HEAL Initiative: HEAL Data2Action Research Adoption Support Center (U2C Clinical Trial Optional) | RFA DA 22 050

Opportunity Information: Apply for RFA DA 22 050

The HEAL Initiative: HEAL Data2Action (D2A) Research Adoption Support Center funding opportunity (RFA-DA-22-050) is a National Institutes of Health (NIH) cooperative agreement (U2C; clinical trial optional) designed to stand up a single, central support center for the broader HEAL D2A Program. The core idea is to accelerate the translation of research and data into practical, on-the-ground action by helping HEAL D2A Innovation Projects adopt and implement evidence-based practices that match real-world needs. Rather than funding multiple centers, this FOA is structured to make one award that functions as the hub for adoption support, coordination, and learning across the initiative.

The main purpose of the Research Adoption Support Center is hands-on implementation support for funded Innovation Projects, especially around choosing, tailoring, and deploying evidence-based practices to address the needs those projects identify. In practice, that means the center is expected to help projects move from plans to execution by providing structured support for adoption decisions, implementation strategies, and problem-solving as barriers show up in real settings. Because it is a cooperative agreement, NIH anticipates substantial involvement with the awardee, reflecting a more collaborative relationship than a standard grant. The center is also expected to serve as the connective tissue across the program, making it easier for multiple projects to work from shared methods, tools, timelines, and expectations.

Beyond direct implementation support, the center has several program-level responsibilities. It must provide logistical coordination for the HEAL D2A initiative, which typically includes organizing cross-project communications, facilitating shared workflows, and ensuring that key activities stay aligned across sites and partners. The center is also expected to engage stakeholders, meaning it should actively involve the people and organizations most affected by or responsible for implementing the practices in question (for example, community groups, providers, health systems, public agencies, and others relevant to HEAL priorities). Another explicit function is to conduct rapid-turnaround studies in response to stakeholder-identified priorities, which signals a need for nimble analytic and evaluation capacity that can answer urgent, practical questions quickly rather than only producing long-cycle research outputs.

A separate but closely related requirement is that the center conduct a formative evaluation of the HEAL D2A Program. Formative evaluation focuses on continuous learning and improvement while the program is still underway, so this component is about tracking what is working, what is not, why, and how to adjust. This can include monitoring implementation processes, identifying facilitators and barriers to adoption, documenting adaptations, and feeding findings back to NIH, the Innovation Projects, and stakeholders to improve performance in real time. The FOA notes that it runs in parallel with companion FOAs that support other parts of the HEAL D2A Program, indicating that the center must be ready to coordinate with separately funded components and operate within a larger, multi-FOA program architecture.

In terms of eligibility, the FOA is broadly open to a wide range of U.S.-based applicants, including state, county, and local governments; special district governments; independent school districts; public housing authorities/Indian housing authorities; federally recognized Native American tribal governments; tribal organizations other than federally recognized governments; public and private institutions of higher education; nonprofits (both 501(c)(3) and non-501(c)(3)); for-profit organizations other than small businesses; and small businesses. It also explicitly calls out other eligible applicant types such as Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian Serving Institutions, Asian American Native American Pacific Islander Serving Institutions (AANAPISIs), Hispanic-serving Institutions, Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), Tribally Controlled Colleges and Universities (TCCUs), faith-based or community-based organizations, regional organizations, eligible federal agencies, Indian/Native American tribal governments other than federally recognized entities, and U.S. territories or possessions. At the same time, the FOA is clear about foreign involvement restrictions: non-domestic (non-U.S.) entities and foreign institutions are not eligible to apply, non-domestic components of U.S. organizations are not eligible, and foreign components (as defined by the NIH Grants Policy Statement) are not allowed.

The opportunity sits within NIH funding activity categories tied to education and health and lists CFDA numbers 93.213, 93.279, and 93.846. The award ceiling is stated as $2,000,000. The FOA was created on January 3, 2022, with an original closing date of March 25, 2022. Overall, the grant is best understood as infrastructure-and-services funding for a single coordinating center whose job is to help a portfolio of HEAL D2A Innovation Projects successfully adopt evidence-based approaches, stay coordinated, respond quickly to stakeholder needs with targeted studies, and generate practical, formative learning about what it takes to move evidence into action across diverse real-world settings.

• The National Institutes of Health in the education, health sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "HEAL Initiative: HEAL Data2Action Research Adoption Support Center (U2C Clinical Trial Optional)" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 93.213, 93.279, 93.846.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2022-01-03.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2022-03-25. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $2,000,000.00 in funding.
• Eligible applicants include: State governments, County governments, City or township governments, Special district governments, Independent school districts, Public and State controlled institutions of higher education, Native American tribal governments (Federally recognized), Public housing authorities/Indian housing authorities, Native American tribal organizations (other than Federally recognized tribal governments), Nonprofits having a 501 (c) (3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Nonprofits that do not have a 501 (c) (3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Private institutions of higher education, For-profit organizations other than small businesses, Small businesses, Others.

Apply for RFA DA 22 050

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