Delta States Rural Development Network Grant Program

The summary for the Delta States Rural Development Network Grant Program grant is detailed below. This summary states who is eligible for the grant, how much grant money will be awarded, current and past deadlines, Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA) numbers, and a sampling of similar government grants. Verify the accuracy of the data FederalGrants.com provides by visiting the webpage noted in the Link to Full Announcement section or by contacting the appropriate person listed as the Grant Announcement Contact. If any section is incomplete, please visit the website for the Health Resources and Services Administration, which is the U.S. government agency offering this grant.

Delta States Rural Development Network Grant Program: This announcement solicits applications for the Delta States Rural Development Network Grant Program. The purpose of the Delta States Rural Development Network Grant Program (Delta) is to fund organizations located in the eight Delta States to address unmet local health care needs and prevalent health disparities in rural Delta communities. In practice, the Delta Program provides resources to help rural communities develop partnerships to jointly address health problems that could not be solved by single entities working alone. A priority of the Office of Rural Health Policy is to fund evidence-based programs which demonstrate improved health outcomes. Evidence-based practices are those that are developed from scientific evidence and/or have been found to be effective based on the results of rigorous evaluations.[[]1] "A 'promising model' is defined as one with at least preliminary evidence of effectiveness in small-scale interventions or for which there is potential for generating data that will be useful for making decisions about taking the intervention to scale and generalizing the results to diverse populations and settings."[[]2] An example of a promising practice would be a small-scale pilot program that has generated positive outcome evaluation results that justify program expansion to new access points and/or to new service populations. Applicants that propose an evidence-based approach will not be scored higher than those that propose a promising practice and vice versa. Applicants are required to propose multi-county/multi-parish projects that address delivery of preventive or clinical health services for individuals with, or at risk of developing chronic health diseases which disproportionately affect rural Delta communities. Due to the high disparities in the region[[]3] applicants are required to propose a program based on one of the following focus areas: 1) diabetes; 2) cardiovascular disease; or 3) obesity. Chronic disease initiatives can be in programs focused on prevention, self-management, care coordination, or clinical care, but must be outcomes oriented. For example, the programs should include activities focused on producing changes in one or more of the following areas: Knowledge (e.g. understanding of effective self-management strategies, understanding of key disease risk factors or prevention strategies) Attitudes (e.g. increased self-efficacy in prevention or self-management strategies) Behaviors (e.g. increase in level of physical activity, increase intake of fruits and vegetables) Clinical biometrics (e.g. BMI, weight, A1C, blood pressure) Policies and procedures (e.g. improved health care services delivery model, changes to school physical activity and/or cafeteria policies) Systems (e.g. improved coordination among health and social services agencies) In addition to the required key focus area(s), grantees may devote a percentage of grant funds toward another issue which may be of need in the service area. This other issue area may or may not be clinical focused, and may include areas such as pharmacy assistance, electronic health record management (funds should not go toward implementation, but rather towards enhancing the system in place), oral health, cancer screening, or women's health etc. Applicants should demonstrate the need of this additional topic area, as well as how it will improve the project and the population being served. Sustainability of program activities beyond the funding period is a priority of the Office of Rural Health Policy. Under health services delivery programs, HRSA funding may serve as seed money to allow recipients to develop necessary capabilities and the ability to obtain funding from non-Federal sources. Recipients must maximize funding from other sources, using award funds for the difference between those amounts and their costs of operation. Therefore, applicants must describe whether other funding sources and/or services currently exist for the proposed population and, if so, how HRSA funds would be used. Grantees are required to submit a sustainability strategy plan with the application. The Delta States Rural Development Network Program is aligned to the ongoing goals of the White House Rural Council which focuses on collaboration between Federal agencies to better meet the needs of rural communities. Towards that end, the Delta Regional Authority (DRA) has announced its intent to make funds available to grantees in this program to support its ongoing efforts to enhance a Healthy Delta Workforce. This creates additional opportunities for HRSA grantees to leverage additional funds to meet health care needs in the Delta. The ongoing collaboration between HRSA and DRA presents an opportunity to jointly work toward improving health care in the region. Additional information about the Healthy Workforce Challenge opportunity offered to Delta State Rural Development Network Grant Program applicants, including applications for these awards, can be found at www.dra.gov, or by calling 662-624-8600. [[]1] National Opinion Research Center (NORC) Walsh Center for Rural Health Analysis, "Promising Practices for Rural Community Health Worker Programs", ORHP 330A Grant Issue Brief, Y series-No.1 (January 2011) [[]2] Department of Health and Human Services Administration for Children and Families Program Announcement. Federal Register, Vol. 68, No. 131, (July 2003), p. 40974 [[]3] Wang, Probst, et al, 2011