The National Association of Chronic Disease Directors (NACDD), with support from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announces the availability of funding to public health departments and other organizations that partner with public health departments that have the interest and ability to engage in strategic initiatives or activities designed to improve vision and eye health.

The goal of this announcement is to support public health departments and other organizations that partner with public health departments to improve vision and eye health through the implementation of vision and eye health interventions that focus on advancing vision loss and eye health as public health priorities.

Applications Due:

Wednesday, January 16, 2019 by 11:59 PM (Eastern Time)

For further information about this FOA:

Please contact Carol McPhillips-Tangum at ctangum@chronicdisease.org

For further information about the CDC Vision Health Initiative

Visit http://www.cdc.gov/visionhealth/

A. PURPOSE, BACKGROUND AND EXPECTATIONS

Purpose

The National Association of Chronic Disease Directors (NACDD), with support from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Vision Health Initiative (VHI) announces the availability of funding to public health departments and other organizations that partner with public health departments to engage in strategic initiative and activities designed to build the capacity of public health departments to improve vision and eye health.

The goal of this funding opportunity is to support the work of approximately six public health departments or their partners to improve vision and eye health through the implementation of interventions that build the capacity of public health departments in collaboration with NACDD, CDC, and Prevent Blindness to enhance vision and eye health. This funding will be competitively awarded to those public health departments and other organizations that partner with public health departments that best demonstrate the ability to effectively achieve this goal through one or more of the following focus areas:

a)     Characterize the Public Health Burden of Eye Disease and Vision Loss. Build the capacity of public health departments and their partners to collect, analyze, and use state or territorial-level data from the BRFSS Vision Module and/or other sources to describe and characterize the public health significance of eye diseases (e.g., glaucoma, macular degeneration, diabetic retinopathy, cataracts, refractive error) and vision impairment, develop tools to enable public health departments to efficiently access existing data related to vision and eye health, and/or examine the relationships between vision loss and quality of life, health disparities, and/or co-morbid conditions.

b)    Identify and Implement Evidence based Interventions Related to Vision and Eye Health. Build the capacity of public health departments and their partners to identify, adapt, develop, explore innovative models of care (i.e., telehealth strategies for diabetic retinopathy), build and maintain innovative and sustainable partnerships, and/or evaluate promising interventions designed to improve vision and eye health and/or improve the quality of life for persons with vision loss.

c)     Promote Systems Change to Prevent Vision Loss and Enhance Access to Eye Care. Build the capacity of public health departments and their partners to convene stakeholders to identify barriers to receipt of preventive care and treatment related to vision and eye health, system change approaches, and/or other collaborative strategies that reduce barriers and promote prevention and access to vision and eye care.

All projects funded under this FOA are intended to build the capacity of public health departments to understand and appropriately respond to the burden of vision impairment.

Background

Blindness and vision loss are major public health problems causing a substantial human and economic toll on individuals and society. Vision impairment often affects people’s ability to drive, read, learn, watch television, or simply attend to common household or personal tasks. In the United States, an estimated 4 million persons aged ≥ 40 years are either blind or have vision loss (defined as best corrected visual acuity <20/40 in the better-seeing eye) and this number is projected to increase to 10 million by 2050.[1]

In addition to the importance of comprehensive dilated eye exams to detect eye diseases and prevent irreversible vision loss,[2] public health interventions to improve health (e.g., by eating right, maintaining a healthy weight, not smoking, understanding one’s family eye health history, and using proper eye-safety practices) can prevent or delay vision impairment or mitigate the effects of vision loss. Interventions to detect and manage eye conditions that can lead to vision impairment are available and cost-effective.[3] However, access and use of eye care services are often suboptimal.³ Because vision loss is not a visible disability and because it is regarded as a normal part of aging, it is often not addressed.

