Child Nutrition Grants

Active Living Research/Healthy Eating Research Rapid-Response Grants
Deadline:
Open

Program Area:
Childhood Obesity

Purpose:
Active Living Research and Healthy Eating Research are national programs of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) that support research to identify promising policy and environmental strategies for increasing physical activity, promoting healthy eating and preventing obesity.

This call for proposals (CFP) supports time-sensitive, opportunistic studies to evaluate changes in policies or environments with the potential to reach children who are at highest risk for obesity, including African-American, Latino, Native American, Asian American and Pacific Islander children (ages 3 to 18) who live in low-income communities or communities with limited access to affordable healthy foods and/or safe opportunities for physical activity.

Research studies may focus on one or both sides of the energy balance equation—on physical activity (including sedentary behavior), healthy eating or both.

Studies funded under this CFP are expected to advance RWJF’s efforts to reverse the childhood obesity epidemic by 2015.

Eligibility & Selection Criteria:
Preference will be given to applicants who may be either public entities or nonprofit organizations that are tax-exempt under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code.
Applicant organizations must be based in the United States or its territories at the time of application.
The timing of the program, event or policy change to be studied must justify the rapid-review process in order to answer the proposed research questions.

Key Dates:
Grants are awarded on a rolling basis; letters of intent may be submitted at any time.
Deadlines for receipt of invited full proposals are August 15 or October 15, 2008.
Grant periods are expected to begin 12-14 weeks after receipt of the full proposal.

Total Award:
Up to $800,000 total will be awarded for rapid-response research grants in 2008.
The maximum amount for a single grant is $150,000 with a maximum funding
period of up to 12 months.

Because childhood obesity is a major threat to the lifelong health of children across the nation, it is important to learn as much as possible about the impact of these initiatives, and to act as quickly as possible to identify the most promising and effective strategies. Results of evaluations can inform policy debates for local, state and national action.

The annual solicitations and funding cycles of Active Living Research and Healthy Eating Research involve a 7- to 9-month period between proposal submission and the start of funding. While those solicitations serve an important purpose, they do not address the need for timely studies on emerging or anticipated changes in policies or environments. This CFP for rapid-response grants is an attempt to address the specific need to support critical research that can only be conducted during a short window of opportunity.

Letters of intent for the rapid-response grants may be submitted at any time, and invited proposals, if awarded, may begin within 12-14 weeks after submission of the full proposal. Research studies may focus on one or both sides of the energy balance equation—on physical activity (including sedentary behavior), healthy eating or both.

Studies that are not urgent and time-sensitive are not eligible to receive grants under this CFP. It is the responsibility of the applicant to clearly demonstrate why the proposed study needs to be funded, conducted and completed on an urgent and time-sensitive basis. Letters of intent and proposals must: 1) define the window of opportunity to conduct the research; 2) explain why the window is limited by time and why the usual award cycle for Active Living Research and Healthy Eating Research would not be suitable; and 3) outline the relevance of the research to a specific policy or environmental change.

Total Awards Available through the Rapid-Response Grant Program
Up to $800,000 in total awards are available for rapid-response grants in 2008. The maximum amount for a single grant is $150,000, with a maximum funding period of 12 months.

Research Topics
Rapid-response grants are not limited to the specific funding priorities for current Active Living Research and Healthy Eating Research CFPs, but must be consistent with the programs' overall goals. The shared goals are to identify and evaluate policy and environmental approaches that have the greatest potential to prevent childhood obesity by increasing children's physical activity, decreasing sedentary behaviors, and improving diet and energy balance. Research projects may focus solely on physical activity (including sedentary behavior), or solely on healthy eating or on a combination.

Types of studies eligible for rapid-response funding are described below. These examples are for illustration purposes only. We rely on the creativity of researchers to generate the best ideas for solution-oriented environmental and policy research.

Opportunistic evaluations of imminent changes in policies or environments (i.e., "natural experiments").

Examples include:

Evaluating the effects of policies that are about to be enacted, such as menu labeling in restaurants; physical activity or nutrition requirements in child-care settings; district or state adoption of school nutrition standards for competitive foods; or new funding to enforce physical education requirements; and
Evaluating the impact of environmental changes, such as a new supermarket opening in a low-income neighborhood where none had existed; changes to public transit options for accessing supermarkets; the introduction of farmers' markets in low-income neighborhoods; renovations of parks or playgrounds; street safety improvements as part of Safe Routes to Schools; or the initiation of community policing to improve the safety of parks and playgrounds.
Studies that can inform an ongoing or upcoming policy debate ( e.g., small experimental studies, secondary data analyses, cost-effectiveness analyses, health impact assessments, simulations of policy effects or macro-level policy analyses).

