OARS funding Diversity & Race

The purpose of ACCESS activity is to build the capacity of Ministry of Public Health (MOPH) actors at the district level and below in all districts in the implementation regions, to design, develop, manage, deliver, monitor and evaluate health services and programs in their catchment areas. The activity will also engage with regional health authorities with limited interventions to ensure coordination, planning and effective management of health activities in their districts. Work at the national level will focus on informing policy, guideline development, as well as advocacy on key health service delivery issues. ACCESS will work to improve the clinical skills and health governance skills of primary health care providers to deliver high quality, accessible preventive and curative health services. To expand the reach of the public health system, the activity will work to improve the skills and motivation of community health volunteers to deliver quality health services and ensure they work under the supervision of their respective CSB. Finally, ACCESS will promote positive health behaviors, including care seeking behaviors in the target communities through a comprehensive and contextualized social and behavior change (SBC) approach and improve the capacity of the MOPH and local institutions to design, implement, and monitor and evaluate SBC activities.

Nigeria has sought to tackle corruption through traditional legal, law enforcement, and governance-focused interventions. The United States seeks to support the Government of Nigeria (GON) to institutionalize a culture of accountability at the federal, state, and local levels of government through support for prevention and enforcement activities. The purpose of this program is to develop strategic national, state, and local level anti-corruption programming to complement traditional anti-corruption efforts led by the GON and donors. The project will work at the national, state, and local level, in each geopolitical zone, and in coordination with relevant civil society stakeholders thereby creating networks of change and collective action throughout Nigeria. Particular attention should be paid to anti-corruption efforts related to security and justice sectors.

The purpose of the Jobs Plus Pilot program is to develop locally-based, job-driven approaches to increase earnings and advance employment outcomes through work readiness, employer linkages, job placement, educational advancement, technology skills, and financial literacy for residents of public housing. The place-based Jobs Plus Pilot program addresses poverty among public housing residents by incentivizing and enabling employment through earned income disregards for working families, and a set of services designed to support work including employer linkages, job placement and counseling, educational advancement, and financial counseling. Ideally, these incentives will saturate the target developments, building a culture of work and making working families the norm. The Jobs Plus Pilot program consists of the following three core components: Employment-Related Services Financial Incentives – Jobs Plus Earned Income Disregard (JPEID) Community Supports for Work Applicants are encouraged to develop key partnerships to connect participants with any other needed services to remove barriers to work. An Individualized Training and Services Plan (ITSP) should be developed for each participant to establish goals and service strategies, and to track progress. Background HUD, the Rockefeller Foundation, and the MDRC, through a public-private partnership, designed and supported the Jobs Plus program model between 1998 and 2003. HUD has issued two separate evaluation reports on the demonstration, in an effort to identify and document the most promising approaches to increasing employment among families in public housing. Each evaluation showed ongoing positive effects for residents when the program was well-implemented and included the three core elements.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Center for Injury Prevention and Control (NCIPC) is soliciting investigator-initiated research that will help expand and advance our understanding about what works to prevent violence by rigorously evaluating primary prevention strategies, programs, and policies to address specific gaps in the prevention of teen dating violence, intimate partner violence, sexual violence, and youth violence. This initiative is intended to support the evaluation of primary prevention strategies, programs or policies that target universal or selected high-risk populations (i.e., populations that have one or more risk factors that place them at heightened risk for perpetration of violence). Funds are available to conduct such studies focused on preventing the perpetration of youth violence and/or teen dating/intimate partner/sexual violence as detailed elsewhere in this announcement.

Improved Quality and Sustainability of Medication Assisted Treatment in Ukraine under the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR).

The purpose of this initiative is to support collaborative research between Tribal Epidemiology Centers and extramural investigators on topics related to minority health and health disparities in American Indian / Alaska Native (AI/AN) populations.

The 2017 Building Trust and Mutual Respect to Improve Health Care call for proposals (CFP) will fund empirical research studies to help us better understand how to build trust and mutual respect to meet vulnerable patients' health care needs. For this CFP, we would define vulnerable populations in a number of different ways, including the economically disadvantaged, diverse racial and ethnic populations, the uninsured, older adults, homeless individuals, and people with complex health and social needs (including people with acute behavioral health needs or multiple chronic conditions). Proposals most closely aligned with the scope of this CFP will go beyond documenting the problem to generate findings that will be generalizable and have broad application across health systems and the field. Eligibility and Selection Criteria · Researchers, as well as practitioners in the public and private sector working with researchers, are eligible to submit proposals through their organizations. Projects may be generated from disciplines including health services research; economics; sociology; program evaluation; political science; public policy; psychology; public health; public administration; law; business administration; or other related fields. · The Foundation may give preference to applicants that are either public entities or nonprofit organizations that are tax-exempt under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code and are not private foundations or Type III supporting organizations. · The Foundation may require additional documentation. Applicant organizations must be based in the United States or its territories.

