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This cooperative agreement will establish and maintain an interdisciplinary, multicenter research forum for scientific collaboration and infrastructure building, which will provide national leadership in research designed to improve the behavioral, mental, social, and/or cognitive health and wellbeing of children and adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and other developmental disabilities. As authorized by Section 399BB of the Autism CARES Act, the research network will determine the evidence-based practices for interventions to improve the behavioral health of individuals with ASD and other developmental disabilities, develop guidelines for those interventions, and disseminate information related to such research and guidelines. The AIR-B Network will be one of two HRSA-supported research networks that will provide national leadership in research to advance the evidence base on effective interventions for children and adolescents with ASD and other developmental disabilities, with AIR-B having a focus on addressing behavioral health and wellbeing. As directed by the FY 2015 Congressional Appropriations for HRSA's Autism CARES Act programs, HRSA is broadening the scope of this funding opportunity to reflect an additional emphasis on addressing disparities in effective interventions and treatment and access to care experienced by underserved minority and rural communities. In particular, applicants should consider diverse ethnic/racial, cultural, linguistic, socioeconomic, and geographic (e.g., rural/urban, tribal) populations for whom there is little evidence regarding the effectiveness of interventions, or for whom access to effective treatments is limited. Applicants should include plans to conduct multi-site research protocols on innovative treatment models, including the use of telehealth networks, to improve behavioral health interventions and treatment for ASD in underserved minority and rural communities. It is expected that the AIR-B Netwo

Organizations -- private and public, established and entrepreneurial, designed and emergent, formal and informal, profit and nonprofit -- are critical to the well-being of nations and their citizens. They are of crucial importance for producing goods and services, creating value, providing jobs, and achieving social goals. The Science of Organizations (SoO) program funds basic research that yields a scientific evidence base for improving the design and emergence, development and deployment, and management and ultimate effectiveness of organizations of all kinds. SoO funds research that advances our fundamental understanding of how organizations develop, form and operate. Successful SoO research proposals use scientific methods to develop and refine theories, to empirically test theories and frameworks, and to develop new measures and methods. Funded research is aimed at yielding generalizable insights that are of value to the business practitioner, policy-maker and research communities. SoO welcomes any and all rigorous, scientific approaches that illuminate aspects of organizations as systems of coordination, management and governance. In considering whether a particular project might be a candidate for consideration by SoO, please note: Intellectual perspectives may involve (but are not limited to) organizational theory, behavior, sociology or economics, business policy and strategy, communication sciences, entrepreneurship, human resource management, information sciences, managerial and organizational cognition, operations management, public administration, social or industrial psychology, and technology and innovation management. Phenomena studied may include (but are not limited to) structures, routines, effectiveness, competitiveness, innovation, dynamics, change and evolution.Levels of analysis may include (but are not limited to) organizational, cross-organizational collaborations or relationships, and institutional and can address individuals, groups or tea

Critical infrastructures are the mainstay of our nation's economy, security and health. These infrastructures are interdependent. They are linked to individual preferences and community needs. For example, the electrical power system depends on the delivery of fuels to power generating stations through transportation services, the production of those fuels depends in turn on the use of electrical power, and those fuels are needed by the transportation services. Social networks, interactions, and policies can enable or hinder the successful creation of resilient complex adaptive systems. The goals of the Critical Resilient Interdependent Infrastructure Systems and Processes (CRISP) solicitation are to: (1) foster an interdisciplinary research community of engineers, computer and computational scientists and social and behavioral scientists, that creates new approaches and engineering solutions for the design and operation of infrastructures as processes and services; (2) enhance the understanding and design of interdependent critical infrastructure systems (ICIs) and processes that provide essential goods and services despite disruptions and failures from any cause, natural, technological, or malicious; (3) create the knowledge for innovation in ICIs so that they safely, securely, and effectively expand the range of goods and services they enable; and (4) improve the effectiveness and efficiency with which they deliver existing goods and services.

