Funding Opportunity Announcement: Community Organization ENGAGE Awards

1. Funding Opportunity Description

The Mississippi IDeA Network of Biomedical Research Excellence (MS-INBRE) invites community organizations to apply for the Community Organization Proposal Awards. The Community Organization Proposal Awards are intended to provide funding for community organizations to lead the development of grant proposals that address Mississippi’s top public health issues. 

Project ideas must focus on serving racial/ethnic minorities, rural or disadvantaged populations, or other medically underserved groups AND align with one of the following three areas: 

1. Socioecological and psychosocial determinants of health that influence engagement in health-promoting behaviors and avoidance of risky behaviors with actionable potential for use as evidence-based practice. 
2. Multi-component interventions that address socioecological and psychosocial determinants of health on cardiometabolic health outcomes.
3. Innovative digital healthcare strategies to improve the provision of disease prevention and management programs. 

The Community Proposal Awards occurs in two competitive phases: the ENGAGE Award and PROPOSE Award. Awards will support the meaningful involvement of community organizations with our Community Engagement and Training Core faculty who have grant experience and expertise in lifestyle behaviors (i.e., nutrition, physical activity, sleep) and interventions, mental health, body composition and cardiometabolic outcomes assessment, health communication techniques, health promotion/outreach, digital health innovations, and cardiometabolic diseases, such as diabetes, hypertension, obesity and HIV/AIDS.

2. Eligibility

Eligible applicants include community organizations. For this award, a community organization is defined as a non-Federal or non-academic organization whose primary purpose is to provide goods, services, support, resources, or advocacy to members of a Mississippi community. Examples of eligible organizations include faith-based organizations, public healthcare systems, school districts, social services agencies, non-federal government agencies (including local, regional, Tribal or state level governments and their respective departments of public health, commerce, labor, transportation, housing and recreation). Community organizations must also have appropriate systems, policies and procedures in place to manage funds and activities.

Academic research centers and academic healthcare organizations are not eligible to apply for these awards, however, individual academic researchers can be involved as key collaborators and partners of the community organizations.

3. Amounts

Total allowable direct costs: $20,000/year for 1 year. Indirect costs (F&A) are in addition to the allowable direct costs.

4. Key Dates

• Letter of Intent Due Date: April 17^th  
• Full Application Due Date: May 31^st
• Application Review: June
• Award Notifications begin: mid-August
• Project Start Date: September 1^st
• Project End Date: August 31^st
• 4-hour required training: Month of September/October
• 1 hour Mentor Meetings: Twice per month September - May

5. Letter of Intent Requirements due April 17^th

a. Submit a one-page letter (“LOI.pdf”) that includes the following: 

1. Community organization mission statement
2. Description of population(s) served
3. Project topic or health issues of interest
4. Name of project principal investigator (leader) and team members, and their roles in the organization and proposed project
   1. Must list at least one leader and one team member.
5. Statement of fiscal management capacity

6. Full Application Submission Requirements – Invited Applicants Only - due May 31^st

a. Fp1 - NIH Face Page

b. Fp2 - Summary, Relevance, Project Performance Sites, Key Personnel, Other Significant Contributors

c. Fp4 - Detailed Budget for 1 year project period (“Budget.pdf”). Allowable costs include: 

1. Personnel
2. Equipment
3. Supplies
4. Travel

d. Fp5 - Budget Justification: justify in detail all proposed expenses (“Justification.pdf”; all combined as one document and no more than 3 pages in length per individual). All items requested in the budget are to be used during the award period. Use continuation pages as needed. 

e. Biosketch, CV or Resume for project personnel (“Senior/Key.pdf”; all combined as one document and no more than 3 pages in length per individual)

f. Specific Aims (“Aims.pdf”; no more than 1 page total composed of three paragraphs that summarize the Project Plan section as 1. Significance, 2. Investigators and Organizational Capacity and 3. Project Planning Process)

g. Project Plan (“Application.pdf”; no more than 3 pages total) should be organized in and include the following sections to facilitate the review process: 

       i. Significance

1. Describe the health problems the community organization aims to address for this project using local-level data (e.g., state, regional, county, or city data), community health assessment data, and/or other relevant data sources.
2. Describe the proposed project’s potential to lead to evidence-based solutions.

      ii. Community Investigators

1. Identify the community organization’s key (or lead) personnel and other personnel for this project.
2. Describe the specific role of personnel on the proposed project (i.e., describe their expertise and experience and explicitly state how they will contribute to the proposed project.
3. Include any relevant past performance for the team and any prior experience working together on external funding, research or service projects.
4. Describe the team’s prior experiences, research or practice, in addressing the health issues of the target population.

      iii. Organizational Capacity

1. Describe the team’s experience working within partnerships to address health.
2. Outline the organization’s fiscal management processes, including subcontracting and managing external funds.

      iv. Project Planning Process

1. Describe the health outcomes that would be the focus of this project.
2. Describe the target population of interest and geographic area(s).
3. Describe the community organization’s potential participant reach.

7. MS INBRE External Advisory Board Meeting – July

Invited applicants will be requested to appear at the MS INBRE External Advisory Board meeting to provide a proposal presentation.