ST. LOUIS—Optometry Cares - The AOA Foundation and The American Optometric Association, through a grant from Luxottica have announced the 10th annual funding of the Healthy Eyes Healthy People (HEHP) State Association Grants.

In the past, the AOA has directly linked HEHP grants to federally-defined Healthy People objectives. This year, to encourage the growth of community-based solutions to reduce vision problems and eye diseases in adults, HEHP grants will focus directly on the Healthy People 2020 (HP 2020) vision objective.

To be responsive to this Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA), applicants can address one or more of the following five sub-objective goals:

V-5.1: Reduce visual impairment due to uncorrected refractive error.
V-5.2: Reduce visual impairment due to diabetic retinopathy.
V-5.3: Reduce visual impairment due to glaucoma.
V-5.4: Reduce visual impairment due to cataract.
V-5.5: Reduce visual impairment due to age-related macular degeneration (AMD).

States may apply for more than one grant and each grant is worth up to $5,000. If there is a project that reaches multiple states, this may be considered for a larger grant.

Over the past nine years, the HEHP sponsors have contributed a total of $1,210,500 for more than 335 HEHP grants, which have gone directly to state association community outreach projects. These projects have served to educate the public and allied groups on the importance of vision care and have improved the lives of thousands of patients, the AOA’s statement said.

Instructions on how to apply, and access the 2013 grant application form are posted on the Optometry Cares site. HEHP grant applications must be submitted online by Feb. 28, 2013.