Critical infrastructures are the mainstay of our nation's economy, security and health. These infrastructures are interdependent. They are linked to individual preferences and community needs. For example, the electrical power system depends on the delivery of fuels to power generating stations through transportation services, the production of those fuels depends in turn on the use of electrical power, and those fuels are needed by the transportation services. Social networks, interactions, and policies can enable or hinder the successful creation of resilient complex adaptive systems. The goals of the Critical Resilient Interdependent Infrastructure Systems and Processes (CRISP) solicitation are to: (1) foster an interdisciplinary research community of engineers, computer and computational scientists and social and behavioral scientists, that creates new approaches and engineering solutions for the design and operation of infrastructures as processes and services; (2) enhance the understanding and design of interdependent critical infrastructure systems (ICIs) and processes that provide essential goods and services despite disruptions and failures from any cause, natural, technological, or malicious; (3) create the knowledge for innovation in ICIs so that they safely, securely, and effectively expand the range of goods and services they enable; and (4) improve the effectiveness and efficiency with which they deliver existing goods and services.

The National Center for Injury Prevention and Control (NCIPC) is seeking applications from qualified organizations for Injury Control Research Center (ICRC) grants. These centers will conduct high quality research and help translate scientific discoveries into practice for the prevention and control of fatal and nonfatal injuries and violence that support NCIPC’s priorities and mission. ICRCs are expected to blend Outreach, Training and Education, and Research activities into a program to reduce the number, risk, and public health impact of injury and violence in the U.S. The over-arching goals for the NCIPC ICRC program are to: Build the scientific base for the prevention and control of fatal and nonfatal injuries and violence. Integrate, in the context of a national program, professionals from a wide spectrum of disciplines of epidemiology, behavioral and social sciences, medicine, biostatistics, public health, health economics, law, criminal justice, and engineering to perform research and provided technical expertise in order to prevent and control injuries and/or violence more effectively. Encourage investigators to propose research that involves intervention development or translation of effective programs among individuals, organizations, or communities. Provide technical assistance to injury and/or violence prevention and control programs in their geographic region, including other researchers; universities; medical institutions; community groups; state and local government agencies, public health agencies; and policy makers. Act as sources of injury and/or violence prevention and control information for their constituents and stakeholders at the local, state, tribal, national, and global levels.

HIV+ alcohol users remain at high risk for medication non-adherence and rapid disease progression, medication toxicities, organ failure, and poor viremic control, leading to increased risk of transmission and premature death. Recent advances in technology and biomedical science (e.g., new pharmacological agents, alcohol and inflammation biomarkers, internet and mobile technology) open new opportunities for strengthening the quality of HIV/alcohol-related implementation research through utilization of novel technology and biomarkers. This initiative seeks to advance knowledge on implementation and comparative effectiveness of alcohol-focused interventions among HIV+ individuals. Multiple factors need to be investigated, including potentially important patient and provider characteristics, and the organizational, financial, and structural factors that facilitate or inhibit the delivery of evidence-based services for HIV+ individuals with a range of severity of alcohol use problems. The overall goal is to inform clinical decision-making to implement effective interventions that will improve prevention, care, and outcomes across the continuum of HIV and alcohol problem severity and patterns of alcohol use. This solicitation is divided into two major topics. An application may choose to address one or both. These topics include: 1) comparative effectiveness research focused on understanding factors related to early detection, patient engagement and retention in appropriate alcohol and HIV care, and achieving and maintaining optimal treatment responses in diverse settings, and 2) modeling and testing alternative implementation approaches to improve uptake and scaling-up of effective interventions and reduce HIV disease transmission and progression.

