Strengthen Evidence Base for Maternal and Child Health Programs

The summary for the Strengthen Evidence Base for Maternal and Child Health Programs 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 Services Administration, which is the U.S. government agency offering this grant.

Strengthen Evidence Base for Maternal and Child Health Programs: This announcement solicits applications for the ¿Strengthen Evidence Base for Maternal and Child Health Programs¿ cooperative agreement.  The purpose of this program is to provide support and resources to assist State Title V Maternal and Child Health (MCH) programs in developing evidence-based or evidence-informed State Action Plans as well as in responding to the National Outcome Measures, National Performance Measures, State Performance Measures, and state-initiated Structural/Process Measures.  This will facilitate the transformation of the MCH Title V Block Grant program.  The activities funded under the cooperative agreement will aim to accomplish the following six goals: (1) Convene a Team of Experts who have specialty background and experience related to the topical areas addressed in the National Performance Measures such as medical home or children with special health care needs; (2) Provide a critical review of the evidence of effectiveness of possible strategies to address National Outcome Measures, National Performance Measures, State Performance Measures, and state-initiated Structural/Process Measures via the Team of Experts; (3) Provide ongoing consultation to state Title V MCH programs via the Team of Experts, to support the State¿s development of evidence-based or evidence-informed State Action Plans; (4) Develop web-based supports and resources for State Title V (MCH) programs; (5) Establish an online platform for sharing best practices called a ¿Community of Practice,¿ which will facilitate communication and information-sharing on topics regarding the emerging needs of Title V state and discretionary grantees for implementing the Title V MCH Block Grant Transformation process; and (6) Maintain and enhance a MCH digital library to facilitate access to historical and current MCH documents from the establishment of the Children¿s Bureau in 1912 to the enactment of Title V of the Social Security Act in 1935 and other significant documents published thereafter.      The awardee will accomplish the following activities within each of the six program goals: 1.      Convene a Team of Experts.  The Team of Experts should have specialty experience related to the performance measures such as medical home or children with special health care needs.  The awardee must establish their Team of Experts and propose the plan.  The awardee will have access to peer-reviewed research, published reports, and research databases and portals to support the Team of Experts¿ activities.  Team activities will include: ·         Plan and implement a thorough literature review process for required evidence-based reports.  The literature review process will ensure the integrity of the recommended evidenced-based and evidenced-informed strategies; and ·         Respond to state requests for consultation and analysis regarding the identification of National and State Performance Measures, Structural/Process Measures, as well as the development of their state action plan within the context that the State programs must make continued progress to achieve the desired health status and performance outcomes. 2.      Provide reports including a critical review of the evidence of effectiveness of possible strategies to address National Outcome Measures, National Performance Measures, State Performance Measures, and state-initiated Structural/Process Measures, via the Team of Experts.  Literature reviewed should include peer-reviewed articles, Bureau grantee reports, white papers, and other grey literature via research methods.  A definition will be applied to narrow the literature according to measure topic relevance.  The final reports should include the following sections: ·         Literature Review: A literature review of research that includes peer-reviewed articles, awardee reports, white papers, and other grey literature applicable nationally or to the state requesting assistance; ·         Analysis: Analysis of available results and meta-analysis of published findings as available; ·         Recommendations: Implementation and measurement recommendations based on evidence-informed outcomes including suggestions on what works and what doesn¿t work for state Title V MCH programs; and ·         Bibliography: Citations and links to original literature. 3.      Provide ongoing consultation to state Title V MCH programs via the Team of Experts, to support the State¿s development of evidence-based or evidence-informed State Action Plans to address the National Outcome Measures, National Performance Measures, State Performance Measures, and state-initiated Structural/Process Measures. Consultation activities should: ·         Be ongoing and responsive to the individual needs of the states as they use their National and State Performance Measures to develop their State Action Plan; and ·         Include communication mechanisims for the Team of Experts to ensure the states are receiving a thurough consultation. 4.      Develop web-based supports and resources for State Title V (MCH) programs that will: ·         Be publically available; ·         House all of the evidence-based and evidence-informed reports regarding the National and State Performance Measures and Structural/Process Measures, as well as the Community of Practice, described in activity #5; and ·         Be organized and user-friendly with a searchable engine and links to key topics. ·         Have embedded links to share via email and social media. 5.      Establish an online platform for sharing best practices called a ¿Community of Practice,¿which will facilitate communication and information-sharing on topics regarding the emerging needs of Title V state and discretionary grantees for implementing the Title V MCH Block Grant Transformation process.  The online interactive platform should allow the MCH professional user to accomplish the following activities: ·         Provide feedback regarding the evidence-informed reports; ·         Lead or participate in an online dialogue with other MCH professionals;   ·         Post comments, share resources, and reports through such means as social media and email listservs; ·         Post new opportunities for collaboration, learning, or career development; ·         Disseminate tickler news feeds that provide up-to-date media coverage on the website; and ·         Provide new interactive online activities as technology becomes available 6.      Establish a MCH Digital Library:   The digital library should facilitate access to relevant historical and current documents. Awardee staff will: ·         Prepare bibliographies and develop subject matter lists of summarized references; ·         Research and write compilations on historical information related to significant developments in maternal health; ·         Catalogue all resources using library science methodology; ·         Make digital resources easily accessible to the general public such as families and the MCH professional community, supplying information links to other relevant data sources; and   ·         Maintain all historical resources through an online library science database and maintain up-to-date catalogues of the historical information related to MCH including hard copy reports and other media.