A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT to appropriate funds to the Department of Health and Human Services for the community‑focused eliminating health disparities initiative.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
SECTION 1.  There is appropriated from the General Fund to the Department of Health and Human Services the sum of nine hundred seventy‑five thousand dollars ($975,000) for the 2005‑2006 fiscal year and the sum of nine hundred seventy‑five thousand dollars ($975,000) for the 2006‑2007 fiscal year. These funds shall be allocated for the Community‑Focused Eliminating Health Disparities Initiative (CFEHDI) to build capacity of faith‑based and community‑based organizations to close the gap in health status of African-Americans, Hispanics/Latinos, and American Indians as compared to white persons. The areas of focus on health status shall be infant mortality, HIV/AIDS and sexually transmitted infections, cancer, diabetes, and homicides and motor vehicle deaths.  Grants shall be awarded as follows:
(1)	Competitive microdevelopment grants to faith‑based and community‑based organizations in the amount of seven thousand dollars ($7,000) to ten thousand dollars ($10,000) per grant recipient per fiscal year.
(2)	Competitive intervention grants to faith‑based and community‑based organizations in the amount of thirty thousand dollars ($30,000) to forty thousand dollars ($40,000) per grant recipient per fiscal year.
These funds shall also be used to support one FTE in the Department of Health and Human Services to monitor, track, and evaluate grantees' progress in meeting performance-based standards and outcomes established by the Department.
SECTION 2.  This act becomes effective July 1, 2005.