The National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics (NCSES) of the National Science Foundation (NSF) is one of the thirteen principal federal statistical agencies within the United States. It is responsible for the collection, acquisition, analysis, reporting and dissemination of objective, statistical data related to the science and engineering enterprise in the United States and other nations that is relevant and useful to practitioners, researchers, policymakers and the public. NCSES uses this information to prepare a number of statistical data reports as well as analytical reports including the National Science Board's biennial report, Science and Engineering (S&E) Indicators, and Women, Minorities and Persons with Disabilities in Science and Engineering. The Center would like to enhance its efforts to support analytic and methodological research in support of its surveys, and to engage in the education and training of researchers in the use of large-scale nationally representative datasets. NCSES welcomes efforts by the research community to use NCSES data for research on the science and technology enterprise, to develop improved survey methodologies for NCSES surveys, to create and improve indicators of S&T activities and resources, and strengthen methodologies to analyze and disseminate S&T statistical data. To that end, NCSES invites proposals for individual or multi-investigator research projects, doctoral dissertation improvement awards, workshops, experimental research, survey research and data collection and dissemination projects under its program for Research on the Science and Technology Enterprise: Statistics and Surveys.

Due to the effects of COVID-19 on all facets of American life, the foundation is changing its immediate priorities for Letters of Inquiry for its upcoming deadline. Under the new priority, the foundation will only consider LOIs that satisfy the following criteria: research so timely and time-sensitive that the project must start before April 1, 2021; or research that analyzes social, political, economic, or psychological disruptions resulting from the coronavirus crisis affecting social and living conditions in the United States. All LOIs must focus on issues related to the foundation's core program areas and special initiatives, which include: Behavioral Economics - Research that uses insights and methods from psychology, economics, sociology, political science, and other social sciences to examine and improve social and living conditions. Decision-Making and Human Behavior in Context - Research on decision making across the social sciences that examines causes, consequences, processes, or context from a behavioral or alternative perspective. Future of Work - Projects that examine a wide range of causal factors that may have depressed wages of low-education workers, from foreign outsourcing and immigration to the decline of unions and technological change. Race, Ethnicity, and Immigration - Research investigating multidisciplinary perspectives on questions stemming from the significant changes in the racial, ethnic, and immigrant-origin composition of the U.S. population. Social, Political, and Economic Inequality - Research examining the factors that contribute to existing inequities; the extent to which these inequalities affect social, political, and economic institutions and outcomes; and how they influence the lives of individuals and families, including equality of access and opportunity, social mobility, and civic mobilization and representation, as well as how advantage and disadvantage are transmitted within and across generations.

The Understanding the Rules of Life: Microbiome Theory and Mechanisms (URoL:MTM) program is an integrative collaborationacross Directorates and Offices within the National Science Foundation. The objective of URoL:MTM is to understand and establish the theory and mechanisms that govern the structure and function of microbiomes, a collection of microbes in a specific habitat/environment. This may include but is not limited to host-associated microbiomes, such as those with humans and other organisms, where i) the microbiome impacts host physiology, behavior, development, and fitness; ii) the host influences the metabolic activity, dynamics and evolution of the microbiome, and iii) the environment (biological, chemical, physical, and social) influences and is influenced by both the host and the microbiome. Recent progress has transformed our ability to identify and catalogue the microbes present in a given environment and measure multiple aspects ofbiological, chemical, physical, and social environments that affect the interactions among the members of the microbiome, the host, and/or habitat. Much descriptive and correlative work has been performed on many microbiome systems, particularly those in the human, soil, aquatic, and built environments. This research has resulted in new hypotheses about the microbiome's contributions to potential system function or dysfunction. The current challenge is to integrate the wide range of accumulated data and information and build on them to develop new causal/mechanistic models or theories of interactions and interdependencies across scales and systems.

