The National Council on Problem Gambling has issued four awards totalling $137,500 as part of an ‘Agility Grant’ program that was rolled-out earlier in the year.
This initiative, funded by the National Football League Foundation with additional support from FanDuel, is aiming to support problem gambling prevention program expansion, or fresh development, across the United States.
Organisations were awarded grants in two different program areas prioritising the core principles of innovation, collaboration and amplification, with it previously said that round one was expected to deliver between $20,000 – $40,000 to between four and six organisations.
Agility Grants for prevention innovation, which seeks to foster and accelerate the development, deployment, research, and evaluation of problem gambling prevention programs, were awarded to a paid of applicants.
Firstly Maryland’s Towson University Foundation will support a new problem gambling prevention program from its Alcohol, Tobacco, and Other Drug Abuse prevention centre, with the Oklahoma Association on Problem Gambling and Gaming to expand its ‘I Am Native Dedicated to Natives’ youth project.
Furthermore, grants for amplification, who look to increase community awareness, response and support on problem gambling, were also issued.
Recipients include Nicasa, a behavioural health non-profit near Chicago that will expand its Teen Problem Gambling Group, as well as Visión y Compromiso, a California based non-profit, that will expand the ‘No Jueuges Tu Vida’ (Don’t Play Your Life) program through problem gambling educational content and training.
“NCPG is proud to support each Agility Grant awardee as they work within their communities to bring about positive social change. We recognize the creativity and dedication of every applicant,” said Keith Whyte, NCPG Executive Director.
“We look forward to the opportunity to bring even more support to the problem gambling prevention field later this year with our second grant application cycle.”
Successful applications have to closely align with NCPG’s vision of improving health and wellness by reducing the personal, social and economic costs of problem gambling.
The spring 2022 Agility Grant awards serve as the inaugural round of prevention grant funding from the National Council on Problem Gambling. The program will award more than $1m dollars over three years to help non-profit organisations across the country develop and expand problem gambling prevention programming.
These will be awarded through two funding cycles each year, with it anticipated that round two will become available in either late summer or early autumn 2022.
