FY15 State Partnership Initiative to Address Health Disparities

or behaviors that put people at risk for acquiring that disease. Health disparities among racial and ethnic minorities are often linked to social, economic or environmental disadvantages, such as: lack of access to health care services; concentrated poverty; lack of access to quality education, economic and job opportunities; exposure to crime and violence; unsafe housing; and lack of access to healthy, affordable foods and affordable transportation options. These conditions are known as the social determinants of health. OMH programs, policies and practices address such factors, with the goal of affording everyone an opportunity to live a long, healthy and productive life, and to improve the overall quality of life for the nation as a whole. A core function of OMH is to establish and strengthen partnerships, networks, and coalitions. Strategic partnerships leverage individual and collective resources to increase resource effectiveness and efficiencies and produce mutually beneficial outcomes across multiple levels and multiple sectors. Such partnerships enable OMH to promote equity in policies and programs, to address social determinants of health and well-being, and to focus on systems-level interventions that address resources, infrastructure, leadership commitment and sustainability, coordination and collaboration, user-centered design (including integration of culturally and linguistically appropriate services), promotion of a diverse workforce, and collection and application of racial and ethnic data and scientific knowledge. The purpose of the State Partnership Initiative to Address Health Disparities is to demonstrate that partnerships in which (a) state offices of minority health/ health equity (or other state entity with a similar function) and state health agencies, or (b) tribes and tribal health agencies/organizations, play a significant role can efficiently and effectively improve health outcomes in geographical hotspots (in communities) and address health disparities that affect minorities and disadvantaged populations, and that this can be shown during the period of the grant. Applicants are welcome to partner with additional agencies if they so choose. This notice solicits applications for a State Partnership Initiative to Address Health Disparities that will meet the following requirements: (1) within three to six months following the award, produce a Health Disparities Profile on one to three Healthy People 2020 Leading Health Indicator (LHI) topics chosen by the applicant, for geographical hotspots (in the applicant’s state or tribal community) selected by the applicant, using existing baseline measures; (2) within the project period, implement activities in the geographical hotspots chosen by the applicant, using evidence-based and/or promising practices designed to improve health outcomes and address health disparities for the one to three LHI topics selected by the applicant (using baseline data/measures from the Health Disparities Profile that will be tracked and reported on during the project period); and (3) by the fifth year of the grant, publish the results of the implementation project and/or produce scholarly articles comparing the Health Disparities Profile for the selected LHI topics baseline data to the outcomes/impact measures’ selected LHI topics. OMH expects successful applicants will be able to demonstrate improvements in health outcomes in the applicant’s selected geographical hotspots, during the grant period, by addressing health disparities that affect minorities. OMH expects successful applicants will use existing state or tribal health agency data to develop a baseline measure for each of the one to three LHI topics identified in the proposal; implement evidence-based and/or promising practices to improve health outcomes and address health disparities within the project period; and present/publish the program findings. The baseline measure(s) must correspond only to the one to three LHI topics selected in the application, and not to any additional LHI topics.. The grantee will provide a baseline measure(s) for the LHI topics selected in the application in the form of a Health Disparities Profile that is user-friendly (e.g., using charts and graphs), by the sixth month from the award date. The grantee is expected to implement its plan to improve health outcomes and address health disparities in the identified LHI topics in geographical hotspots in communities (not at the state/regional level) selected by the applicant that are within the applicant’s state or tribal community, over a five year period of time. And, in the last year of the grant, the grantees are expected to publicize their findings in articles, presentations, media, etc. This funding opportunity in the amount of approximately $3,000,000 will fund approximately 15 to 17 eligible grant applications from states or tribes, and will award applications ranging from $175,000 to $200,000 per year for up to five years. A state’s grant application should include partnerships with significant roles for the state office of minority health/health equity (or other state entity with a similar function) and the state health agency. A tribe’s grant application should include partnerships with significant roles for the tribal health agencies/organizations and the tribe. The applicant may also include additional partners, such as local governmental offices, community-based organizations or non-profit organizations. Different state/tribal-level agencies may submit separate grant applications meeting the requirements stated above, although geographical distribution of projects across the country will be considered in making the awards. Organizational CapabilitiesThe applicant must provide evidence that its organization has the capability to implement each of the project requirements: (1) develop a Health Disparities Profile covering one to three LHI topics; (2) implement a project in a community(ies) with a real possibility of improving health outcomes for the identified health disparities within the project period; and (3) publish materials and articles on the findings and outcome of the identified health disparities, particularly indicating the relation of the baseline measure from the Health Disparities Profile to the outcomes following the implementation of the project; including information about similar work performed by the applicant.