per year, the first having Planning and the first cycle of Resident grants, and the second having Implementation and the second cycle of Resident grants.  All CATCH grants are awarded on a competitive basis.  The CATCH program is now 20 years old.

The CATCH Implementation Grants support pediatricians in the initial and/or pilot stage of developing and implementing a community-based child health initiative.

The new applications for all CATCH grants are available online only through the AAP Members Only Channel, where you can also look up all previously awarded CATCH grants.

CATCH Funding Opportunities

• Planning grants of up to $10,000 are awarded each year to pediatricians to assess and document the needs of children in their community, develop collaborative partnerships for planning the initiative, and successfully prepare for implementation of a program
• Implementation grants of up to $10,000 support pediatricians in implementing an innovative initial or pilot community-based project to increase children’s access to health care.  CATCH funding should lead to the development and evaluation of sustainable projects that can be replicated in other communities.
• Residents grants of up to $2,000 to pediatric residents to develop a community-based project.
• Leonard P. Rome CATCH Visiting Professorships Program offers accredited pediatric residency or medical programs up to $4,500 to fund a 2- to 3-day educational program that promotes advocacy for children and advances the field of community pediatrics.  The Community Pediatrics Training Initiative (CPTI) partners with The Community Access to Child Health (CATCH) Program to offer the Leonard P. Rome CATCH Visiting Professorship Program.  View application guidelines

Call for Proposals: 2016 Planning Funds and Cycle 1 Resident Funds Grant Programs

Applications available now; submissions due July 31, 2015
Applicants notified by November 15, 2015; projects begin January 2016

The American Academy of Pediatrics is accepting submissions for its 22nd annual CATCH Planning Funds and Resident Funds grants, Cycle 1.  Grants of up to $10,000 will be awarded on a competitive basis to pediatricians to plan innovative, community-based child health initiatives that will ensure all children, especially underserved children, have medical homes and access to specific health services not otherwise available.  Priority is given to projects that will be serving communities with the greatest health disparities.  A pediatrician must lead the project and be significantly involved in proposal development and project activities.

This Planning Funds and Resident Funds grant cycle includes special calls for projects that focus on American Indian/Alaska Native children and projects to improve access to immunizations for children who are most likely to experience barriers.

Grants of up to $2,000 also will be awarded on a competitive basis for residents to plan or implement community-based child health initiatives.  Resident projects must include planning activities or demonstrate completed planning activities, and may include implementation activities.  To ensure project completion, residents who are in their first or second year of residency on the application submission due date are eligible to apply; third-year residents may apply if they will be chief resident in their fourth year.  PGY-3 residents are eligible to apply as co-applicants.

For more information or to apply for a grant, visit www2.aap.org/catch/planninggrants.htm or www2.aap.org/catch/residentgrants.htm, e-mail catch@aap.org, or call 800/433-9016, ext 4916.  Applications must be submitted online.

We would like to encourage rural pediatricians to consider applying for a CATCH grant.  Many days we feel overworked and abandoned, but I can tell you from first hand experience that working on a special project in your community can be refreshing and rewarding.  The projects can be as extensive as developing clinics for the underserved, or as simple as working with schools on children with ADHD.

If you have ideas for developing services for children not already available in your community, consider writing a CATCH grant.  We know you are not experts in grant writing, only in taking care of children.  CATCH GRANTS ARE FOR YOU.   We will help you.  The CATCH Program has liaisons that will assist you in developing the parts of the grant you have trouble with.  These are Chapter CATCH Facilitators who are trained to work with you and their e-mails are listed at the top of this page.  There is also the CATCH staff at the AAP.  Call if you get stuck.  That is why they are there, to provide assistance with the development of your proposal.  You may contact Kathy Kocvara at 800-433-9016, extension 7632, or kkocvara@aap.org.  The Rural Health SIG (Rural Health Special Interest Group) of the Council on Community Pediatrics also will help.

Join more than 1,500 pediatricians who, through their CATCH grant projects, have learned that local child health problems can be solved locally, often using local resources.

One pediatrician can make a difference!

To access the application and RFPs, please visit:
Online application – http://www.aap.org/catch/funds/
Implementation Funds RFP – http://www.aap.org/catch/implementgrants.htm
Resident Funds RFP – www2.aap.org/catch/residentgrants.htmGrants Database – www.aap.org/commpeds/grantsdatabase

It is never too soon to consult with your chapter CATCH facilitator to explore your idea.  The national CATCH office is also available to answer your questions about the various opportunities available that can enhance your practice of Community Pediatrics.

For more information, or to be included on the mailing list:

CATCH Planning Funds
Division of Community-based Initiatives
American Academy of Pediatrics
141 Northwest Point Blvd.
Elk Grove Village, IL 60007-1098
800-433-9016, ext. 4916
Fax: 847-434-8000
e-mail: catch@aap.org

For more information, please contact Kathy Kocvara, CATCH Program Coordinator, at kkocvara@aap.org

Promoting Early Brain and Child Development Through CATCH Planning
 “Building Brains, Forging Futures.through Relationships.”

The American Academy of Pediatrics has identified Early Brain and Child Development (EBCD) as a strategic priority.  If infants and young children do not have supportive, nurturing relationships, significant adversity in childhood such as poverty, abuse, or parental depression can become “toxic,”  altering the way their brains develop.  In this way, “toxic stress” influences behavior, health, and learning not just in childhood, but for decades to come.   For more information on toxic stress and its impact on both child development and life course trajectories, see the recent AAP Policy Statement and Technical Report on toxic stress and the Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University.

The AAP urges pediatricians to “Forge Futures and Build Brains” to help ensure that all children enter school ready to learn.  Pediatricians are ideally placed: 1) to nurture the safe, secure and nurturing relationships that buffer children against toxic stress, and 2) to identify and assist those families at high risk for toxic stress, and 3) to advocate for and collaborate with community organizations to eliminate potential causes of toxic stress including poverty, low literacy, violence, homelessness, food scarcity, parental mental illness or substance abuse, etc.   Because many of the key factors that influence EBCD exist outside the walls of your clinic, pediatricians will need to partner with other local resources to be effective.

If you are interested in getting started, a CATCH planning grant could help.   You could use the grant to help you:

• Identify, convene, and plan with like-minded community partners
• Gather information about the needs of children and families in your community
• Identify the existing resources in your community that promote the healthy development of young children, especially those in disadvantaged families
• Develop plans to coordinate and expand the existing resources to help more children and families

Previous CATCH grantees have used funds to:

• Improve developmental screening and referral
• Collaborate with child care providers
• Plan home visitation and other parenting support programs
• Create systems for children in foster care
• Build programs that promote early literacy

The mission of CATCH program is to support pediatricians to collaborate in their communities to ensure that all children have access to all needed health services and a medical home.

Important Things to Keep In Mind

Go to www.aap.org/CATCH to find out more.