Examples include:

Studies of menu labeling in restaurants;
Small-scale evaluations of the feasibility of training Head Start staff to lead physical activity;
Studies of how impending school nutrition policies affect youth food- and beverage-purchasing behaviors and the resulting impact on caloric intake;
Small-scale evaluations of strategies to improve implementation of, or adherence to, potentially high-impact policies related to school nutrition or physical education, television restrictions in preschool or day care, or restaurant menu labeling; and
Cost-effectiveness and health impact assessments to inform the policy debate on promising national, state, community or institutional policy or environmental changes designed to promote healthy eating and/or increase physical activity levels among youth and their families (e.g., an increase in federal or state funding for Safe Routes to Schools).
Application Process and Deadlines

How to Apply
All letters of intent must be submitted via e-mail directly to either the Active Living Research or Healthy Eating Research national program office. Letters of intent may be submitted at any time. Studies focused solely on physical activity (including sedentary behavior) should be submitted to the Active Living Research national program office. Studies focused solely on healthy eating should be submitted to the Healthy Eating Research national program office. Studies that relate to physical activity and healthy eating equally may be submitted to either national program office. Click here to download the letter of intent application materials.

Timetable
The Active Living Research and Healthy Eating Research national program offices will make every effort to achieve a rapid turnaround time for each application.

Within two weeks of receipt of the letter of intent, applicants will be notified of review results, and selected applicants will be invited by e-mail or letter to submit a full proposal.
Invited full proposals must be submitted only through the RWJF Grantmaking Online system by one of the following dates: August 15 or October 15, 2008.
It is anticipated that funding for approved studies would begin approximately 12-14 weeks after submission of the full proposal.

Contact:
Chad Spoon, research coordinator (Active Living projects)
cspoon@projects.sdsu.edu
Office: (619) 260-5539

Laura L. Klein, M.P.H., research coordinator (Healthy Eating projects)
healthyeating@umn.edu
Office: (800) 578-8636

The mission of The Gerber Foundation, to enhance the quality of life of infants and young children in nutrition, care, and development, has remained the guiding beacon for Foundation giving throughout its history. Accordingly, priority is given to projects whose primary beneficiaries are young children from birth to three years of age.

The Trustees of The Gerber Foundation expect the Foundation’s grant dollars to make a significant impact on issues facing infants and young children. Through our grant-making efforts, the Trustees are committed to improving the health and well-being of the youngest members of our society.

The primary focus of grantmaking is on health and nutritional issues affecting infants and young children. Research projects aimed at finding solutions to children’s health and nutritional problems are sought. Of particular interest are those offering a substantial promise of meaningful advances in prevention and treatment of diseases and those with broad applicability to the general population.

Interested researchers may contact the Program Manager to discuss how specific research ideas fit with the Foundation’s current interests.

How To Apply

Step 1: Concept Paper

The Foundation may receive grant proposals from unsolicited sources as well as from organizations with which we have been in contact. However, our preference is for an initial concept paper with subsequent communication between the grant applicant and Program staff as the grant proposal is being developed. Applicants are encouraged to contact the Foundation at any point in the process to discuss their project.

The format for the concept paper can be located under the “Concept Paper Format” tab on this website or can be obtained by contacting the Foundation office.

Concept papers are due June 1 and December 1 of each year. If these dates fall on a weekend, the papers are due the next business day. Determination of interest in receiving a full proposal is generally made within two weeks.

Step 2: Full Proposal

The application format can be located under the “Full Proposal Format” tab on this website or can be obtained by contacting the Foundation office. Full proposals should be submitted only at the request of the Foundation after approval of a concept paper.
Full proposals are due February 15 or August 15 of each year with grant approval or denial determined by the end of May or November, respectively.

Videotapes, CD's or DVD's are discouraged. They should be attempted as a method of application only if the Foundation requests them.

The Gerber Foundation • 4747 West 48th Street, Suite 153 • Fremont, MI 49412-8119 • (231) 924-3175 • FAX (231) 924-7906 • Email: tgf@ncresa.org