Applications for the Community Sleep Health and Public Awareness Grant are now officially open. The Community Sleep Health and Public Awareness Grant (formerly Community Sleep Health Grant) was launched in July 2019, with the goal to provide funding for projects that will serve a specific population and will impact sleep health within that community. The AASM Foundation is committed to increasing public awareness and improving overall sleep health by establishing community programs that provide support for a diverse array of programs and initiatives.
In contrast to previous years, this request for applications is open to projects that fall under humanitarian service projects, sleep education, or awareness projects that focus on improving sleep health, sleep disorder evaluation and/or treatment. There has also been a new funding category of $50,000 for up to 2 years during the performance period. The need to submit a letter of intent has been removed and replaced with a meeting with the AASM Foundation program staff to discuss the intent of their project; staff will then determine if the project aligns with the grant and will invite the applicant to submit a full application. The application review criteria and process has also been revised to remove all research related language but include the following factors that will be taken into consideration: Need and impact, project plan and evaluation, dissemination, and people and resources.
The most recent project leaders who were awarded this grant in 2022 are Carol Ripple, PhD, Karin Johnson, MD, Vivian Asare, MD and Hassan Dashti, PhD. RD. Ripple, focused on development of an evidence-based sleep health education program for foster-care personnel, including strategies to support children and foster caregivers, offered by the lead organization, the Pajama Program. Karin Johnson, a member of the board of directors of Save Standard Time, lead the Science of Time Change supporting the creation of videos about the science of clock change to educate the public and assist with advocacy efforts. Vivian Asare, MD, focused on a program to offset costs of sleep apnea therapy and Hassan Dashti, PhD, RD, developed educational resources to support the sleep health of patients receiving overnight infusions of parenteral nutrition. Congratulations to all the 2022 grant recipients; these leaders made a positive impact on the sleep community and are still working to spread awareness to the public.
“We are excited about the expansion of our Community Sleep Health and Public Awareness Grant. The AASM Foundation is committed to supporting people and projects that will improve sleep health for all of our communities,” said Anita V. Shelgikar, MD, MHPE, AASM Foundation President, “Prior and current grant recipients have done amazing work in the space, and we look forward to funding more projects that will improve community sleep health and public awareness about sleep disorders and healthy sleep.”
The request for applications begins on February 6, 2023, and the invited applications are due on the first Monday of each month by 11:59pm ET. For more information, please visit https://foundation.aasm.org/award-programs/community-sleep-health-award/
