The National Institutes of Health is seeking applications for its grant program to identify and evaluate the ongoing and long-term impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, focusing specifically on governmental (local, state, tribal, federal) policy and programmatic actions that address two specific social determinants of health: food/nutrition security and housing security.
Donor Name: National Institutes of Health (NIH)
State: All States
County: All Counties
Type of Grant: Grant
Deadline (mm/dd/yyyy): 04/07/2022
Grant Size: $500,000
Grant Duration: 5 years
Details:
The research objective is to use a natural experiment approach to examine how food and housing policies and programs (such as those federal actions described at nutrition.gov and hud.gov) that aimed to lessen the impact of the pandemic affected health and health equity, to understand the pathways of these effects, and to describe the long-term consequences. This FOA is intended to fund the study of natural experiments where an exposure or change is not directly manipulated by the researcher, and where comparable control data are available and confounding variables can be limited through study design, sample selection, and statistical analysis. Other experimental designs are allowable if the study fits within the scope of the FOA. Rigorous efforts to address potential sources of bias related to causal inference are encouraged and, where appropriate, attention should be paid to advances in the analysis of natural experiments arising in diverse disciplines. Applicants should also account for unintended consequences of policies and programs on health, where applicable.
Applicants can propose research that study one or more policies and programs and their combined impacts on child and/or adult health.
Examples of topics of interest include, but are not limited to:
- Studies examining changes in food/nutrition insecurity reported by individuals and families following implementation of COVID-19 policies and programs; examination of the impact of such policies and programs on the health of individuals, including diet-related diseases, both in those newly experiencing food/nutrition insecurity and those with longer term experience (i.e., started pre-pandemic)
- Studies of the health impacts of housing-related COVID-19 era policies and programs aimed at mitigating risk factors (e.g., over-crowded living conditions, homelessness, doubling-up, couch surfing, transiency)
- Studies embedded in existing research cohorts that take advantage of their rich longitudinal data. Such studies should take care to clearly address measurement of specific policy exposures related to housing or food insecurity in the cohort and address health equity
- Pandemic-related factors that hinder or enhance the successful implementation of COVID-19 food/nutrition security policies and programs (e.g., disrupted supply chains, depleted food pantries, empty store shelves, fear of close proximity to other shoppers) and the resulting impact on health and health equity
- Existing individual, family, and/or community-level barriers that reduced the widespread utilization of benefits or provisions from COVID-19 food/nutrition security policies and programs – e.g., decreased access to healthy foods (food deserts), transportation gaps, insufficient access to SNAP eligible food markets, etc. and the impact on health outcomes
- Long-term impact of COVID-19 food/nutrition and/or housing security policies and programs for reducing risk and severity of chronic illnesses (e.g., hypertension, coronary heart disease, diabetes, mental illness), symptoms of stress, substance misuse, and/or mental health outcomes (e.g., suicidal behavior, depression, anxiety), that are experienced as a result of pandemic-related food/nutrition and housing insecurity
- Studies of the impact from ending or de-implementation of COVID-19 food/nutrition and/or housing security policies and programs on health and health equity
- Natural experiments taking advantage of local, state, or regional variations in policies, programs, economic circumstances, and other exogenous factors to identify causal factors
- Studies of interactions between COVID-19 food/nutrition and/or housing security policies and programs and other government policies and programs in place prior to the onset of the pandemic
Funding Information
- Although application budgets are not limited, applicants proposing budgets of $500,000 or more in direct costs in any one year (excluding consortium F&A) are strongly encouraged to discuss the research project application with the listed NINR Scientific/Research Contact before submitting the application.
- The maximum project period is 5 years.
Eligibility Criteria
- Small businesses
- City or township governments
- Public and State controlled institutions of higher education
- State governments
- Native American tribal governments (Federally recognized)
- Special district governments
- Private institutions of higher education
- Public housing authorities/Indian housing authorities
- County governments
- For profit organizations other than small businesses
- Nonprofits having a 501(c)(3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education
- Nonprofits that do not have a 501(c)(3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education
- Native American tribal organizations (other than Federally recognized tribal governments)
- Independent school districts
- Other Eligible Applicants include the following: Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian Serving Institutions; Asian American Native American Pacific Islander Serving Institutions (AANAPISISs); Eligible Agencies of the Federal Government; Faith-based or Community-based Organizations; Hispanic-serving Institutions; Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs); Indian/Native American Tribal Governments (Other than Federally Recognized); Non-domestic (non-U.S.) Entities (Foreign Organizations); Regional Organizations; Tribally Controlled Colleges and Universities (TCCUs) ; U.S. Territory or Possession; Non-domestic (non-U.S.) Entities (Foreign Institutions) are not eligible to apply. Non-domestic (non-U.S.) components of U.S. Organizations are not eligible to apply. Foreign components, as defined in the NIH Grants Policy Statement, are allowed.
For more information, visit Grants.gov.
