Community Level Innovations for Improving Health Outcomes

Overview

At the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Office of Minority Health (OMH), we are dedicated to improving the health of racial and ethnic minority, American Indian, and Alaska Native populations through the development of health policies and programs that will help eliminate health disparities. Through our demonstration project grants, we support the advancement of effective and sustainable approaches for improving health outcomes. We do this by funding innovations in social and supportive services that address social determinants of health (SDOH) to reduce health disparities for populations of focus.

We encourage collaborative community networks as part of these innovations. We fund projects that include community networks prepared to strengthen community support services, provide health resources, and help connect individuals to preventive health services. Collaborative networks are also a key component of project development, implementation, and evaluation.

Under this notice of funding opportunity (NOFO), we intend to fund projects to demonstrate that community level innovations that reduce barriers related to SDOH can increase use of preventive health services and make progress toward Leading Health Indicator (LHI) targets. LHIs are a subset of high priority Healthy People 2030 (HP2030) objectives to drive action toward improving health and well-being. SDOH impact people's health and are reflected in HP2030 objectives, including LHIs.

HP2030 sets data-driven national objectives to improve health and well-being over the decade. SDOH are a central focus of HP2030, which organizes them in five domains:

1. Economic Stability – helping people earn steady incomes that allow them to meet theirhealth needs. This includes being able to afford healthy foods, health care, housing, andreliable transportation.
2. Education Access and Quality – increasing educational opportunities and helpingchildren and adolescents do well in school. This includes an individual’s ability tounderstand and apply health information.
3. Neighborhood and Built Environment – creating neighborhoods and environments thatpromote health and safety. This includes ensuring communities have safe air, and water,and are safe from violent crimes.
4. Social and Community Context – increasing social and community support. This includesbelonging to strong social networks that encourage healthy behaviors and help protectindividual and communities from discrimination or exclusion.
5. Health Care Access and Quality – increasing access to comprehensive, high-qualityhealth care. This includes having health insurance coverage, a primary care provider, andaccess to health screenings.

Funding Opportunity Goals
Projects awarded will contribute to the following programmatic goals for this funding opportunity:

• Increase use of preventive health services through community level innovations.
• Improve health outcomes as measured by progress toward LHIs.
• Reduce health disparities driven by SDOH.

Expected Performance Goals and Outcomes for Projects
We will fund projects that meet this NOFO's goals and provide objective measurements for success. We expect recipients to:
a. Build or maintain a sustainable collaborative network
b. Implement community level innovations that impact up to two LHIs
c. Evaluate project processes and outcomes
d. Share information about the project and its findings with the public

Estimated Period of Performance (months): 48

Estimated Project Start Date: 08/01/2024