New NIH Funding for Community-Linked Infrastructure

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) recently announced a new funding opportunity to support the development of community-academic partnerships for health research. The goal of the program is to “support the development, expansion, or reconfiguration of infrastructures needed to facilitate collaboration between academic health centers and community-based organizations for health science research.” As part of this infrastructure, NIH has established the role of Community Research Associate (CRA), “who will be a community representative and serve as a primary liaison facilitating communication and collaboration between the academic health center and the local community. Applicants must identify at least one CRA.”

For more details, see the full announcement for Building Sustainable Community-Linked Infrastructure to Enable Health Science Research (RC4), RFA-OD-09-010. Letters of intent are due on November 12, with full applications due on December 11.

NIH: Community Programs to Reduce Childhood Obesity

The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, (NHLBI), a branch of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), has issued a request for information about studying community programs to reduce childhood obesity. According to the request, NHLBI plans to conduct “an evaluation study of communities that will examine outcomes associated with community programs to reduce childhood obesity through policy, environmental, behavioral, and educational activities addressing energy balance. The goal is to examine effects of childhood obesity programs by using a natural experiment al design. Results will be disseminated to inform national and local policy for reducing the prevalence of childhood obesity.”

The information NHLBI is requesting includes how “community” should be defined in this type of evaluation research, what data collection tools exist to measure the impact of childhood obesity programs, and the types of study designs that should be considered. NHLBI would also like to know about specific community programs and the approaches they use to address childhood obesity.

Responses are due by April 10. See the full request for information for complete details.

RWJF Community Health Leaders

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation is calling for nominations for its Community Health Leaders program. They intend to make 10 awards in the amount of $125,000 each to “outstanding and otherwise unrecognized individuals who overcome daunting odds to improve health and health care, especially to underserved populations in communities across the United States. The nomination deadline is November 7. For a list of past recipients and details on this year’s call for nominations, see the program website.

CFP: Faith-based advocacy to end childhood obesity

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) is seeking proposals from faith-based coalitions to end childhood obesity. According to the call for proposals, the aim of this funding opportunity is “to advance community policies or environmental changes that improve access to healthy foods and/or opportunities for physical activity.” RWJF is particularly interested in funding coalitions that focus on children who face the greatest risk of becoming obese, including racial and ethnic minorities who live in low-income communities, communities with limited access to health food choices, and/or communities with limited opportunities for safe physical activity.

The application deadline is July 25; a conference call for potential applicants will be held on June 18. Eligible applicants are limited to 501(c)(3) organizations, coalitions of congregations or partnerships of faith-based organizations, organizations with at least two years of experience in policy advocacy to promote social change, and coalitions with an annual operating budget of at least $350,000.

More information and details on how to apply are available at the RWJF website.

CFP: Peer support in diabetes management

Peers for Progress, an organization sponsored by the American Academy of Family Physicians, has released a call for proposals (CFP) to evaluate the benefits of peer support for people with diabetes. Successful proposals will be awarded grants for between $500,000 and $1,000,000.

According to the CFP, eligible applicants include “university-based researchers, health systems, and other organizations with experience and recognizable accomplishments in both (a) diabetes management and/or use of peer-based interventions in health promotion and chronic disease management; and (b) research or program evaluation. Full information about this funding opportunity is available on the Peers for Progress website.

APHA scholarships for community-based organizations

The Community-Based Public Health Caucus of the American Public Health Association is offering a limited number of scholarships to representatives of community-based organizations to defray the costs of travel to the APHA annual meeting in San Diego, CA, October 25-29, 2008. Community representatives who are members of the Caucus or are co-presenting in APHA sessions sponsored by the caucus will be given priority for the scholarships.

Visit the Community-Based Public Health Caucus website for more information about the travel scholarships or to become a member of the Caucus. Members of community-based organizations may be particularly interested in learning more about the National Community-Based Organization Network (NCBON).

HUD funding for community development

The US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has announced FY08 Notices of Funding Availability (NOFAs) for six HUD Office of University Partnership Programs. Three of the programs target support for graduate students and for HBCUs to incorporate community assistance and development into their work. The purpose of the HBCU program, for example, is: “To assist HBCUs to expand their role and effectiveness in addressing community development needs in their localities, including neighborhood revitalization, housing, and economic development, principally for persons of low- and moderate-income, consistent with the purposes of Title I of the Housing and Community Development Act of 1974, as amended.”

The deadline for graduate students is June 12; the other programs have a deadline of July 2. For more information, visit the HUD Office of University Partnership Programs website.

Merck Alliance to Reduce Disparities in Diabetes

Merck Company Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Merck Pharmaceuticals, has announced a new initiative to reduce disparities in diabetes care. According to the Merck website, the initiative will commit $15 million over the next five years for evidence-based diabetes programs that will:

• Apply program models that address health care disparities related to type 2 diabetes and its associated conditions or complications among minority, low-income and underserved adult populations
• Enhance patient and health care provider communication, mobilize community partners, and assist health care organizations to decrease disparities in diabetes care
• Improve the quality of health care for adults who have or are at risk for type 2 diabetes
• Decrease health care disparities related to diabetes and its associated conditions or complications
• Increase public awareness of the problem of health care disparities and diabetes

The initiative is seeking applications from “nonprofit organizations, public or private institutions, universities, colleges, health care organizations, community-based or nongovernmental organizations, as well as state and local governments.” Interested organizations should submit a letter of intent, and selected organizations will be invited to submit a full application. See the Merck website for more.