CATCH

Awarded 2019 CATCH Funds Grant (Cycle 2) 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 25 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 through the AAP, 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 (including environmental health-related proposals)

The American Academy of Pediatrics is accepting submissions for its 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.

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.

Questions? Reach out to CATCH staff at catch@aap.org.  To learn more about CATCH visit aap.org/CATCH.  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!