Healthy Canadians and Communities Fund

Eligibility

Eligible Applicants

The following Canadian applicants are eligible for funding:

• private sector organizations
• unincorporated groups, societies and coalitions
• not-for-profit voluntary organizations and non-profit corporations
• provincial, territorial, regional and municipal governments and agencies
• national, provincial, and community-based Indigenous organizations, including band councils
• organizations and institutions supported by provincial and territorial governments (for example, schools, regional health authorities, post-secondary institutions)

Eligible Project Activities

Types of activities that are eligible for funding for the implement phase can include:

• delivering your intervention (implementation of your intervention must involve input from the priority population(s) and key stakeholders).
• strengthening stakeholder relationships for the effective delivery of your intervention
• engaging priority population(s) to confirm that your intervention design aligns with their needs
• evaluating your intervention to understand if it is achieving the desired impact
• sharing knowledge about the results and lessons learned from your project

Eligible Project Expenses

Eligible project expenses include:

• personnel
• materials
• equipment
• rent and utilities
• evaluation/dissemination
• travel and accommodations
• "other" costs related to the approved project

Any capital costs required for your project need to be supported by partners, such as municipalities or builders, through the matched funding requirement, as these are not eligible expenses. More information about eligibility guidelines can be found in the Applicant Guide.

Summary

The Healthy Canadians and Communities Fund is a funding program of the Public Health Agency of Canada, which aims to prevent chronic disease, including diabetes, cancer, and cardiovascular disease. These chronic diseases have common behavioural risk factors, including tobacco use, unhealthy eating, and physical inactivity. Projects supported by the Healthy Canadians and Communities Fund need to address these risk factors.

The Public Health Agency of Canada also focuses on priority populations who face health inequalities and are at greater risk of developing chronic disease. The priority populations for this program are:

• Indigenous Peoples
• newcomers to Canada
• people with disabilities
• 2SLGBTQIA+ communities
• people living on low incomes
• racialized communities (such as Black and South Asian)

The Healthy Canadians and Communities Fund program encourages all sectors of society to participate in supporting healthy living among people living in Canada. The objectives of the this fund are to:

• invest in interventions that address health inequalities
• encourage multi-sectoral participation in chronic disease prevention
• uncover new ways to address the risk factors for chronic disease

Project Requirements

The Healthy Canadians and Communities Fund program has 3 phases: design, implement, and scale. This approach recognizes the importance of supporting projects at various stages:

• Design: Initial design of an intervention with a priority population and development of multi-sectoral partnerships
• Implement: Project delivery with partners and evaluation of the intervention
• Scale: Expand an intervention that has been evaluated and shown to work in order to impact greater numbers, alter cultural norms, or change policies

The program is currently only accepting applications for the implement phase.
The implement phase is about project delivery with partners and evaluation of your intervention. You may be at the stage of:

• having done a feasibility study, proof of concept, or pilot project, and may now feel ready to implement and evaluate your intervention, or
• wanting to adapt, deliver and evaluate an existing intervention to new settings, populations, and/or geographic locations

Note that the ongoing delivery of an intervention in an existing geographic location, population and setting is not eligible for the implement phase. The implement phase supports interventions that are based on evidence, which can be from:

• scientific literature
• expertise of your organization and priority population(s)
• your own experience
• culturally-informed ways of knowing

Projects in the implement phase must include a strong focus on evaluation. This will generate meaningful information on the impact of the intervention. It will also support establishing "what works" for chronic disease prevention.

Priority populations

Your project must focus on one or more of our program's priority population groups. You do not need to limit yourself to a single group, but focusing on more than one will not increase your chances of receiving funding. The most important thing is that your project meets the particular needs of your priority population(s) in a culturally relevant way. Choose the groups that make sense for your project and organization. You must engage people with lived experience from your priority population(s) in all aspects of your project, including:

• implementation
• evaluation
• knowledge mobilization activities

Their involvement will help ensure their perspectives are integrated. In your funding application, you will need to explain how you plan to do this.

Solicitation focus

There are 3 funding streams eligible for this solicitation:

• Stream 1: Creating supportive social environments for tobacco prevention and cessation
• Stream 2: Creating food environments that enable access to healthy foods to improve healthy eating
• Stream 3: Creating and/or promoting healthy built environments to increase physical activity

You must select one stream as the main focus for your project. More information about the eligible funding streams for this program can be found in the Solicitation Focus section of the program overview guide.

