Applications are now being accepted for the 2025 Rural Maryland Prosperity Investment Fund Grant: Rural Health.
Donor Name: Rural Maryland Council
State: Maryland
County: All Counties
Type of Grant: Grant
Deadline: 05/17/2024
Size of the Grant: More than $1 million
Grant Duration: Less than 1 Year
Details:
The objective of the Rural Maryland Prosperity Investment Fund is to help raise the overall standard of living in rural areas to a level that meets or exceeds statewide benchmark averages by 2030 while preserving the best aspects of a pastoral cultural and rural way of life. Resources provided to the Fund are designed to facilitate significant targeted investments in important economic and community development programs and promote regional and intergovernmental cooperation. These investments will also enable local and regional public and nonprofit organizations to leverage additional non-state financial and human resources to facilitate the realization of sustainable rural development objectives. The Fund will serve the interests of the entire State by:

Encouraging the increase of entrepreneurial activity and commerce and a balanced economy in the State;
Relieving conditions of unemployment and underemployment in rural areas;
assisting in the retention of valuable farm and forest land for productive use by present and future generations;
Promoting intergovernmental cooperation and public sector/private sector partnerships in and between rural and other areas;
Enhancing the deployment of housing, transportation, water, wastewater, and broadband communications infrastructure and services in rural areas;
Supporting rural commercial center redevelopment and community revitalization efforts; and,
Generally promoting the health, happiness, safety, employment opportunity, and general welfare of the residents of each of the rural counties and municipal corporations of the State.

Healthcare: Health care access and delivery is a major problem in the State’s rural areas. Residents often need to travel great distances to seek health care services due to health workforce shortages. This problem is in primary care and is particularly acute in specialty care such as surgical specialties, dentistry, mental health, and other medical specialty areas.
Eligible health care projects will range from health care planning, to health program implementation and evaluation, and will include projects pertaining to the following:

Improving access to health and medical/dental/behavioral health care

Tele-medicine and telehealth networking
Programs that focus on planning and/or coordination of health care
Programs that address rural population health needs
Programs that ensure health care insurance and treatment enrollment
Programs that implement and measure the accomplishment of components of the state’s rural health plan
Rural Nonemergency Medical Transportation: Projects could include the following components
better coordination (between industries, funding sources/coverage), 2) provides interregional transportation, and 3) on-demand response.

Recruitment and retention of health care and public health professionals

Programs to aid recruitment of health care providers
Rural residency programs in primary care and medical/surgical specialties and dentistry
Housing projects to support rural rotations of medical students/ health professions students
Pipeline and pathway programs for future and existing health care workers

Behavioral and mental health

Programs to address:

Substance use disorder, including alcohol, opioids and prescription drugs
Depression and counseling, suicide prevention
Domestic abuse and violence

Chronic disease prevention and management

Health education on diabetes, obesity, heart disease, cancers prevalent in rural Maryland, hypertension/high blood pressure
Disease management programs
Research and treatment of health impacts on minority populations, and in particular, prenatal care

Oral and dental health

Funding Information
For Fiscal Year 2025, the RMC has budgeted $1,500,000 for health care projects in the General Funds for the health care portion of the RMPIF program.
Grant Period
August 1, 2024 and June 30, 2025.
Eligibility Criteria 
Applicants must be a local government, institute of higher education, regional council, or be a 501(c)(3) IRS tax designation or similar and serve a regional or statewide rural constituency. Eligible applicants include federally qualified health centers, area health education centers, local health clinics, and other rural-serving health organizations. The applicant does not have to be located in a rural area or in the area it serves.
For more information, visit RMC.