McHenry County creatively used its pandemic planning budget to issue mini-grants to cities, school districts, and township governments. McHenry County provided a $5,000 mini-grant with the requirement that recipients develop a pandemic plan, write educational materials, and hold a town hall meeting with their constituents. The county made their planners available to answer questions and offered links to resources. This practice is a resourceful way to leverage planning funds to achieve results at many levels of government, and the grant deliverables ensure that efforts taken by the local or district governments are also enforcing personal and family preparedness. The available documents would be adaptable with little effort for other jurisdictions that were able to offer a similar program.