This funding opportunity announcement (FOA) invites applications for basic research to better characterize the affective, cognitive, social, and motivational parameters of impaired and intact decision making in both normal aging and Alzheimer's disease (AD). Research is sought that will characterize the extent to which basic behavioral and neural processes involved in decision-making are differentially impacted in normal aging and AD, investigate the influence of social factors on decision-making, and investigate the decision-making factors that render older adults (with or without cognitive impairment) vulnerable to financial exploitation and other forms of mistreatment and abuse. The FOA also invites applications to apply basic research on the processes involved in decision-making to the design of decision-supportive interventions for midlife and older adults with and without AD. Specific opportunities include the development of decision-supportive interventions to leverage cognitive, emotional and motivational strengths of these populations; tools to assess decisional capacity; strategies for simplifying choices and offering better defaults; and the promotion of timely adoption of optimal delegation practices (e.g., power of attorney, living wells, etc.).

This funding opportunity announcement (FOA) invites applications for basic research to better characterize the affective, cognitive, social, and motivational parameters of impaired and intact decision making in both normal aging and Alzheimer's disease (AD). Research is sought that will characterize the extent to which basic behavioral and neural processes involved in decision-making are differentially impacted in normal aging and AD, investigate the influence of social factors on decision-making, and investigate the decision-making factors that render older adults (with or without cognitive impairment) vulnerable to financial exploitation and other forms of mistreatment and abuse. The FOA also invites applications to apply basic research on the processes involved in decision-making to the design of decision-supportive interventions for midlife and older adults with and without AD. Specific opportunities include the development of decision-supportive interventions to leverage cognitive, emotional and motivational strengths of these populations; tools to assess decisional capacity; strategies for simplifying choices and offering better defaults; and the promotion of timely adoption of optimal delegation practices (e.g., power of attorney, living wells, etc.).

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), Center for Substance Abuse Treatment (CSAT), is accepting applications for fiscal year (FY) 2018 Targeted Capacity Expansion Hispanic/Latino Center of Excellence for Substance Use Disorder Treatment and Recovery Program (Short Title: Hispanic/Latino COE). The purpose of this program is to provide support for a Hispanic/Latino Center of Excellence to develop and strengthen the specialized behavioral healthcare and primary healthcare workforce that provides substance use disorder (SUD) treatment and recovery support services to Hispanic/Latino populations. This is accomplished by accelerating the adoption and implementation of culturally appropriate, evidence-based and promising SUD treatment and recovery-oriented practices and services; heightening the awareness, knowledge, and skills of the workforce that addresses the needs of Hispanic/Latino communities with substance use or other co-occurring health disorders; and fostering regional and national alliances among culturally diverse practitioners, researchers, policy makers, funders, and the recovery community. The Hispanic/Latino COE recipient will work directly with SAMHSA and in collaboration with the FY 2017 Addiction Technology Transfer Center (ATTC) National Coordinating Center and the Regional ATTCs on activities aimed at improving the quality and effectiveness of treatment and recovery, as well as working directly with providers of clinical and recovery support services, and others that influence the delivery of services, to improve the quality of workforce training and service delivery to Hispanic/Latino communities.

The Administration for Children and Families (ACF), Office of Head Start (OHS) announces the availability of approximately $7,582,500 to be competitively awarded for the purpose of operating a National Center on Health, Behavioral Health, and Safety (NC HBHS). The NC HBHS will provide training and technical assistance (TTA) that reflects current evidence, is research-informed, and promotes best practices. The NC HBHS will strengthen professional development outcomes for staff and improve outcomes for children and families enrolled in Head Start and/or Early Head Start programs. The NC HBHS TTA efforts will lead to improved health, behavioral health, and safety of children and families. Because of the complex work the NC HBHS will conduct, the recipient will be expected to bring together knowledgeable subrecipients within the fields child nutrition and oral health; physical activity; health (including hearing and vision screening); behavioral health promotion and prevention, including the promotion of mental health, resilience and wellbeing; and the prevention of mental illness and substance use disorders; safety practices; child and adult trauma; child incidents and maltreatment; emergency preparedness, response and recovery; prenatal care; environmental health and safety; and staff wellness.

