Rigorous Evaluation of Community- and Societal-Level Primary Prevention Approaches to Prevent Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs): Expanding the Best Available Evidence | RFA CE 25 025

Opportunity Information: Apply for RFA CE 25 025

This grant opportunity, titled "Rigorous Evaluation of Community- and Societal-Level Primary Prevention Approaches to Prevent Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs): Expanding the Best Available Evidence" (RFA CE 25 025), is a discretionary CDC funding announcement offered through a cooperative agreement. Its core aim is to fund investigator-initiated research that can produce strong, credible evidence about what actually works to prevent adverse childhood experiences before they happen. The emphasis is on primary prevention policies and programs that operate at the community or broader societal level, rather than solely focusing on individual or clinical interventions, and on approaches that directly confront the social and health inequities that make certain populations more likely to experience ACEs.

A central feature of the opportunity is that applicants are expected to rigorously evaluate prevention approaches that already exist in the real world. In practice, that means the policy or program should already be developed and either currently implemented or genuinely ready for implementation in the community or population the project will study. The CDC is specifically targeting approaches that have not yet been evaluated with rigorous outcome methods, or that are not already in the middle of a rigorous outcome evaluation. In other words, the money is meant to close evidence gaps by taking promising, on-the-ground strategies and testing them with high-quality evaluation designs so the field can move beyond theory and early signals into solid conclusions about outcomes and impact.

The funded research should align with the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control (NCIPC) ACEs Research Priorities and is intended to expand the "best available evidence" for preventing ACEs. Projects should fit within one or more of the strategy areas laid out in the CDC ACEs Prevention Resource for Action. The listed strategy areas for this announcement include: (1) Ensure a Strong Start for Children, which generally covers community-level efforts that support healthy early childhood development and stable caregiving environments; (2) Promote Social Norms That Protect Against Violence and Adversity, which typically involves shifting community standards, expectations, and behaviors in ways that reduce tolerance for violence and adversity and increase protective norms; and (3) Strengthen Economic Supports to Families, which focuses on policies or programs that reduce financial strain and material hardship, conditions that can increase stress and risk for family adversity. While the announcement does not prescribe specific interventions, it makes clear that the prevention approaches should be positioned to influence population-level or community-level conditions linked to ACE risk, especially where inequities are driving disproportionate harm.

Administratively, this is a CDC cooperative agreement, which usually implies a more collaborative relationship with the agency than a standard grant, often including technical input or partnership expectations consistent with CDC cooperative funding mechanisms. The opportunity sits in the health funding activity category under CFDA 93.136. The award ceiling is $450,000, and the CDC anticipates making 2 awards under this announcement, making it a relatively competitive program with a strong focus on methodological rigor and clear public health relevance. The original application closing date is December 2, 2024, and the opportunity was created on August 29, 2024.

Eligibility is broad and includes many types of applicants who are positioned to evaluate community or population approaches. Eligible applicants include state, county, and city/township governments; special district governments; independent school districts; public and state-controlled institutions of higher education; private institutions of higher education; federally recognized Native American tribal governments and other tribal organizations; public housing authorities and Indian housing authorities; nonprofits with or without 501(c)(3) status (excluding higher education institutions in those nonprofit categories); for-profit organizations other than small businesses as well as small businesses; and other unrestricted entities. This wide eligibility pool suggests CDC is open to research teams led by universities, public agencies, community-based organizations, tribal entities, and private-sector partners, as long as the proposed study can deliver a rigorous outcome evaluation of an existing community- or societal-level primary prevention strategy and can speak directly to reducing ACE risk and inequities.

Overall, the opportunity is best understood as a targeted push to strengthen the national evidence base for preventing ACEs by funding real-world evaluations of policies and programs that shape the conditions families and children live in. The CDC is looking for studies that can credibly attribute changes in ACE-related outcomes to the intervention being evaluated, while also generating knowledge that can be translated into broader public health practice and policy, especially for communities facing elevated risk due to structural and social inequities.

• The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention - ERA in the health sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Rigorous Evaluation of Community- and Societal-Level Primary Prevention Approaches to Prevent Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs): Expanding the Best Available Evidence" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 93.136.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2024-08-29.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2024-12-02. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $450,000.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 2 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: State governments, County governments, City or township governments, Special district governments, Independent school districts, Public and State controlled institutions of higher education, Native American tribal governments (Federally recognized), Public housing authorities/Indian housing authorities, 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, Nonprofits that do not have a 501 (c) (3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Private institutions of higher education, For-profit organizations other than small businesses, Small businesses, Others, Unrestricted.

Apply for RFA CE 25 025

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