Grants for Community-Based Clinicians and Agencies

Academic-Community Partnership Pilot Grant Announcement

The UC San Diego Clinical and Translational Research Institute (CTRI) is pleased to announce the availability of pilot grants to promote, expand and develop community-university partnerships in research.

The CTRI Community Engagement Pilot Grant Program is part of a multilevel effort to promote, expand and develop UC San Diego Health Sciences research endeavors that engage local communities. These pilot grants are intended to support efforts to promote community-based research by strengthening collaborative partnerships between the university and local communities. These funds are to be used as a basis for future grant proposals and community relationships, not for extensions of past work. Awards of $15,000 are to be spent within the designated 12-month period (April 1, 2013 – March 31, 2014).

The Community Engagement Unit of the CTRI promotes relationships between the university and community partners, practitioners and the general public to foster mutually-beneficial research endeavors. A broad and diverse group of agencies are forming partnerships with CTRI: community clinics, community based organizations that represent different language and ethnic groups, local governments, neighborhood collaborations, and agencies that represent people who share a common disease or disorder (e.g., Epilepsy Foundation of San Diego, American Lung Association, etc.)

The mission of the CTRI is to create an environment that advances health care through interactions between basic scientists, clinical investigators, community physicians, and patients. We intend to address the barriers that inhibit productivity and rapid translation of research progress into new therapies.

• Build effective interactions between the CTRI and the general public
• Promote the participation of community based clinicians in clinical translational research
• Educate and encourage community-based health professionals in the use of evidence-based practices for disease prevention, diagnosis and intervention
• Promote community-based research on health disparities
• Promote subject recruitment and retention in clinical research, especially in understudied communities.

CTRI is offering funding to encourage community based research that is developed in collaboration with community-based agencies. Agencies include, but are not limited to, community health centers, schools, county health departments, agencies which offer resources and support for disease-specific groups and local nonprofit community-based organizations. The purposes of the community-based grants are to develop and expand academic relationships with community-based agencies in order to foster development of a mutually-beneficial research agenda, and to strengthen investigators’ capacity to conduct community-based research

Eligibility:

• CTRI members with PI eligibility. Become a member: http://ctri.ucsd.edu/about/membership/Pages/membership-application.aspx
• Funding must be used to form new community-based partnerships or support the development, implementation, or evaluation of a community-based research project in San Diego and Imperial Counties. Existing partnerships may be considered, but only if they are very different from current relationship.
• Proposals with the greatest potential to lead to additional external support and to be developed into sustainable collaborative research projects will be given priority.
• Applicants will be required to provide a support letter from the leadership of the proposed community-based agency partner.
• Applicants and community partners will be required to meet with CTRI Community Engagement faculty prior to final award notice.
• Preference is given to junior investigators, and to investigators whose application represents a clear departure from their previous work.

Application Materials:

• Research aims/purpose and project goals
• Program description
• Methodology (include description of methods for obtaining both process and outcome data)
• Anticipated outcomes
• Capacity of PI (and Co-PI) to successfully implement community-based project
• Description of project’s potential to lead to additional external support
• Description of activities to ensure sustainability of the collaboration
• Description of strategies to disseminate resulting information and “lessons learned.”
• Provide a level of detail that allows review committee members to judge the merit and feasibility of your project. Have a clearly defined purpose. Show how methods will lead to the proposed outcome (e.g., if your outcome is information that will assist with subsequent research). Show how design and methods will yield this information.

Budget - Provide a one-page budget and budget narrative describing how funding will be used to successfully carryout the project. Funds for one year cannot exceed $15,000. Applicants are expected to include project expenses that support the community partner’s role in the proposed project. Community partners can and should receive part of the grant funding directly or not, but cannot claim overhead or indirect costs as represented on proposed budget. Depending on the institution of CTRI member applicant outside of UCSD, there will be restrictions on allowable indirect costs. Rules governing federal awards (OMB circular A- 21) apply for the funds. Travel and publication costs cannot be covered. Funds must be spent within 12 months, and no-cost extensions are not permitted.

Letter of commitment- from the Community Partner Organization. This letter must be on their letterhead, signed by the leadership of the organization, addressed to Dr. Howard Taras, Director, UC San Diego CTRI Community Engagement unit. The letter must: (a) describe the agency’s support of the proposed project, (b) their role in the project, (c) identify the agency representative responsible, and (d) briefly describe the anticipated benefits to the agency and community that will result from the collaboration during this project.

Biosketch - A current NIH bio-sketch for the PI, Co-PI and any Co-Is (including postdoctoral fellows and graduate or medical students), and a CV or Resume for the Community Agency Representative.

Take Note of UCSD’s IRB Policy - UCSD Institution Review Board (IRB) approval must be secured by April 1, in order to receive funds on that date. As all funds must be spent by March 31 of the following year and cannot be extended, applicants should submit an IRB application at the same time this pilot proposal is submitted to CTRI.

Take Note of UCSD’s Conflict of Interest Policy. Before UCSD can issue a sub-award or subcontract to your community agency partner, compliance with PHS Financial Conflict of Interest (FCOI) requirements must be demonstrated. If your community agency receives funds, it will be required to either certify that it has its own PHS FCOI compliant policy or that it follows the UC San Diego HS FCOI policy by meeting all of our requirements. This can be demonstrated by submitting the FCOI Sub-recipient Commitment Form to the Business Contracts Office and COI Office. Feel free to contact the UC San Diego Conflict of Interest Office at: http://coi.ucsd.edu for detailed information.

Application Deadline: Dec 3, 2012 at 5:00pm PST
Preliminary Notice of Award & Scheduling of Meetings with CTRI: Jan 25, 2013
Final Approval and Notice of Award: March 7, 2013
Funding Period: April 1, 2013 – March 31, 2014

How to submit your application:

The application is available on line. http://ucsd.dullestech.net Register as an applicant on this site. You will be sent an e-mail notifying you of your username and password after you register. Refer questions to both Dr. Shelia L. Broyles at slbroyles@ucsd.edu; (858) 657-5140 and Kathy Kennedy (Administrative Assistant) kkennedy@ucsd.edu; (858) 657-5143.