The Accountable Institutions and Behavior (AIB) Program supports basic scientific research that advances knowledge and understanding of issues broadly related to attitudes, behavior, and institutions connected to public policy and the provision of public services.Research proposals are expected to be theoretically motivated, conceptually precise, methodologically rigorous, and empirically oriented. Substantive areas include (but are not limited to) the study of individual and group decision-making, political institutions (appointed or elected), attitude and preference formation and expression, electoral processes and voting, public administration, and public policy. This work can focus on a single case or can be done in a comparative context, either over time or cross-sectionally.The Program does not fund applied research.The Program also supports research experiences for undergraduate students and infrastructural activities, including methodological innovations. The Security and Preparedness (SAP) Programsupports basic scientific research that advances knowledge and understanding of issues broadly related to global and national security. Research proposals are evaluated on the criteria of intellectual merit and broader impacts; the proposed projects are expected to be theoretically motivated, conceptually precise, methodologically rigorous, and empirically oriented. Substantive areas include (but are not limited to) international relations, global and national security, human security,political violence, state stability, conflict processes, regime transition, international and comparative political economy, and peace science. Moreover, the Program supports research experiences for undergraduate students and infrastructural activities, including methodological innovations. The Program does not fund applied research.

The RISA program supports the development of knowledge, expertise, and abilities of decision-makers to plan and prepare for climate variability and change. Through regionally-focused and interdisciplinary research and engagement teams, RISA builds and expands the Nation's capacity to adapt and become resilient to extreme weather events and climate change. RISA teams accomplish this through co-developed applied research and partnerships with public and private communities. A central tenet of the RISA program is that learning about climate adaptation and resilience is facilitated by and sustained across a wide range of experts, practitioners, and the public. As such, the RISA program supports a network of people, prioritizing wide participation in learning by doing, learning through adapting, and managing risk with uncertain information. Early decades of the program focused on understanding the use of climate information at regional scales (e.g., through experimental seasonal outlooks), improving predictions and scenarios, building capacity for drought early warning, and advancing the science of climate impact assessments. More recently, emphasis has shifted to address the growing urgency to advance approaches that tackle the complex societal issues surrounding adaptation planning, implementation, and building community resilience. To do so, RISA continues to prioritize collaborative approaches that incorporate multiple knowledge sources and integrate social, physical, and natural science, resulting in long-term support of and increased capacity for communities.

he US Army Research Institute for the Behavioral and Social Sciences (ARI) announces the ARI FY13-18 Broad Agency Announcement for Basic, Applied, and Advanced Scientific Research. This Broad Agency Announcement (BAA), which sets forth research areas of interest to the United States Army Research Institute for the Behavioral and Social Sciences, is issued under the provisions of paragraph 6.102(d)(2) of the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR), which provides for the competitive selection of proposals. Proposals submitted in response to this BAA and selected for award are considered to be the result of full and open competition and in full compliance with the provisions of Public Law 98-369 (The Competition in Contracting Act of 1984)and subsequent amendments. The US Army Research Institute for the Behavioral and Social Sciences is the Army's lead agency for the conduct of research, development, and analyses for the improvement of Army readiness and performance via research advances and applications of the behavioral and social sciences that address personnel, organization, training, and leader development issues. Programs funded under this BAA include basic research, applied research, and advanced technology development that can improve human performance and Army readiness. The funding opportunity is divided into two sections- (1) Basic Research and (2) Applied Research and Advanced Technology Development. The four major topic areas of research interest include the following: (1) Training; (2) Leader Development; (3) Team and Inter-Organizational Performance in Complex Environments; and (4) Solider/Personnel Issues.

