The SMART Fund
About - Who We Are
Promoting Healthy Communities
The Sharon Martin
Community Health Fund Fund (SMART Fund) supports 72 programs in nonprofit agencies throughout the Vancouver Coastal Health region that have developed projects geared towards helping people stay healthy in their communities. Established in 1997, the SMART Fund currently provides $3.7 million in annual funding to programs that support members of society who face multiple barriers in accessing health services.
With an aim to promoting health and wellness, and encouraging marginalized and vulnerable members of the community to play an active role in their own health, the SMART Fund has six primary goals:
- Support effective population health promotion models throughout the region served by VCH by providing grants to community-based not-for-profit agencies and groups that support community capacity building.
- Develop organizational capacity in community-based organizations through supportive partnerships.
- Support community-based organizations to be relevant and accountable to their communities and to work with their communities to develop local solutions.
- Share promising practices with VCH staff/leaders and other communities to improve health services, enhance quality of care, reduce isolation in vulnerable populations and motivate positive health system change.
- Create a sustainable fund by identifying and working with long-term and supportive investors who recognize and value a social return on their investment through community-based health promotion initiatives.
- Ensure financial accountability by demonstrating that invested dollars are supporting successful programs.
What Type Of Projects Does SMART Support?
Each agency that receives a SMART Fund grant is building community capacity and improving health determinants in a unique way. A variety of programs are in place to help individuals and communities to better identify and manage their own health needs. Click here for a description of our currently funded projects. All funded projects must be located in the VCH region.
These include:
- Peer support programs like the Community and Residents Mentors Association (CARMA), a program for people with disabilities who support one another through peer support and mentoring;
- Seniors programs like the Seniors Healthy Project through Kiwassa Neighbourhood house that engages seniors in East Vancouver to develop peer strategies for increasing their ability for independent living;
- Parental support and education programs like Parent Connections, a program designed to increase the capacity of isolated parents in Richmond to integrate with their communities and enhance their parenting skills.
- Aboriginal programs like Operation Sweet Assassin, a chronic disease self-management program in Sechelt that builds the capacity of community members with chronic diseases to self manage their conditions and to support others in the community to do the same.
- Health care access education such as the Multicultural Family Centre (MFC), where individuals and families from diverse cultural backgrounds enhance their ability to participate in the health care systems at all levels
Helping People Help Themselves
Health and wellness is such a vital component of a good life. This is why the SMART Fund exists. By supporting marginalized groups in accessing health services and creating health promotion strategies, the Fund enhances the greater health of the entire community.
We prioritize groups that have traditionally experienced barriers to accessing good health and health services. These include seniors, mental health consumers, children and youth, low-income families, lesbian/gay/bisexual/ transgendered people, Aboriginal communities, and people with disabilities.
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