The National Viral Hepatitis Roundtable is pleased to announce the award of seven $10,000 NVHR Hepatitis C (HCV) Project Booster Mini-Grants! These mini-grants are intended to enhance the capacity of NVHR member organizations to conduct hepatitis C education, testing, and linkage to care in their local communities and then disseminate those best practices nationally. These projects begin today. 

Our 2017 Mini-Grant Recipients:

American Association of Occupational Health Nurses Foundation
The American Association of Occupational Health Nurses (AAOHN) Foundation provides professional development scholarships and research grants for occupational and environmental health nurses to improve worker health and safety. The AAOHN Foundation  HCV Mini-Grant Outreach Project will advance occupational and environmental health nurse HCV competency, share best practices to improve HCV knowledge of employees, and HCV testing and care linkage for at-risk employees.

BOOM!Health
BOOM!Health delivers prevention, syringe access, health coordination, behavioral health, housing, legal, advocacy and wellness services to over 8,000 of the hardest to reach communities in the Bronx, New York. BOOM!Health’s HCV Mini-Grant project will increase the number of participants who are screened, linked to care, and who complete treatment. It will also expand HCV services to Central Bronx and begin a HCV peer navigator program to provide more support to participants and provide broader outreach in the community.

Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program
Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program’s (BHCHP) mission is to provide the highest quality health care for all homeless men, women and children in the greater Boston area. The HCV Mini-Grant Project will allow BHCHP’s HCV team to increase the number of patients they are able to serve, improve the quality of services provided, and implement strategies to prevent reinfection for patients who have completed treatment.
 
Centerforce
Centerforce is a community-based, non-profit organization in California whose mission is to support, educate, and advocate for individuals, families and communities impacted by incarceration. The Centerforce San Quentin Peer HCV Mini-Grant Education Project Reboot will train HCV prisoner peer health educators to conduct prevention and treatment classes and will also work to increase the number of prisoners in custody and in the community who receive HCV screening and care.

The Community Health Outreach Work to Prevent AIDS Project (CHOW Project)
The CHOW Project is dedicated to serving individuals, families and communities adversely affected by drug use, especially people who inject drugs, through a participant-centered harm reduction approach. The HCV Mini-Grant Project will develop a confidential registry that tracks all CHOW participants on Oahu Island along the HCV continuum of care. By linking the registry to the CHOW Participant Card numbers, the project will allow CHOW outreach staff to increase engagement and data collection around HCV testing and linkage efforts.
 
North Carolina Harm Reduction Coalition
North Carolina Harm Reduction Coalition (NCHRC) is a statewide grassroots organization dedicated to the implementation of harm reduction interventions, public health strategies, drug policy transformation, and justice reform in North Carolina and the American South. NCHRC‘s HCV Mini-Grant Project will support HCV-positive participants by providing transportation to medical appointments, and enhancing engagement in HCV testing and educational and supportive programming at the syringe exchange.
 
Roots Community Health Center
Roots Community Health Center provides accessible, culturally appropriate, community-responsive, comprehensive health care in Oakland, California. The HCV Mini-Grant Project will increase the identification and treatment of HCV infection among low-income communities in California by documenting and sharing best practices for implementation of routine screening and treatment in the community clinic setting, including staffing, training, and billing practices and developing a sustainability model for HCV treatment in the primary care setting.

 
Please contact Tina Broder, Program Director, with any questions about the mini-grants.

Check our website for project updates.