Expectations

Public health departments and other organizations that partner with public health departments who are awarded funding under this announcement are specifically expected to:

               i.         Engage in specific activities that build capacity within public health departments to understand and appropriately respond to the burden of vision impairment and achieve the overall goal of advancing vision loss and eye health as public health priorities;

ii.         Engage in a project that focuses on one or more of the priority activities outlined on Page 2 of this FOA and serves to position public health departments or their partner organizations to engage in subsequent vision and eye health activities (depending upon the availability of future funding);

             iii.         Focus on sustainability by developing and implementing a realistic and feasible plan to sustain funded activities beyond the initial funding period;

             iv.         Work with NACDD to finalize a work plan and budget within 15 business days of award notification;

             v.         Participate in a two day in-person meeting to be held in the summer of 2019 in Atlanta or Washington DC (Dates/Place TBD) (Note: Travel support will be provided by NACDD and should not be included in the applicant’s proposed budget);

             vi.         Participate in monthly conference calls with NACDD, CDC, and Prevent Blindness that provide training opportunities and peer learning; and

            vii.         Provide NACDD with a mid-point progress report and a final report detailing progress toward or achievement of project goals and objectives.

B.         ELIGIBILITY

Public health departments and other organizations that partner with public health organizations are eligible to apply for this funding. Examples of the types of organizations that are eligible to apply for funding under this FOA include state, local, tribal, and territorial health departments, academic institutions, professional organizations, and philanthropic organizations. However, all initiatives funded under this FOA must be focused on building capacity within public health departments.

C.         PROJECT PERIOD AND AVAILABILITY OF FUNDING

Awards will be made for a project period of six (6) months beginning February 1, 2019.  Applicants will be notified of award decisions by January 25, 2019. The total amount available to fund public health departments and other organizations that partner with public health is $450,000 (with an average funding amount of $75,000 per funded organization).

D. SUBMISSION PROCESS AND DEADLINES

1. All applicants are required to provide the information requested in Sections I and II of the application on page 6.
2. All applicants are required to respond to the questions in Section III of the application (on pages 6 and 7) via a Word document that does not exceed 5 pages.
3. All applicants must submit all application materials as a single PDF in one email, as described in the application on page 7.
4. All applications must be submitted by Wednesday, January 16, 2019 by 11:59 EST
5. Late applications will not be accepted.
6. All applications sent by the deadline will receive an email acknowledging receipt of the application by NACDD.
7. All application materials must be submitted electronically. Hard copy and faxed materials will not be accepted.

E. PROJECT REQUIREMENTS

Resource Allocation

§  Use of funds: Funds available under this announcement are to be used for costs associated with implementing interventions that focus on one or more of the priority activities described on Page 2 of this FOA. Funds may not be used for equipment, to subsidize renovations, or to conduct lobbying activities.

§  Matching funds: Matching funds from applicants are desirable but not required.

§  In-kind support: In-kind contributions of staff time and other resources are expected both from the applicant and from project partners (if applicable).

§  Fiscal agents: Applicants may use a fiscal agent to accept funds.

§  Indirect rates: Applicants are strongly encouraged to not exceed the recommended indirect rate of 25%.

Reporting and Information Sharing

Each organization receiving funding under this announcement will be required to submit monthly invoices, a mid-term project report, and final project report. The mid-term and final progress reports will document progress toward key milestones included in the work plan and the status of project activities and deliverables. These reports will also include information about the status of expenditure of funds from the project budget and the submission of data to NACDD. A schedule for the submission of monthly invoices will be included in the contract to awarded entities. The schedule for submission of the progress reports is as follows:

• Mid-point report due May 31, 2019 for the period of February 1 – April 30, 2019

• Final report due August 31, 2019 for the period of May 1 – July 31, 2019.

F. SCORING AND TECHNICAL REVIEW

The final selection of organizations to receive funding under this announcement will be based on information provided in the application. NACDD will convene a panel of reviewers to read and score the applications. Applications will be scored on a basis of 100 possible points. The number of possible points for each section of the application is noted in the body of the application on the following pages.