Founded in 1956, the Chicago-based Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts provides project-based grants to individuals and organizations and produces public programs to foster the development and exchange of diverse and challenging ideas about architecture and its role in the arts, culture, and society. Projects may be drawn from the various fields of inquiry supported by the foundation, including architectural history, theory, and criticism; design; engineering; landscape architecture; urban planning; urban studies; the visual arts; and other related fields. The foundation offers Carter Manny awards in two categories, including a research award for a student at the research stage of the doctoral dissertation and a writing award for a student at the writing stage of the doctoral dissertation. The research award is acknowledged with up to $15,000 and the writing award is acknowledged with up to $20,000. Ph.D. students who are presently candidates for a doctoral degree are eligible to apply. Students must be nominated by their department to apply for the Carter Manny Award. The award is open to students officially enrolled in schools in the U.S. and Canada, regardless of citizenship. The foundation will begin accepting applications on September 15, 2017. Applications must be received no later than November 15, 2017.

There are 5.4 million individuals who self-identify as American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN) in the US, and there are 567 federally registered tribes. While characterized by many strengths and resiliencies, as a whole, AI/AN populations experience significant disparities compared to the general population across a range of health conditions and outcomes, including infant mortality, alcohol-related mortality, substance abuse, unintentional injury, homicide, suicide, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, obesity, chronic kidney disease, asthma, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, selected cancers, and other chronic diseases. Premature death rates, while decreasing in other US racial/ethnic minority populations over the past 15 years, are increasing among AI/AN populations. However, the examination of data on AI/AN populations in aggregate may obscure the significant heterogeneity within the AI/AN population due to tribal affiliation, geographic region, and other factors. For example, gastric cancers affect AI/AN populations in different parts of the country at different rates ranging from 6.1/100,00 in the Eastern US to 24.5/100,000 in Alaska. At the same time, national survey and epidemiological studies often do not report data on AI/AN populations because the numbers are too small or AI/AN individuals are folded into the highly heterogeneous "Other" category, thus not available to interpret any health outcomes specific for AI/AN populations. For these reasons, there is a critical need to build a more comprehensive evidence base regarding the health of AI/AN populations.

This NOFO will build on previous PEPFAR support under the HHS/CDC HIV treatment program in Côte d'Ivoire (CI) to ensure continuity of comprehensive HIV/AIDS services to an existing pool of clients receiving HIV/AIDS care, support, and/or treatment. The program will also continue expanding access to HIV/AIDS services while building the capacity of national structures and contributing to sustainable service delivery within the health sector in CI. Specifically, it serves to increase capacity and sustainability of the response toward controlling the HIV/AIDS epidemic by initially providing support for HIV service delivery aligning with PEPFAR geographic and programmatic pivots by local indigenous organizations and ultimately providing technical assistance to the national Ministry of Health and Public Hygiene (MSHP) to sustain and expand comprehensive HIV prevention, care, and antiretroviral therapy (ART) programs. The recipient(s) will combine a facility and community-based strategy to support HIV/AIDS services. At the end of the 5-year project period, the recipient(s) should be able to collect and evaluate program data that demonstrates improved quality of HIV prevention, care, and treatment services in CI and to transition activities to MSHP and/or local organizations to sustain a basic HIV service package.

This NOFO seeks to provide infrastructure support and technical assistance to Mozambican Ministry of Health (MOH) health clinics and facilities in order to scale-up HIV and TB services through PEPFAR. This NOFO will provide technical assistance to help address MOH infrastructure needs as well as providing overall alternative solutions to improving the health infrastructure either through renovations, pre-fabricated (pre-fab) structures, or equipment necessary for the improvement of HIV/AIDS and TB services across the clinical cascade. Sites for infrastructure support will be selected based on MOH and PEPFAR priorities. Health centers may require different infrastructure solutions which may include pre-fab structures for warehouses, pharmacies, laboratories, and medium-sized health units. Supported health facilities may be geographically dispersed throughout Mozambique and involve rural and urban areas. The accomplishment of these objectives will support the Government of Mozambique’s goal of promoting epidemic control through an increased facility maximum HIV patient capacity and will in turn facilitate the country’s HIV strategic goals.

