Pelican Playgrounds wants to make grant applications easy and accessible for our community. Below, we are summarizing some grants that are available for those in Louisiana and Mississippi through the Blue Cross Blue Shield Foundation.
In Louisiana, there are many grants for schools and non-profits to apply to. Firstly, the New Horizons grant is available to those who want to create a new resource or build off an existing resource for community development. Communities that want to build a new playground where there are older or few playgrounds can use this grant. Award recipients can get up to 25,000 for the New Horizons grant.
The Collective Impact grant is for communities who want to improve their overall health. The focus of this grant is to reduce health issues in communities like obesity, heart disease, and diabetes. Award recipients can receive up to 1,000,000 dollars in matched funds with another donor on the project.
Finally, the Special Project grant is listed as, “completing an existing project previously funded by the Foundation; or strategically expanding current efforts or implement new efforts based on clear evidence of need”. This grant is project-based and can provide winners with up to 100,000 dollars. The first deadline for all Blue Cross Blue Shield Louisiana grants is March 1st.
In Mississippi, the Blue Cross Blue Shield Mississippi Foundation has the Healthy Schools Awards Program. A public school can apply to this program to pledge itself to physical health, a tobacco-free learning environment, and healthy eating. Winners of the grant can receive up to 50,000 dollars towards their healthy living plan, like building a playground. The foundation also takes rolling applications for other projects in the state. There are no deadlines for the Blue Cross Blue Shield Mississippi Foundation.
