Regional Centers for Public Health Preparedness and Response | CDC RFA TU 24 0142

Opportunity Information: Apply for CDC RFA TU 24 0142

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), through its Office of Readiness and Response, is offering a cooperative agreement funding opportunity (CDC RFA TU 24 0142) to build and sustain a national network of Regional Centers for Public Health Preparedness and Response. The central idea is to strengthen preparedness and response capabilities by increasing the real-world use of evidence-based strategies and interventions (EBSIs). Rather than prescribing a one-size-fits-all model, the program emphasizes that each region should identify and act on the needs of its communities and translate those needs into practical regional workplans that drive measurable improvements in readiness for public health threats and emergencies.

CDC intends to fund up to ten centers total, with the goal of supporting one center in each of the ten U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Regions. These centers are expected to function as regional hubs that connect partners, align preparedness activities, and help move proven approaches into broader adoption across jurisdictions and sectors. A major expectation is coordination: each center will work closely with state, local, and Tribal health departments and officials, as well as health care facilities and health care coalitions, to improve preparedness and response in ways that reflect local and regional priorities. This includes convening and relationship-building across public health and health care, helping partners identify gaps, and supporting coordinated actions that are informed by what communities actually need.

Programmatic work will be guided by focus areas and objectives developed by a regional coordinating body during 2023-2024. Each funded center will be responsible for developing and implementing activities that advance those regionally defined priorities, which is meant to ensure that investments are relevant, coordinated, and not duplicative. In addition, CDC reserves the ability, when needed and if funds are available, to direct centers to support additional implementation of evidence-based practices or to carry out research, evaluation, translation, or dissemination activities that help address an active emergency or an anticipated public health threat. In practice, this means the centers are not only expected to plan and coordinate, but also to help generate and spread actionable lessons and tools that make preparedness work more effective and easier to scale.

One center will receive additional funding to take on an extra national role: helping coordinate and convene the full network of regional centers and providing technical assistance and training to other centers as needed. This “network support” function is designed to create shared learning across regions, standardize or harmonize useful practices where appropriate, and accelerate dissemination of what works so regions can benefit from each other’s progress.

Eligibility is limited to institutions of higher education (including accredited schools of public health) and other nonprofit private entities with IRS 501(c)(3) status (excluding institutions of higher education in that second category). Competition is organized regionally: there will be an open competition among eligible entities within each HHS Region, and applicants must be based in the region they are applying to represent. This regional residency requirement reinforces the program’s community-informed approach and ensures the funded center has an established presence and relationships in the area it will serve.

The award mechanism is a cooperative agreement, which generally indicates substantial federal involvement compared with a standard grant, often including closer collaboration with CDC on priorities, deliverables, and response needs over the project period. The published award ceiling is $800,000, and CDC anticipates making 10 awards. The opportunity falls under CFDA 93.316, is categorized as discretionary funding within the health activity area, and has an original application closing date of May 21, 2024. CDC also scheduled an informational Zoom webinar for applicants on April 1, 2024 (2:00 to 3:30 p.m. ET) with registration available at the provided ZoomGov link.

• The Centers for Disease Control - ORR in the health sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Regional Centers for Public Health Preparedness and Response" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 93.316.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2024-03-21.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2024-05-21. (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 $800,000.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 10 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: Others.

Apply for CDC RFA TU 24 0142

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