This initiative is funded through the NIH Common Fund, which supports cross-cutting programs that are expected to have exceptionally high impact. All Common Fund initiatives invite investigators to develop bold, innovative, and often risky approaches to address problems that may seem intractable or to seize new opportunities that offer the potential for rapid progress. This Phased Innovation Awards Cooperative Agreement Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) solicits applications to support a collaborative research infrastructure involving an interdisciplinary team of basic and clinical scientists to develop the foundation for an experimental medicine approach to behavior change. Research supported by this FOA is meant to support activities focused on behavior change targets in the domain of interpersonal and social processes through four main target validation steps: 1. Identify a set of putative targets within the interpersonal and social processes domain that are implicated in medical regimen adherence and at least one other health behavior; 2. Leverage existing or develop new experimental or intervention approaches to engage identified targets; 3. Identify or develop appropriate assays (measures) to permit verification of target engagement; 4. Test the degree to which engaging identified targets produces a desired change in medical regimen adherence and at least one other health behavior. While testing target engagement in specific clinical samples is permitted, the targets identified and the behavior change outcomes measured should be selected based on their hypothesized relevance to at least two clinical endpoints or disease conditions. Funds from the NIH will be made available through the UH2/UH3 Phased Innovation Awards Cooperative Agreement mechanism.The initial UH2 phase will support steps 1-3 above. UH2 projects that have met their objectives and agreed upon milestones will be administratively considered by NIH and prioritized for transition to the UH3 va

The goal of the Smart and Connected Health (SCH) Program is to accelerate the development and use of innovative approaches that would support the much needed transformation of healthcare from reactive and hospital-centered to preventive, proactive, evidence-based, person-centered and focused on well-being rather than disease. Approaches that partner technology-based solutions with biobehavioral health research are supported by multiple agencies of the federal government including the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The purpose of this program is to develop next generation health care solutions and encourage existing and new research communities to focus on breakthrough ideas in a variety of areas of value to health, such as sensor technology, networking, information and machine learning technology, decision support systems, modeling of behavioral and cognitive processes, as well as system and process modeling. Effective solutions must satisfy a multitude of constraints arising from clinical/medical needs, social interactions, cognitive limitations, barriers to behavioral change, heterogeneity of data, semantic mismatch and limitations of current cyberphysical systems. Such solutions demand multidisciplinary teams ready to address technical, behavioral and clinical issues ranging from fundamental science to clinical practice.

The goal of the Smart and Connected Health (SCH) Program is to accelerate the development and use of innovative approaches that would support the much needed transformation of healthcare from reactive and hospital-centered to preventive, proactive, evidence-based, person-centered and focused on well-being rather than disease. Approaches that partner technology-based solutions with biobehavioral health research are supported by multiple agencies of the federal government including the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The purpose of this program is to develop next generation health care solutions and encourage existing and new research communities to focus on breakthrough ideas in a variety of areas of value to health, such as sensor technology, networking, information and machine learning technology, decision support systems, modeling of behavioral and cognitive processes, as well as system and process modeling. Effective solutions must satisfy a multitude of constraints arising from clinical/medical needs, social interactions, cognitive limitations, barriers to behavioral change, heterogeneity of data, semantic mismatch and limitations of current cyberphysical systems. Such solutions demand multidisciplinary teams ready to address technical, behavioral and clinical issues ranging from fundamental science to clinical practice.

The goals of the Resilient Interdependent Infrastructure Processes and Systems (RIPS) solicitation are (1) to foster an interdisciplinary research community that discovers new knowledge for the design and operation of infrastructures as processes and services  (2) to enhance the understanding and design of interdependent critical infrastructure systems (ICIs) and processes that provide essential goods and services despite disruptions and failures from any cause, natural, technological, or malicious, and (3) to create the knowledge for innovation in ICIs to advance society with new goods and services. The objectives of this solicitation are: Create theoretical frameworks and multidisciplinary computational models of interdependent infrastructure systems, processes and services, capable of analytical prediction of complex behaviors, in response to system and policy changes. Synthesize new approaches to increase resilience, interoperations, performance, and readiness in ICIs. Understand organizational, social, psychological, legal, political and economic obstacles to improving ICI's, and identifying strategies for overcoming those obstacles. The RIPS solicitation seeks proposals with transformative ideas that will ensure ICIs services are effective, efficient, dependable, adaptable, resilient, safe, and secure.  Successful proposals are expected to study multiple infrastructures focusing on them as interdependent systems that deliver services, enabling a new interdisciplinary paradigm in infrastructure research.  Proposals that do not broadly integrate across the cyber-physical, engineering and social, behavioral and economic (SBE) sciences may be returned without review. 

