Category: Grants

The Massachusetts Health Policy Commission (HPC) has issued a Request for Proposals (RFP) seeking partnerships between provider and community-based organizations looking to address upstream social, economic, and environmental barriers to health as part of the ‘Moving Massachusetts Upstream’ (MassUP) initiative. The MassUP initiative is a collaboration among Massachusetts state agencies. The vision of the partnership is better health, lower costs, and reduced health inequities across communities and populations in Massachusetts through effective collaboration among government, health care systems, and local organizations.

Proposals for the MassUP investment program must (1) describe a social determinant of health (SDOH) that is related to poor health and health inequity for individuals in a geographic community; and (2) propose a program through which the eligible applicant and their partners will undertake activities to address the SDOH in that community. The MassUP investment program is making $2 million available through this RFP, funding three to four awards of up to $650,000 each. The RFP and its attachments are available on the state’s procurement website, COMMBUYS, located here. Please check COMMBUYS regularly for RFP amendments, FAQs, and other information that the HPC may issue during the procurement period. Responses to the RFP must be submitted to the HPC by 3:00 PM on Friday, February 21, 2020.

Please submit all questions about the MassUP RFP to HPC-Innovation@mass.gov by 3:00 PM on February 7, 2020.

The American Public Health Association has announced its call for applications for the 2o2o APHA Public Health Fellowship in Government.

Candidates must have strong public health credentials and be able to spend one year in Washington, D.C. The fellow will have the option of working in the House or Senate on legislative and policy issues such as creating healthy communities, improving health equity, addressing environmental health concerns, population health or the social determinants of health.

Training for the fellowship will begin in January 2020, so you must be able to move to the Washington, D.C., area in January and stay through December 2020. The fellowship provides a unique learning experience and demonstrates the value and need for basing policy on sound science. Throughout the year, the fellow will gain a practical knowledge of government and how the public policy process works.

To be eligible for the Fellowship, candidates must meet all of the following criteria:

1. be an APHA member.
2. have a graduate degree in public health or a related discipline.
3. have at least five years’ experience as a public health professional beyond graduate or medical training.
4. be a citizen of the U.S. or its territories or have permanent residence status in the U.S.

Applications, additional information and brief articles from previous fellows are available on APHA’s website. The application, a CV and three letters of recommendation are due to APHA by 6 p.m. ET on Sept. 4, 2019.

For more information, please contact us at aphafellowship@apha.org or 202-777-2510.

Are you part of a Massachusetts multi-sector partnership, community-based organization, or municipality looking to advance health equity in Massachusetts communities?

Join staff from the Massachusetts Department of Public Health and Health Resources in Action to learn about two exciting new Massachusetts funds focused on community health and health equity: the Statewide Community Health Initiative (CHI) Fund and the Healthy Aging Fund.

These funds provide capacity and funding in three areas:

• Policy, systems, and environmental change approaches
• Community Health Improvement Plan (CHIP) processes
• Healthy aging

Through the webinars, you will:

• Receive information about who is eligible to apply and what may be considered for funding
• Understand how to share an idea to be considered for funding
• Learn about the funds’ history, rationale, investment process, and first funding cycle timeline

Webinars
Policy, Systems, and Environmental Change Funding Announcement Webinar
August 13, 2019, 2:00 – 3:00 PM | Register here: http://bit.ly/policy-chi
Healthy Aging Funding Announcement Webinar
August 14, 2019, 11:00 AM – 12:00 PM | Register here: http://bit.ly/healthy-aging-chi
Community Health Improvement Planning Processes Funding Announcement Webinar
August 15, 2019, 12:00 – 1:00 PM | Register here: http://bit.ly/chip-chi

For further questions, contact StatewideCHIFund@hria.org or HealthyAgingFund@hria.org.
For additional information, visit https://hria.org/projects/massachusetts-chi-funds/.

Project Summary/Abstract and Project Narrative: What’s the Difference and What to Include

When writing an NIH grant application, applicants are asked to develop a Project Summary/Abstract and a Project Narrative, two sections that, if funded, are made available on NIH RePORTER to help the public understand the value of NIH-funded research. Check out the table below to see how they compare and what to include.

For more guidance, see the Application Guide for Project Summary/Abstract and Project Narrative.

The do’s and don’ts of hyperlinks in grant applications are simple:

• Do include hyperlinks when explicitly requested in application guide, funding opportunity, or NIH Guide notice instructions
• Do use hyperlinks in relevant citations and publications included in biosketches and publication list attachments
• Don’t use hyperlinks anywhere else in your application

At the end of the day, risk avoidance may be the most convincing reason to avoid unrequested hyperlinks. NIH may withdraw your application from consideration if you include them. Don’t risk it. Write a compelling, self-contained grant application and let it speak for itself.

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) is working to build a Culture of Health where everyone in America has a fair opportunity for health and well-being. But, climate change threatens all of the factors that shape the opportunity for a healthy life, especially for those who are the most vulnerable to the health harms of climate change.

The good news is that health solutions can also benefit the climate, and climate solutions can help build a Culture of Health with immediate and long-term health benefits.

Is your community or organization working to address the health harms of climate change? RWJF is looking to award grants of up to $350,000 for up to eight projects that are improving community health and advancing health equity, while also addressing climate change adaptation and mitigation.

Grant funds will support research and evaluation of the project, with some funds allocated to communication and dissemination efforts to share findings and lessons learned broadly.

Click here for further details and to apply.

The Retirement Research Foundation is accepting proposals from nonprofit organizations for local and national projects designed to improve the quality of life for older Americans.

Grants will be awarded for projects that provide direct services, advocacy, education and training programs for professionals working with elders, as well as for research that investigates causes and solutions to significant problems of older adults.

The next proposal deadline is February 1, 2019. Letters of Intent for this deadline are due December 1, 2018.

The complete RFP can be viewed here.

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation has issued a Call for Applications for its 2018 Culture of Health Prize, an annual program that honors outstanding community efforts and partnerships that are helping people live healthier lives.

Through the program, up to ten communities will be awarded a $25,000 cash prize and have their accomplishments celebrated and shared broadly, with the goal of raising awareness and inspiring locally driven change across the country. Community partners can decide together how to use the funds to benefit their community.

The RWJF Culture of Health Prize is a place-based prize that honors whole U.S. communities; applications representing the work of a single organization or initiative will not be considered.

To be eligible, a community must be based in the United States. For the purposes of the program, a community is defined as a town, city, county, tribe or tribal community, or region. Each community will be required to designate a local U.S. governmental or tax-exempt public charity operating in its community to accept the $25,000 prize on the community’s behalf should it win.

Phase I applications must be received no later than November 1. Upon review, invitations will be extended to select communities to submit Phase II applications, with a smaller group of select communities invited to submit a full application by January 17, 2019.

Complete program guidelines and application procedures can be viewed here.