The Food and Nutrition Service will provides $1,500,000 in Federal funding, through a one-time cooperative agreement, to one external entity (institute of higher education or other non-profit research organization) that will ultimately provide grants to researchers to conduct pre- and post-implementation research around changes to the WIC food packages.
Donor Name: Food and Nutrition Service
State: All States
County: All Counties
U.S. Territory: American Samoa, Guam, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and U.S. Virgin Islands
Type of Grant: Grant
Deadline: 08/30/2023
Size of the Grant: $1,500,000
Grant Duration: 4 years 6 months
Details:
The purpose of this cooperative agreement is to better understand facilitators and barriers to implementation encountered by State/local programs, participants, and vendors and to generate evidence around implementation of the final changes to the WIC food packages rule. The goal of this work will be to assess the impacts of the recommended revisions to the WIC food packages on program satisfaction, program participation, availability and redemption of WIC foods, and participants’ diets and health.
By the end of the cooperative agreement, the successful recipient of this RFA will accomplish the following three main activities:
- Conduct a competitive subgrant award program, making funding available to academic institutions and other non-profit research organizations for the purposes of WIC food packages research
- Provide technical assistance and guidance to subgrantees for the duration of all subgrant research
- Convene a research symposium at the conclusion of the subgrant award program to share key findings from the WIC food packages research with FNS and other WIC stakeholders.
USDA FNS works to end hunger and promote nutrition security through the administration of Federal nutrition assistance programs, including WIC. WIC was authorized by the Child Nutrition Act and serves low-income pregnant, postpartum, and breastfeeding individuals; infants; and children up to five years old who are at nutrition risk. WIC provides nutritious foods, nutrition education, breastfeeding promotion and support, and referrals to health and social services to participants in all states, the District of Columbia, Indian Tribal Organizations (ITOs), American Samoa, Guam, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Objectives
- Develop, promote, and administer a competitive subgrant program to fund researchers to conduct pre- and post-implementation research on changes to the WIC food packages.
- Provide management and robust technical assistance to potential subgrant applicants throughout the application and award process, and to subgrantees throughout the life of the project.
- Provide evaluation technical assistance to subgrantees as they implement their respective WIC food packages research.
- Provide a platform for subgrantees to share the results of their research by hosting a WIC food packages research symposium at the conclusion of the grant period.
- Develop a research brief suggesting potential future research directions based on the results of the WIC food packages research and symposium.
- Submit all deliverables and reports produced from this grant to FNS.
Funding Information
The following information is intended to provide applicants with information to help make informed decisions about proposal submissions.
- Total amount of funding expected to award: $1,500,000
- Maximum award amount (award ceiling): $1,500,000
- Anticipated period of performance (start and end date of the award): September 2023- March 2028
Eligibility Criteria
This Request for Applications (RFA) is open to all accredited for profit or non-profit institutions of higher education (colleges/universities), nonprofit research entities, and other nonprofit organizations or research institutions. All non-profit organizations must include their 501(c)(3) determination letter issued by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). There shall be a single Grantee, but the Grantee may partner with other organizations through subcontracting to meet RFA requirements. Entities not meeting the eligibility definitions will be deemed ineligible and removed from competition without further consideration.
Ineligible Applicants
- Entities not meeting the eligibility requirements
- K-12 schools, school districts, and childcare facilities are not eligible to receive this award.
- International (non-U.S. or non-U.S. territories) entities are not eligible to apply.
- Suspended or debarred organizations are ineligible to submit applications in response to this grant solicitation.
For more information, visit Grants.gov.
