June 29, 2018
What’s New
Call for Grant Reviewers. The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) relies on grant reviewers to select the best programs from competitive groups of applicants. Over the coming months, the Federal Office of Rural Health Policy (FORHP) will be competing a number of programs, including the Rural Communities Opioid Response Program-Planning, and will need more reviewers than usual, particularly those with expertise in rural and mental/behavioral health. Reviews are typically held remotely over a period of a few days and reviewers who participate and complete their assigned duties will receive an honorarium. Learn more and register to become a potential reviewer at the link above. Registration is easy and does not commit you to serving as a reviewer. Please consider lending your expertise to these important initiatives.
Locate HIV/AIDS Medical Providers. HRSA’s Ryan White HIV/AIDS Bureau recently launched a re-design of their HIV Testing Sites & Care Locator. Users of the website or cell phone app will be able to search by their current location and find results for nearby testing services, housing providers, health centers and other service providers displayed on a dynamic map. The tool uses open data from agencies such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), and the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to identify nearby service providers, their contact information and directions to their location. The CDC has shown that suburban and rural areas in certain parts of the country have seen an increase in new cases. Preventive treatment for those who are high-risk, and proven viral suppression for HIV-infected individuals can reduce the number of new infections.
Call for Posters: Rural HIV Research and Training Conference – July 15. Planners for the Sixth Annual Rural HIV Research and Training Conference have closed the call for abstracts and presentations, but still seek proposals for posters that will be displayed at the event. Preference will be given to proposals that include objectives and learning outcomes that present new information and evidence-based tools to address the challenges of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. They must also provide a clear explanation of how the proposal is relevant to rural populations in one of four conference tracks: 1) clinical research, 2) prevention and intervention, 3) family and community, 4) advocacy.
Funding Opportunities
Funding for Full-Service Rural Schools Program – July 13. The U.S. Department of Education (ED) Full-Service Community Schools program supports the planning, implementation, and operation of comprehensive academic, social, and health services in high-poverty schools. Applicants must propose to provide at least three eligible services, including “social, health, nutrition, and mental health services and supports.” ED will prioritize proposals serving high-poverty school districts in rural areas. Whole School, Whole Community, Whole Child (CDC) and school-based services integration are two models by which schools can play a vital role in improving the health of rural residents.
DOT Grants for Buses and Bus Facilities – August 6. The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) will make 150 awards of up to $36.6 million “to assist in the financing of buses and bus facilities capital projects, including replacing, rehabilitating, purchasing or leasing buses or related equipment, and rehabilitating, purchasing, constructing or leasing bus-related facilities.” Eligible applicants are city, state, and county governments, including federally-recognized tribal governments. Transportation is an important social determinant of health in rural communities, allowing access to jobs, nutritious food and health care.
SAMHSA State Opioid Response Grants – August 13. The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) will make 59 awards to state governments for prevention, treatment and recovery efforts for opioid use disorder (OUD). Grantees of the program will use data to identify gaps in availability of treatment by geographic, demographic and service-level terms, and use evidence-based implementation strategies “to identify which system design models will most rapidly and adequately address the gaps in their systems of care.”
SAMSHA Tribal Opioid Response Grants – August 20. In addition to the State Opioid Response Grants, SAMHSA will make 263 awards to supplement current activities for federally-recognized American Indian/Alaska Native tribes or tribal organizations to increase access to culturally appropriate and evidence-based treatment of OUDs.
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