$100 Million for the Community Transformation Grant Initiative

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced the availability of over $100 million in funding for up to 75-100 Community Transformation Grants (CTG). The latest funding announcement under the Obama Administration’s Patient Affordable Care Act (ACA), the CTG initiative provides an opportunity for communities to support intensive approaches to reduce risk factors responsible for the leading causes of death and disability in the nation such as diabetes and heart disease. The purpose of the initiative is to create healthier communities by focusing on capacity building and implementation of broad, evidence-based and practice-based policy, environmental, programmatic, and infrastructure changes in  five strategic areas: Tobacco Free Living, Active Living and Healthy Eating, High Impact Quality Clinical and Other Preventive Services, Social and Emotional Wellness and Healthy and Safe Physical Environment.

Eligible applicants for this exciting opportunity include state and local government agencies, federally recognized tribes, and state and local non-profit organizations.Eligible applicants must apply for only one of the two main categories of funding designated in the Funding Opportunity Announcement(FOA). The two main categories are:  

Category A: Capacity Building grants are for applicants with limited or no experience implementing policy, environmental, programmatic, and infrastructure changes. Capacity building grantees will also be eligible to apply for Implementation funding as additional funding becomes available during the five-year cooperative agreement funding cycle. These awards will total between $50,000 and $150,000. Successful applicants must demonstrate existing capacity and experience in the following areas:

• Program capacity
• Fiscal management
• Leadership team and coalition development
• Community health assessment and planning, including the development of a Community Transformation Plan(CTP)
• Development and implementation of a Capacity Building Plan
• Development and implementation of a core evaluation plan

Category B: Implementation grants are geared towards applicants that have experience and support already in place. These awards will total between $500,000 and $10 million for States, local governments, and nonprofit organizations; between $50,000 and $150,000 for territories; and between $100,000 and $500,000 for Tribal and American Indian/Alaska Native consortia. Grantees must demonstrate capacity in the following areas:

• One or more active coalitions with demonstrated success in working with state, community, tribal or territorial leaders, as appropriate to implement policy, environmental, programmatic infrastructure change strategies
• Demonstrated efforts to reduce disparities
• Demonstrated ability to meet reporting requirements such as programmatic, financial, and management benchmarks as required by the FOA.

The FOA also places a great deal of emphasis on achieving health equity and eliminating health disparities-preventable differences in the burden of disease, disability, injury or in opportunities to achieve optimal health.  Successful applicants must be able to identify population subgroups experiencing health disparities and identify specific outcomes to narrow the gaps.  For example, a project that seeks to eliminate food deserts and increase access to healthy food options by improving school nutrition or bringing healthier food to corner markets in urban areas could help to eliminate health disparities as defined by the FOA. 

The Letter of Intent (LOI) is due June 3, 2011 and the Full Application is due July 15, 2011.

For more information communities can listen to one of two conference calls scheduled for May 25, 2011 or June 14, 2011. Check out the Frequently Asked Questions webpage at the Center for Disease Control for details. 

Resources: 

Center for the Study of Social Policy, Affordable Care Act Funding Opportunities