The Office of the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response (ASPR), within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), leads the nation’s medical and public health preparedness for, response to, and recovery from disasters and public health emergencies.
Donor Name: Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response
State: All States
County: All Counties
Type of Grant: Grant
Deadline: 07/31/2023
Size of the Grant: $12,500,000
Grant Duration: 60 months
Details:
The purpose of this funding opportunity is to continue to build the capabilities of MRC units across the Nation to respond to and meet their communities’ public health and medical needs in emergencies. It is not sufficient to just build capabilities; those capabilities should also be called upon during times of need, so the awardee should also identify barriers to the use of MRC units and volunteers during emergencies and plan to address those barriers. This multi-year cooperative agreement is also intended to enable awardees and sub-awardees, especially the MRC units, to develop a sustainability plan to continue to maintain and even build response capabilities after the end of the period of performance.
One award will be made to a single entity (eligibility is described below) which will provide support to MRC units across the country.
- Goal 1: Build the capabilities of MRC units to meet needs during emergencies and disasters
- The capabilities of MRC units vary according to the mission and purpose of the individual unit, the identified needs of the community it serves, the skills and experiences of the unit’s volunteers, and other factors. The MRC program priorities listed above identify capability areas that the program office has focused on since 2019.. And, as these priorities have been discussed with MRC unit leaders and other stakeholders, many units have already built capability in these areas. As we have seen with the recent responses, MRC units do take on new missions and develop new capabilities to meet evolving community needs. The purpose of this funding opportunity is to continue to develop the capabilities of MRC units to meet communities’ public health and medical needs during emergencies and disasters.
- Goal 2: Identify and address barriers to the use of MRC units and volunteers during emergencies and disasters
- According to activities reported by MRC units to the MRC program office, roughly a fifth to a quarter of all MRC units respond to at least one emergency in any given year. Some communities face recurring, annual threats like hurricanes, tornadoes, and flooding, and the MRC units in those communities may be more likely to respond. In other communities, MRC units may be poised to support less frequent emergencies such as a disease outbreak requiring mass vaccination and support through points of dispensing. The purpose of this funding opportunity is to identify and address barriers that keep MRC units and volunteers from being used during emergencies and disasters. For example, key partners may not be familiar with the capabilities of their local MRC unit and therefore not comfortable working with those volunteers during an emergency; this could be addressed with pre-disaster planning and activities such as joint training and/or exercises.
- Goal 3: Develop a sustainability plan to continue to maintain and develop response capabilities
- This current funding opportunity is planned for five years, and, at the available funding level, it will not be able to support every unit and every state. After five years, the awardees and sub-awardees should have established a plan that will allow MRC units to sustain their response capabilities without further federal funding. While the MRC program has not planned what funding opportunities may be available in future years, the program would like to be able to support as many MRC units as possible.
Funding Information
- Approximate Total Funding: $12, 500,000
- Approximate Average Award: $2,000,000 in year 1 and $2,125,000 in years 2 -5
- Floor of Individual Award Range (per budget period): $1,000,000
- Ceiling of Individual Award Range: $12,500,000
Project Period
60 months (five years).
ASPR Activities
Awardees may propose a range of activities to meet the purpose of the funding opportunity including training and exercises; development and dissemination of guidance, procedures, templates, etc.; communications and forums for sharing and gathering best practices and lessons learned; other technical assistance; sub-awards to MRC units; and personnel and other administrative costs for managing the activities. In a cooperative agreement, ASPR staff is substantially involved in the program activities, above and beyond routine grant monitoring. To assist recipients in achieving the purpose of this cooperative agreement, ASPR may conduct the following activities:
- Provide ongoing guidance, programmatic support, and training as it relates to the activities outlined in this funding opportunity and other guidance documents.
- Convene conference calls, site visits, and other communications as applicable with recipients.
- Facilitate communication among recipients to advance the sharing of expertise on health care preparedness and response activities.
- Coordinate planning and implementation activities with federal partners to optimize preparedness investments and eliminate duplication where possible
Eligible Applicants
- For profit organizations other than small businesses
- City or township governments
- Nonprofits that do not have a 501(c)(3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education
- County governments
- Native American tribal organizations (other than Federally recognized tribal governments)
- Nonprofits having a 501(c)(3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education
- State governments
- Private institutions of higher education
- Public and State controlled institutions of higher education
- Native American tribal governments (Federally recognized)
Additional Information on Eligibility
Hospitals
For more information, visit Grants.gov.