The first Health and Human Performance Research (HHPR) Summit is upcoming April 28-30, 2015 in Dayton, Ohio. We are on target to have more than 200 attendees, 75+ posters, and 12 breakout sessions discussing the topics of the summit. More than 75 participants from Federal Research labs will be presenting and participating in the event and it is a great opportunity for our Ohio Academic Institutions to create relationships and understand the objectives of these researchers. As such, we have an interest in ensuring Ohio universities and research institutions are represented in this event to increase the funding which is attracted to our State. We would like to extend an invitation to your institution to participate in the Summit through poster presentations and/or attending the Summit. Designed to provide networking opportunities for researchers and industry to connect through a focus on exploring commercializing opportunities in Science and Technology within the health and human performance domain; the HHPR Summit is also intended to further develop the research relationships with the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) and support the commercialization within Ohio. It is important to us as we look to the strategies we are undertaking as a state to ensure the major universities and research institutions have an opportunity to play a major role in this relationship. Details of the Summit follows: The HHPR Summit is an international meeting supporting human systems research held at the Dayton Convention Center in Dayton, Ohio April 28-30, 2015 with the objective of linking defense and academic research to the commercial domains. The Summit is a forum to generate research knowledge and ideas, recruit and retain key organizations and researchers in the human systems domain, and link research to entrepreneurial outcomes, and diffuse information.

The goal of the NSF Smart and Connected Communities (S&CC) program solicitation is to accelerate the creation of the scientific and engineering foundations that will enable smart and connected communities to bring about new levels of economic opportunity and growth, safety and security, health and wellness, and overall quality of life. This goal will be achieved through integrative research projects that pair advances in technological and social dimensions with meaningful community engagement. For the purposes of this solicitation, communities are defined as having geographically-delineated boundaries-such as towns, cities, counties, neighborhoods, community districts, rural areas, and tribal regions-consisting of various populations, with the structure and ability to engage in meaningful ways with proposed research activities. A "smart and connected community" is, in turn, a community that synergistically integrates intelligent technologies with the natural and built environments, including infrastructure, to improve the social, economic, and environmental well-being of those who live, work, or travel within it. A proposal for an S&CC Integrative Research Grants must include the following: Integrative research that addresses the technological and social dimensions of smart and connected communities; Meaningful community engagement that integrates community stakeholders within the project; A management plan that summarizes how the project will be managed across disciplines, institutions, and community entities; and An evaluation plan for assessing short-, medium-, and long-term impacts of the proposed activities.

The Consolidated Grant Program to Address Children and Youth Experiencing Domestic and Sexual Assault and Engage Men and Boys as Allies, hereafter referred to as the Consolidated Youth Program, supports activities that were previously funded under the following four OVW grant programs: Grants to Assist Children and Youth Exposed to Violence Program (CEV); Services to Advocate for and Respond to Youth Program (Youth Services); Services, Training, Education and Policies to Reduce Sexual Assault, Domestic Violence, Dating Violence, and Stalking in Secondary Schools Grant Program (STEP); and the Engaging Men and Boys in Preventing Sexual Assault, Domestic Violence, Dating Violence, and Stalking Program (Engaging Men). The Consolidated Youth Program creates a unique opportunity for communities to increase collaboration among non-profit victim service providers, violence prevention and children (0-10), youth (11-18), young adult (19-24) and men-serving organizations, tribes and tribal governments, local government agencies, schools, and programs that support men's role in combating violence against women and girls.