The Georgia Healthy Family Alliance (GHFA) is seeking applications for its 2026 Community Health Grant Program which provides grants up to $5,000 each for projects addressing healthcare needs in Georgia. To be eligible, applicants MUST be a current Medical Student, FM Resident or Active/Life Member of the Georgia Academy of Family Physicians (GAFP). Grants will not be awarded to fund research projects, conference attendance or political campaigns. Grant funds must be designated to an entity, not directly to an individual member. GHFA prohibits prescribed indirect (F&A) costs outside of the approved application budget. Applicants are limited to one grant award per year.

Applicants are limited to one grant award per year. Grants will be funded up to $5,000 during a 12 month grant cycle. Money requested from GHFA must stay within the guidelines of at least 70% for program services with a maximum of 30% for staff and administration. Grants will not be made to accomplish fundraising or administrative work, although up to 30% of administrative costs may be covered within the context of a particular philanthropic project.

The application must address health care needs of the local community and/or Georgia.

No requests will be approved for conference attendance. No current GHFA Board Trustees are eligible to apply.

Requests for Continued Funding for Same/Similar Projects:
Good programs need continued funding and there is no limit on the number of times that a similar grant project can receive funding from the GHFA. However, there is the expectation that the program will continue to develop, expand, or be enhanced in some way in order to justify continued grant consideration. Applicants submitting a grant application for the same or similar project that previously received funding will be required to complete Part 4 of the application. Only one award per project will be approved per year.

Past Community Health Grant Recipients include:

Brian DeLoach, MD/ The Hearts and Hands Clinic /Statesboro, GA – $4,800

Currently Hearts and Hands Clinic is the only provider of free healthcare services to the underinsured in Bulloch County. The project goal is to increase services to the underinsured adult population including purchase of diabetic supplies, women’s examination supplies and emergency pharmaceuticals that are prescribed but not covered by Medbank. Funds will also be used to begin implementation of electronic medical records in order to improve patient health and safety and provide greater administrative accuracy and efficiency.

Charles White, DO /Community Helping Hands Clinic / Cleveland, GA $5,000
The Community Helping Hands Clinic is the sole provider of free healthcare to uninsured, low-income adults in White County. At the present time, the clinic operates with three old donated desktop computers. This equipment has become slow and inefficient, frequently “crashing” and the scheduling software can only run on one of their computers. The $5,000 Community Health Grant will enable the clinic to install new modern computers and new appointment scheduling software on five networked computers and improve care for all current and future patients.

Ambar Kulshreshtha,MD/Emory Fam Medicine/ Simple Seven for a Healthy Heart, $5,000
Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a leading cause of death and disability in Georgia, accounting for more than 30 percent of all deaths. The death rate from CVD in Georgia is higher than the national rate. Georgia is also part of the “stroke belt” with stroke mortality 17 percent higher than the rest of the United States. Despite this, more than 2.3 million (33 percent) adults in Georgia do not know the modifiable risk factors for CVD. With a $5,000 grant this project aims to assess the knowledge of CVD risk factors in an underserved community in the Greater Atlanta area specifically targeting minority groups such as African-Americans and Hispanics. In this identified community, they plan to increase awareness of CVD risk factors and goals and promote self-monitoring and seeking treatment for poorly controlled factors. The overarching goal of this project is to improve the cardiovascular health of an underserved area in Greater Atlanta.

Leonard Reeves, MD/ Sweethearts No More- Rome Free Clinic, $5,000
Sweethearts No More is aimed at the diabetic population of the Free Clinic of Rome. Diabetic patients are considered to be at the same risk as a patient who has already had their first heart attack. The Rome Free Clinic provides basic primary care to uninsured residents of Floyd, Chattooga, and Polk Counties who have no other access to health care (uninsured and family incomes of 200% or less of the Federal Poverty Guidelines.) Of the approximately 550 unduplicated patients enrolled, approximately 75 percent are treated for hypertension and approximately 50% of those patients also have Type 2 Diabetes. The key to preventing heart disease in the diabetic population is the control of three aspects of their life; Blood pressure, Cholesterol and Blood sugar. With the $5,000 grant and education and monitoring elements of this project the clinic aims to impact the lives of these patients that otherwise would have no health care resources much less preventative care.

These are only a few of the great programs your colleagues are lending their talents and time to statewide. Please consider making a contribution so the Georgia Healthy Family Alliance can continue to support important projects like those listed above. Make your contribution online or email ksinkule@gafp.org.

For more information contact Kara Sinkule at ksinkule@gafp.org  or call (404) 321-7445.