Mozambique is at a critical junction of controlling its HIV/AIDS epidemic in order to meet The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) goal of 90-90-90 by 2020 and 95-95-95 by 2030. Reaching these goals not only requires robust clinical interventions, but simultaneously requires addressing social, cultural, and legal barriers that inhibit equal access to health services for all people living with and affected by HIV. This requires not only the training of those at a local level who interact with people living with HIV/AIDS (PLHIV) or other vulnerable populations but also building the capacity of civil society organizations that can assist with improving uptake of HIV services as well as improving retention and linkages. This NOFO will increase the availability, accessibility, acceptability, and quality of HIV services provided in health facilities or community level by implementing innovative activities that reduce stigma and discrimination, increase retention and linkages of HIV and TB services, improve health facilities’ redress mechanisms, optimize care for HIV and TB patients, and improve patient rights and access to quality services for PLHIV.

The National Park Service's (NPS) FY 2017 African American Civil Rights Grant Program (AACR) will document, interpret, and preserve the sites related to the African American struggle to gain equal rights as citizens in the 20th Century. The NPS 2008 report, "Civil Rights in America, A Framework for Identifying Significant Sites," will serve as the reference document in determining the appropriateness of proposed projects and properties. AACR Grants are funded by the Historic Preservation Fund (HPF), administered by the NPS. Grants will fund a broad range of planning and research projects for historic sites including: survey, inventory, documentation, interpretation, and education. Grants are awarded through a competitive process and do not require non-Federal match.***There are separate funding announcements for physical preservation projects and for historical research/documentation projects. Funding announcement P17AS00577 is for historical research/documentation projects only.***

Zimbabwe’s HIV epidemic is declining but remains generalized, with a national prevalence of 14%, incidence among adults 15-64 years of 0.45% (~32,000 new infections annually) and a mother to child transmission (MTCT) rate of 5.2%despite prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) coverage of 93%. There are approximately 1.4 million people living with HIV (PLHIV), steadily increasing as PLHIV live longer on treatment. However, testing, treatment, and viral suppression coverage lag behind the 90-90-90 targets; in particular, the“first 90” where 74% of PLHIV know their status. Zimbabwe’s Ministry of Health and Child Care (MOHCC) has highlighted human resource challenges across the entire continuum of HIV service delivery. As Zimbabwe has adopted the UNAIDS Fast Track strategy for epidemic control, differentiated care becomes increasingly necessary to increase convenience and access and decongest clinical facilities. These strategies have been piloted in different settings, but require rapid scale-up. This NOFO aims to reach epidemic control in the challenging, resource-constrained environment of Zimbabwe. Through a comprehensive approach addressing facility and community-based services, the recipient will provide direct support and technical assistance (TA) to accelerate the HIV service delivery cascade and improve data quality and utilization for decision-making. The NOFO is also an opportunity to partner with the MOHCC to develop creative and sustainable solutions.

USAID/Cambodia seeks to make a five-year award focused on the goal of improving the quality of public and private health services in Cambodia in a sustainable manner through technical assistance to national and sub-national health systems. The activity will achieve this goal through four objectives: 1) improved policies, guidelines and standards for streamlined quality assurance; 2) increased efficiency and effectiveness of service delivery; 3) strengthened regulatory framework, implementation, and enforcement; and 4) strengthened pre-service public health training. Under these objectives, the award will support the Ministry of Health, Provincial Health Departments, Operational District Offices and Referral Hospital Management to improve the quality of health services through targeted technical assistance and limited introduction of new techniques, approaches, and technologies that improve quality of health services in both the public and private sector. The award will build upon existing, effective quality assurance systems and ensure that they incorporate a focus on USAID/Cambodia's technical priorities (maternal and child health, family planning, nutrition, tuberculosis, HIV and malaria). In addition, a major focus of the award will be ensuring quality of health services provided in the private sector. This will include, but is not limited to, strengthening licensing and regulation of service providers and monitoring of service quality in the private sector toward the development of an accreditation system for both public and private providers.

The Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor (DRL) announces a Request for Statements of Interest (RSOI) from organizations interested in submitting Statements of Interest (SOI) for programs that support the policy objective to foster respect for human rights in China.