Applications Open for SIREN Engagement Grants

NEW: Scroll down past the RFA for additional application resources, including the video recording of our 6/6/23 Informational Session and a FAQ of questions we've received so far.

For any further questions, please email us at siren@ucsf.edu

Click here to download a PDF version of this RFA

Click here to download the application template

Background

The Social Interventions Research and Evaluation Network (SIREN) was established in 2016 to conduct, catalyze, and disseminate high quality research that advances healthcare sector strategies to improve social conditions, a practice that is coming to be known as ‘social care.’ Although social care research aspires to help address racial inequities, to do so requires improving and deepening how researchers partner with individuals and communities impacted by social needs and social care interventions. Known barriers or challenges to such engagement include gaps in funding and infrastructure for forming and maintaining partnerships and lack of mentorship and coaching for researcher and community partners to participate in these efforts. To support this important work, SIREN is pleased to announce a new grant opportunity specifically focused on supporting and strengthening partnerships between social care researchers and impacted communities/individuals. This grant opportunity is supported by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (Grant #80274).

Objectives

We will provide funding to support researchers and community organizations/groups to develop, sustain, and/or expand partnerships related to social care. We hope these grants will both:

• Increase social care researchers’ capacity to partner with community members; and
• Increase community members’/groups’ capacity to partner with social care researchers.

Our ultimate goal is for individuals and communities impacted by social needs and social care interventions (hereafter referred to as“individuals with lived experience”) to be more deeply involved in social care research that advances racial health equity.

Eligibility

Eligible Applicants

The SIREN Engagement Grant is designed for social care researchers and their community partners. While either the researcher or the community partner may serve as the prime applicant, we strongly encourage a joint application with separate budgets to ensure fair compensation and distribution of funds.

By social care researchers, we mean investigators or investigator teams who conduct research studies on healthcare sector strategies to improve social conditions (see NASEM 2019 report for more detail). Investigators are eligible from the following settings:

• Academic institution-based research faculty
• Research arms of non-profit organizations (e.g., think tanks, foundations, community-based organizations (CBOs))

By community partners, we mean organizations or groups that engage, advocate for, or create intentional space for individuals who are impacted by social needs and social care. Some examples of eligible community partners include:

• Social service CBOs
• Community health centers
• Community action or advocacy groups
• Community, consumer, or patient advisory boards

Only applicants from the United States are eligible for this RFA.

Eligible Partnerships

Here is a non-exhaustive list of examples of partnerships that would be eligible for this grant opportunity:

• An established partnership between:
  • Social care researchers and individuals with lived experience (e.g., patient advisory board);
  • Social care researchers and community partner that engages individuals with lived experience;
• A new standing advisory board composed of prior lived-experience advisors on social care research
• A new partnership between social care researchers and a community partner 

Note that the focus of this grant opportunity is the meaningful involvement of individuals and communities impacted by social needs and social care; therefore, partnerships solely between professionals or organizational representatives would not be a good fit for this opportunity.

Activities We Seek to Fund

Funded activities should promote the development, strength, and sustainability of partnerships.  While that may take many forms, here are some examples:

• Activities to expand existing partnerships to focus on social care-related issues
• Activities to build the capacity of social care-focused partnerships:
  • Interpretation services to engage populations with diverse primary language(s)
  • Additional trainings for researchers and community members participating in the partnership (e.g., facilitation skills, power-sharing)
  • Existing partnership participants offering training to other researcher–community partnerships
• Activities to develop a community-driven social care-focused research agenda, set of key research questions, and/or dissemination activities

Eligible activities are not limited to these examples. All proposals should include more than one-time engagement of individuals with lived experience.

Application Instructions

Download the application package here. Send all application materials as a PDF email attachment to siren@ucsf.edu. Applications are due no later than July 31, 2023 5pm Pacific Standard Time (PST).

Main document (3 pages single spaced text max.)

1. Statement of purpose
   • Describe your goal(s) with the grant:
     • What is the big-picture need or gap you intend to fulfill?
     • How do you define success (i.e., what impacts do you hope your activities will ultimately have on social care research, partnerships with communities and individuals, and/or racial health equity?)
     • How will you measure success? (i.e., describe your plans to track progress.)
2. People/Organization(s)
   • Describe the organizations and individuals involved in the application, including any relevant lived or professional expertise.
   • Describe any expertise or previous experience with community-based participatory research, patient engagement, partnering with community (if applicant is researcher), or partnership with academics (if community applicant) whether it is a part of or separate from the initiative that you hope to support through the grant.
   • Describe any prior partnership activities between the organizations and individuals involved in the application and how you hope for it to evolve with the planned activities.
3. Planned activities
   • Describe what you are planning to do.
   • Present a proposed timeline for activities and if/how each partner will be leading/ involved in these activities.
   • Explain how the activities will lead to the impacts described in the Statement of Purpose.

Budget

Use the provided template. Requested budgets can be for up to $50k total (including indirect costs) and spent within a 24-month activity period (November 1, 2023 – October 31, 2025).  

• Be sure to include budgets from all applying organizations.
• If not being provided through another source, your budget should include stipends and other compensation for individuals with lived experience (you may find the Fair Market Value calculator helpful).
• No more than 12% of funding can be for indirect (facilities and administration) costs.
• Funding may not be used for duplicative programs or purposes.
• Funding cannot be used for journal fees.

Budget justification (1 page single spaced text max.)

• For each budget section, describe the costs, roles (for personnel), and how you arrived at the amount requested.   
• Include any cost-sharing (any other institutional or organizational funds or in-kind being used to support these activities).
• If a joint application, your descriptions should include an explanation of the way costs are distributed between applicant organizations.
• Describe how individuals with lived experience participating in your activities will be compensated (e.g., stipends, coverage for childcare or transportation), whether in this budget or through other funding sources.

Appendices

• Please include a letter of support from any groups or individual partners that are mentioned in your application without being an applicant.

Review Criteria

We expect to fund 4-6 grant proposals, dependent upon the proposals and requested budgets received. The advisory committee (see below) will review all proposals and evaluate them based on the following criteria:

• Scope: The individuals, organizations, and activities in the application demonstrate a clear link to 1) the experience, practice, and evaluation of social care; and 2) the advancement of health equity (especially racial health equity) in social care.
• Meaningful engagement: The extent to which communities and individuals with lived experience are meaningfully integrated into the project, including the sharing of power, decision-making authority, equitable compensation, and co-development.
• Benefit: The extent to which the project will benefit all members of the partnership, both during the proposed activities but also potentially beyond the project period.
• Impact: The extent to which desired impacts are relevant, clearly defined, and linked to planned activities.

While not a formal review criterion, we ask that you use as little jargon as possible and explain any acronyms you use in your application.

Advisory Committee

Benjamín Aceves, San Diego State University
Rebekah Angove, Patient Advocate Foundation
Sa’Brina Davis, Patient advisor
Tia Francis, Patient advisor
Njeri Grevious, Patient advisor
Nancy Pandhi, University of New Mexico
Carley Riley, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital/University of Cincinnati
Janice Tufte, Patient advisor
Eric Wat, Independent consultant
Neely Williams, Patient advisor