Summary of this Funding Opportunity

The Gulf Research Program (GRP) and Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) are partnering to advance health equity[1] in at-risk[2] communities of the U.S. Gulf of Mexico that are disproportionately experiencing the impacts of climate change. This funding opportunity will support research to investigate the role that social determinants of health[3] (SDOHs) data could play in improving the capability of public health data systems to better understand and address health disparities[4] in at-risk communities (e.g., Black, Indigenous, and other People of Color [BIPOC] communities).

Specifically, the purpose of this funding opportunity is to support academic-community partnerships that use a community-based participatory research[5], [6] (CBPR) paradigm to demonstrate which data on climate-specific, environmental, and social determinants could better inform—and how these data could better inform—health agendas, plans, policies, programs, services, and/or resource allocation that address the health equity challenges of at-risk communities that are disproportionately experiencing the impacts of climate change.

The GRP is accepting proposals from accredited Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs) located in one of the five U.S. Gulf of Mexico states—Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas. Preference will be given to MSIs that partner with at-risk communities located in coastal regions along the Gulf of Mexico. One of the GRP’s areas of interest is partnerships with environmental justice communities to better understand and address the impacts of climate change on environmental health disparities.[7]

Award Details

Key Dates

• April 3, 2023: Online proposal submission opens
• June 12, 2023: Deadline for submission of proposals due by 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time
• June-September 2023: Proposal review, and award selection and notification
• October 1, 2023 (Anticipated): Project start date
• August 31, 2025: Project end date
• October 31, 2025: Final project reports due

Online submission website: https://gulfresearchprogram.smapply.io/.

The Challenge

In the U.S. Gulf of Mexico region, historic and deep racial discrimination has limited the meaningful involvement of BIPOC communities in the systems and institutions that make decisions about and implement the laws, regulations, policies, and practices that affect their communities.[8] This limitation has contributed to an inequitable concentration of poor environmental factors (e.g., air pollution, water contamination, toxins in the soil, etc.) and health outcomes in BIPOC communities that are well-documented in the scientific literature.[9] While climate change is projected to amplify the effects of poor environmental factors on health for all communities in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico, BIPOC communities will continue to be disproportionately impacted.

Advancing health equity involves looking critically at the conditions and environments that deny people the opportunity to achieve their full health potential. Specific conditions, known as SDOHs, shape the environments of everyday life that influence the health and well-being of communities. Differences in SDOHs account for 80-90 percent of the modifiable contributors of health behaviors, risks, outcomes, and patterns for a population.[10] Yet, existing public health data systems rarely collect data on SDOHs and commonly focus on clinical determinants of health (e.g., weight, blood pressure, cholesterol level, etc.). Additionally, existing systems lack key demographic, climate-specific, and environmental factors that drive health disparities, as well as geospatial data at a more granular unit of analysis. Moreover, existing public health data systems operate within the formal health sector (e.g., clinics and hospitals, public health departments, health insurance companies, etc.) rather than within the community setting.[11]

Since the contributing factors (i.e., SDOHs, environmental quality, climate) that influence health in the places where people are born, grow, play, learn, work, live, worship, and age (i.e., the community setting) are often excluded from existing public health data systems, there is an incomplete representation of the burden and distribution of disease, disability, injury, and violence at the population level. As a result, existing public health data systems are not well-suited to understand the drivers behind persistent health disparities in at-risk communities, which may lead to inadequately-informed health agendas, plans, policies, programs, services, and/or resource allocation that fail to reach certain communities or even entire populations.[12] This failure leaves out-of-reach communities and populations underserved, under-resourced, under-represented, and/or marginalized by the formal health sector; overtime, these circumstances eventually give rise to health disparities (e.g., preventable differences in life expectancy, cardiovascular disease, etc.).[13]

Addressing health equity challenges requires a transformation in public health data systems and a shift in who/for whom, which, where, and how health equity data are identified, collected, analyzed, utilized, monitored, evaluated, and communicated.[14]

Purpose of this Funding Opportunity

The purpose of this funding opportunity is to support MSI-community partnerships that use a CBPR paradigm to demonstrate which SDOHs data, as well as data on climate-specific and environmental factors, could better inform—and how these data could better inform—health agendas, plans, policies, programs, services, and/or resource allocation that address the health equity challenges of at-risk communities that are disproportionately experiencing the impacts of climate change.

The GRP is accepting proposals from accredited MSIs located in one of the five U.S. Gulf of Mexico states: Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas. The GRP expects to award grants four 23-month projects that partner with an at-risk community and implement a project that balances the needs and priorities of all partners.

The GRP will provide opportunities for the MSI-community partnerships to further build relationships and engage networks through convening events (e.g., workshops, peer-to-peer learning activities, annual meetings, etc.).