Funding Details

The total funding amount you request for your project must be between $200,000 and $3,000,000. The timeframe for your project must be between 2 years (24 months) and 4 years (48 months). Applicants who are invited to the full proposal stage will need to submit a detailed budget. 

Matched-funding details and requirements

You must secure as much funding from other sources as you are asking for from our program. For example, if you are asking for $500,000 from us, then you need to secure $500,000 from other sources. This is "matched funding." Cash and in-kind contributions are both eligible for matched funding. Matched funding must come from 2 or more sources.

Your organization can be one of the sources of matched funding. However, if you provide matched funding for your own project, you will still need to have at least one more source to meet the minimum requirement. You do not need to have your matched funding secured at the time of application. It will only be required at a later stage in the process.

Eligible sources of matched funds include:

• individuals
• crown corporations
• not-for-profit organizations
• private sector organizations
• unincorporated groups, societies and coalitions
• municipal, provincial, territorial, and federal government departments
• charities, including public and private foundations and charitable organizations
• organizations and institutions supported by provincial and territorial governments, such as schools and/or regional health authorities

Before you can sign a funding agreement under the Healthy Canadians and Communities Fund, you must secure your matched funding. You must have 50% of the total matched funds in place at the time of signing your funding agreement. You must secure the remaining 50% of matched funds before the final year (12 months) of the project. You can use matched funding to pay for project costs that are not covered by our program. For example, capital costs for a built environment project.

Not every project partner needs to contribute to matched funding. They may be involved in other ways to help the project succeed.

Overhead: 

Overhead is not an eligible expense.

Submission Process

All applications are submitted through the Research Management System (RMS) to initiate internal approvals. Please note that when the RMS record finally reaches Research Services by the internal deadline, it should contain all the relevant Department and Faculty approvals. Please allow additional time for these approval steps. Late applications will only be accepted in cases of medical or family emergencies or other exceptional circumstances. If you submit your RMS record to Research Services after the internal deadline has passed, you will need to secure additional late approvals from your Faculty Associate Dean (Research) and the Executive Director, Research Services. Training resources are available on the RMS website.

1. The advanced screening form application must be submitted only through the PHAC online portal. If you do not yet have an account, you will need to create one. Once you have used this account to log in, you will then be able to access and review the advanced screening form questions and complete them.
2. Before submitting through the online portal, upload a copy of your advanced screening form application to a RMS Pre-Award/Application record and submit for academic approvals.  Please ensure that you allow enough time for academic approvals prior to the Research Services (RSO) final internal deadline of NOON, December 16, 2022. Please note this is a hard deadline. Exceptions will only be made with the approval of your faculty Associate Dean (Research).
3. RSO will provide institutional sign-off on the application and internal approvals in RMS. RMS will notify you that institutional approval has been given and any institutional signatures will be provided.
4. The applicant submits their advanced screening form application by December 21 at 1:00pm MT / 3:00pm PST through the PHAC online portal.

Application deadlines

RSO detailed review deadline

RSO final internal review deadline

Program application deadline

NOTE: Consult your Faculty Associate Dean (Research) (ADR) regarding Faculty-specific deadlines and submission processes.

Principal Investigators: Complete a Research Management System (RMS) record, including a copy of your complete application, and submit this for approvals in RMS.

Postdocs, students, and trainees: For fellowships and externally-sponsored research training awards or opportunities, you must complete the Research Funding Application Approval (RFAA) Trainee PDF form, and submit it, along with a complete copy of the application, to Research Services at rsotrainee@ucalgary.ca. Trainees should not use RMS at this time.

Approvals: The University of Calgary requires that all funding applications be approved prior to submission. Approval requires signatures via either RMS or the RFAA Trainee form, in the following order:

• Principal Investigator
• Department Head
• Faculty ADR/Dean
• Research Services (on behalf of the Vice-President Research)

Read the Meaning of Grant Signatures policy to understand what your approval means. Please see the agency guidelines for details about which signatures are required on your application, as it may differ from internal requirements.

Late submissions: Late submissions will only be accepted in cases of medical or family emergencies, or other exceptional circumstances. If you submit your RMS record to Research Services after the internal deadline has passed, you must secure additional approvals. Please read: Late Applications Process.

Webinar for Applicants

We recommend that you attend the Healthy Canadians and Communities Fund live webinar for applicants on November 23, 2022 at 1 pm EST. Please note that we will be recording this webinar. By participating in the webinar you are agreeing to have your image and voice recorded.