South Carolina Connecting Communities to Care Program

SCRuralHealthcare@uscmed.sc.edu

The Connecting Communities to Care Program provides funding to support community health improvement programs that connect people to health-related and healthcare services to address rural health disparities in South Carolina. The South Carolina Center for Rural and Primary Healthcare (CRPH) is interested in programs that identify and implement community-driven solutions and best practices that can be adopted by other rural communities, expanded into a larger context, and/or inform public policy.

Key areas of interest include, but are not limited to:

• Access to care
  • Programs that increase access to care through community-clinical linkages to expand the availability and quality of health and health-related services to rural communities
  • Programs that test alternative models of community care and healthcare engagement through non-traditional access points, virtual care, and go beyond clinic walls
  • Care coordination programs/models that connect rural individuals to healthcare and health and human service programs addressing social needs that impact health
• Community engagement and health equity
  • Programs to increase community engagement and work alongside community members to identify root causes of health disparities, rural and racial/ethnic inequities, and drivers of poor health
  • Programs that take community-directed action to prevent illness and poor health
  • Programs that promote healthcare literacy and consumer education to better equip people to make informed decisions about their health and healthcare
• Behavioral health
  • Programs to strengthen community-based behavioral health organizations to expand efforts and improve access to behavioral health services
  • Programs to address needs and gaps in capacity for rural communities within the behavioral health sector
  • Programs that address barriers to the implementation of evidence-based practices in rural settings

Eligible applicants include:

• Public or nonprofit 501(c)(3) organizations with an emphasis on health, rural health, and/or community services
• State government agencies
• Human service organizations
• Any institution of higher education in South Carolina (public or private)
• South Carolina rural health networks
• AccessHealth SC networks

Award ceiling: $200,000 for the entire project period
Project period: Up to 2 years
Estimated number of awards: 4-6
Estimated total program funding: $800,000

A link to the application instructions is available on the program website.

Submit completed applications using the online form.