NASPGHAN CHILD NUTRITION AND HEALTH EQUITY
WHITE HOUSE CHALLENGE AWARD
Submission Deadline: October 1, 2024
DESCRIPTION AND OBJECTIVE
The NASPGHAN Child Nutrition and Health Equity White House Challenge Award is part of NASPGHAN’s commitment to the White House Challenge to End Hunger and Build Healthy Communities. This 18-month award will support innovative, bold ideas for community-based initiatives to improve nutrition-related child health equity. Ultimately, projects should contribute to improving population-level health in communities with identified nutrition-related health disparities. While evidence of inequities or health disparities in the settings where the project will take place are required as part of this application, no a priori health conditions are a target of this award. The applicant and their community partner may determine which nutrition-related health inequities will be the focus. Projects may include a range of ideas, such as conducting a listening session or focus group with parents and caregivers or hosting a healthy kids block party with community partners to promote local community nutrition and physical activity resources.
Applications from eligible individuals partnering with at least one partner from a community organization will be considered. For this proposal, community organizations may include but are not limited to community-based, government, education, or faith-based organizations. New projects that emphasize collaborative partnerships with community stakeholders within the target community will be considered. Simply continuing an ongoing initiative without including any new partners or expansion of activities will be considered unresponsive to this call. Applications should clearly articulate goals to improve child nutrition equity, food security, or related health equity outcomes.
Awardees will be expected to:
· Attend a virtual kick-off meeting hosted by NASPGHAN with their community partner which will include discussion around best practices in clinical-community partnerships and introduction of their projects;
· Participate in quarterly check-ins to give project updates and discuss project successes and roadblocks;
· Present a poster at the NASPGHAN Annual Scientific Meeting in 2025 on project progress;
· Present their project outcomes during the NASPGHAN Annual Scientific Meeting in 2026;
· Contribute to a group publication about participating in the Challenge and project, including project goals, experiences, and outcomes. All publications resulting from this Award should be made publicly available.
ELIGIBILITY
Applicants must:
· Be a NASPGHAN, APGNN, or CPNP member in good standing for at least one year. Trainees are encouraged to apply with their primary mentor as the applicant.
· Hold an MD, DO, PhD, MD/PhD, RD, nursing, or equivalent degree/certificate by October 1, 2024.
· Not currently hold or previously held funding that supports the specific proposed project with the community co-lead.
GRANT TERM AND STIPULATIONS
· The award is $5,000 in direct costs per year for up to 18 months of support.
· Institutional indirect costs are not permitted.
· All publications resulting from work supported by the NASPGHAN must acknowledge support by the relevant funding mechanism.
· A complete financial statement and final progress report are required. The recipient will be required to indicate how the funds were used and the accomplishments achieved during the project.
· Processes and outcomes of the project should be presented at the 2026 NASPGHAN Annual Meeting.
· Funds for grants awarded in 2024 will be disbursed around mid-December 2024.
· If during the period of the award, another grant or other funding is awarded, monies may be retained but only after official notification to NASPGHAN and provision of a plan to address any potential project overlap. In cases of significant overlap, NASPGHAN may require the funds (or a portion thereof) be relinquished.
REVIEW PROCEDURES
The NASPGHAN White House Challenge Project Team members and invited ad hoc experts (as invited by the Project Co-Chairs) will review the applications and score proposals. This scoring system will use a 9-point scale for each of the following:
· Overall score (likelihood of the proposed project to impact health across the life course in communities with nutrition-related health inequities);
· Project leadership/partnership (evidence of the applicant and community partner ability to complete the proposed activities using authentic partnership strategies, including parity in budget and publication plans);
· Significance (alignment of the proposal with the award goals);
· Innovation (novelty of proposed project and inclusion of a new community partnership);
· Approach (alignment of setting, target population, and activities with the award goals); and
· Feasibility (likelihood of project completion within award timelines).
Members of the review panel will follow strict conflict of interest guidelines. Contact between the applicant or sponsors with committee members regarding applications is strictly prohibited prior to grant review and will lead to potential disqualification.
WH Challenge Application Form – word