MSI-community partnerships are encouraged to build diverse teams that include a variety of community stakeholders (e.g., nonprofit organizations, government, academia, private sector, etc.), including representatives and trusted leaders from at-risk communities. The GRP also encourages the inclusion of graduate students on project teams.

[1] Health equity is “the state in which everyone has the opportunity to attain full health potential and no one is disadvantaged from achieving this potential because of social position or any other socially defined circumstance.” National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine 2017. Communities in Action: Pathways to Health Equity. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. https://doi.org/10.17226/24624.

[2] The GRP defines at-risk communities as those who are underserved, under-resourced, under-represented, or otherwise marginalized from the formal health sector.

[3] Social determinants of health are the “conditions in the environments in which people live, learn, work, play, worship, and age that affect a wide range of health, functioning, and quality-of-life outcomes and risks. Some examples include education; employment; health systems and services; housing; income and wealth; the physical environment; public safety; the social environment; and transportation”. National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine 2017. Communities in Action: Pathways to Health Equity. Washington, DC: The National Academies. Press. https://doi.org/10.17226/24624.

[4] Health disparities are “preventable differences in the burden of disease, injury, violence or in opportunities to achieve optimal health experienced by socially disadvantaged racial, ethnic, and other population groups and communities”. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2021). Health Disparities. Retrieved on November 15, 2021 from https://www.cdc.gov/aging/disparities/index.htm.

[5] Israel B, Schulz A, Parker E, & Becker A. (1998). Review of community-based research: Assessing partnership approaches to improve public health. Annual Review of Public Health, 19(1), 173–194.

[6] Wallerstein, N & Duran, B. (2006). Using community-based participatory research to address health disparities. Health Promotion Practice, 7(3), 312-323.

[7] Environmental health disparities exist when “communities exposed to a combination of poor environmental quality and social inequities have more sickness and disease than wealthier, less polluted communities”. National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. (2021). Environmental Health Disparities and Environmental Justice. Retrieved on December 2, 2021 from https://www.niehs.nih.gov/research/supported/translational/justice/index.cfm

[8] Brulle, RJ, & Pellow, DN. (2006). Environmental Justice: Human Health and Environmental Inequalities. Annual Review of Public Health, 27, 103-24.

[9] Lave & Seskin (1970); Freeman (1972); Burch (1976); Melosi (1981); United Church of Christ (1987); Robinson

(1991); Brown & Mikkelsen (1990); Brown (1992); Bryant & Mohai (1992); Mohai & Bryant (1992); Bullard (1990,

1993); Bullard & Wright (1993); Been (1994); Brulle & Pellow (2006); Leung & Takeuchi (2011); Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2013)

[10] Hood, CM, Gennuso, KP, Swain, R, and Catlin, BB. (2016). County health rankings: Relationships between determinant factors and health outcomes. American Journal of Preventative Medicine, 50(2), 129 – 135.

[11] McDavid Harrison, K., & Dean, HD. (2011). Use of data systems to address social determinants of health: A need to do more. Public Health Reports, 126(Suppl 3), 1 – 5.

[12] Venzon, A., Bich Le, T., & Kim, K. (2019). Capturing social health data in electronic systems: A systematic review. Computer, Informatics, Nursing: CIN, 37(2), 90 – 98.

[13] Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2013). CDC health disparities and inequalities report – United States. Mortality and Morbidity Weekly Report, 62(Suppl 3), 1 – 187.

[14] Salemi, JL, Salinas-Miranda, AA, Wilson, RE, & Salihu, HM. (2015). Transformative use of an improved all-payer hospital discharge data infrastructure for community-based participatory research: A sustainability pathway. Health Services Research, Suppl 1(Suppl 1), 1322 – 1338.

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Frequently Asked Questions

• Can non-MSI faculty be on the project team or sub-awardees? What portion of funding can be allocated to the non-MSI institutes?

Non-MSIs can be a part of the project team and be sub-awardees. The portion of funding allocated to non-MSI institutes is decided by the Project Director who must be from an MSI in one of the U.S. Gulf Coast states (Texas, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Florida).

• Can federally negotiated indirect cost rate agreements be used on this submission?

Yes. All applicants and sub-awardees (if applicable) must use their federal negotiated indirect cost rate.
If an applicant does not have a federal indirect cost rate agreement, no more than 20 percent of the requested direct cost may be allocated to indirect costs. An applicant without a federal indirect cost rate agreement must also submit:

- A copy of the actual indirect rate (and details on how the rate was derived), to be validated by financial statements, and

- If applicable, projected future rates and assumptions used in deriving those rates.