RFA-CE-21-005.pdf

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

National Center for Injury Prevention and Control Extramural Research Program Office

The CDC National Centers of Excellence in Youth Violence Prevention (YVPCs): Rigorous

Evaluation of Prevention Strategies to Prevent and Reduce Community Rates of Youth Violence

RFA-CE-21-005

Application Due Date: 04/21/2021

The CDC National Centers of Excellence in Youth Violence Prevention (YVPCs): Rigorous

Evaluation of Prevention Strategies to Prevent and Reduce Community Rates of Youth Violence

RFA-CE-21-005

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Part 1. Overview Information Key Dates Required Application Instructions Executive Summary

Part 2. Full Text Section I. Funding Opportunity Description Section II. Award Information Section III. Eligibility Information Section IV. Application and Submission Information Section V. Application Review Information Section VI. Award Administration Information Section VII. Agency Contacts Section VIII. Other Information

Part 1. Overview Information Participating Organization(s) Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Components of Participating Organizations National Center for Injury Prevention and Control Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) Title The CDC National Centers of Excellence in Youth Violence Prevention (YVPCs): Rigorous Evaluation of Prevention Strategies to Prevent and Reduce Community Rates of Youth Violence Activity Code Applications in response to this Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) will be funded using the U01 activity code for a research cooperative agreement.

Notice of Funding Opportunity Type New Agency Notice of Funding Opportunity Number

RFA-CE-21-005

Assistance Listings (CFDA) Number(s) 93.136 Category of Funding Activity:

Health NOFO Purpose The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) National Center for Injury Prevention and Control (NCIPC or Injury Center) is soliciting research proposals to expand the evidence base for the primary prevention of youth violence. The purpose of this announcement is to fund the National Centers of Excellence in Youth Violence Prevention (Youth Violence Prevention Centers or YVPCs) to continue to build the evidence-base for violence prevention strategies and approaches that reduce community rates of youth violence within one or more geographically defined communities with high rates of youth violence. Applications for YVPCs supported under this announcement must describe 5 core elements: (1) an administrative infrastructure to support implementation, evaluation, and dissemination activities; to foster necessary local collaborations to achieve the YVPC’s goals; and to work with other funded YVPCs as part of the YVPC Network; (2) the selected community or set of communities with high rates of youth violence as the focus of all proposed YVPC activities; (3) a rigorous evaluation of at least two distinct prevention strategies related to at least two of the four research areas outlined in this NOFO that are designed to reduce community rates of youth violence in the selected community or set of communities; (4) a youth advisory council to provide input on the selection, implementation, and evaluation of youth violence prevention strategies; and (5) integrated training activities for early career and junior researchers in youth violence prevention to complement the implementation, rigorous evaluation, and scholarship activities of the YVPC.

Key Dates Publication Date: To receive notification of any changes to RFA-CE-21-005, return to the synopsis page of this announcement at www.grants.gov and click on the "Send Me Change Notification Emails" link. An email address is needed for this service.

Letter of Intent Due Date: 02/05/2021 A Letter of Intent is requested by February 5, 2021. Although a letter of intent is not required, is not binding, and does not enter into the review of a subsequent application, the information that it contains allows NCIPC staff to estimate the potential review workload and plan the review.

Application Due Date: 04/21/2021 Applications are due April 21, 2021 at 5:00PM EST. Please carefully review and follow the instructions in Section IV. Application and Submission Information 9. Submission Dates and Times in order to ensure timely receipt of your application by April 21, 2021 at 5:00PM EST.

On-time submission requires that electronic applications be error-free and made available to CDC for processing from the NIH eRA system on or before the deadline date. Applications must be submitted to and validated successfully by Grants.gov no later than 5:00 PM U.S.

Eastern Time. Applications must be submitted using the Application Submission System & Interface for Submission Tracking (ASSIST) module which is a web-based service used for the preparation and submission of grant applications to CDC through Grants.gov. ASSIST provides the ability for applicants to prepare their applications online, and offers the applicant additional capabilities including the ability to preview the application image, validate the application against required business rules, and prepopulate data from an applicant organization's records, therefore identifying issues earlier in the application submission process.

Note: HHS/CDC grant submission procedures do not provide a grace period beyond the application due date time to correct any error or warning notices of noncompliance with application instructions that are identified by Grants.gov or eRA systems (i.e., error correction window).

Scientific Merit Review: 06/22/2021 This is an estimated date.

Secondary Review: 08/16/2021 This is an estimated date.

Estimated Start Date: 09/30/2021

Expiration Date: 06/15/2021 Due Dates for E.O. 12372: Due no later than 60 days after the application receipt date.

Required Application Instructions

**ELECTRONIC APPLICATION SUBMISSION VIA ASSIST IS PREFERRED**

It is recommended that applicants use ASSIST for the electronic preparation and submission of https://www.grants.gov applications through Grants.gov to CDC. ASSIST is an alternative method to prepare and submit applications, and provides many features to facilitate the application submission process which improves data quality (e.g., pre-population of organization data, pre-submission validation of business rules, and preview of the application image used for review). Use of the Grants.gov downloadable Adobe application packages and submission process will still be supported.

It is critical that applicants follow the instructions in the SF 424 (R&R) Application Guide except where instructed to do otherwise in this NOFO. Conformance to all requirements (both in the Application Guide and the NOFO) is required and strictly enforced. Applicants must read and follow all application instructions in the Application Guide as well as any program-specific instructions noted in Section IV. When the program-specific instructions deviate from those in the Application Guide, follow the program-specific instructions.

Note: The Research Strategy component of the Research Plan is limited to 40 pages.

Applications that do not comply with these instructions may be delayed or not accepted for review.

Pages that exceed page limits described in this NOFO will be removed and not forwarded for peer review, potentially affecting an application's score.

Telecommunications for the Hearing Impaired: TTY 1-888-232-6348

Executive Summary The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and NCIPC are committed to achieving the health promotion and disease prevention objectives of "Healthy People 2030" and to measuring program performance as stipulated by the Government Performance and Review Act (GPRA). The proposed program of research addresses the Healthy People 2030 priority area of injury and violence prevention and is in alignment with NCIPC's performance goal to conduct a targeted program of research to prevent injuries and violence and reduce their consequences.

CDC’s NCPIC Research Priorities include research gaps and priorities to address youth violence.1 The National Centers of Excellence in Youth Violence Prevention (or Youth Violence Prevention Centers; YVPCs) align with these research priorities, including evaluating the effectiveness of prevention strategies that reduce the likelihood of different forms of youth violence. This NOFO will build upon the growing evidence base in youth violence prevention as reflected in CDC’s Comprehensive Technical Package for the Prevention of Youth Violence and Associated Risk Behaviors and further supports the identification, implementation, evaluation, and dissemination of effective youth violence prevention strategies and approaches for preventing violence experienced by youth.2 The intent of the NCIPC extramural violence prevention research program is to:

Build the scientific base for the prevention of violence by helping to expand and advance our understanding of new and innovative strategies for the primary prevention of violence.

Encourage professionals from a wide spectrum of disciplines including, but not limited to, epidemiology, behavioral and social sciences, medicine, biostatistics, and public http://grants.nih.gov/grants/funding/424/SF424_RR_Guide_General_VerC.pdf health, and health economics to conduct research that informs violence prevention efforts.

Purpose NCIPC is soliciting research proposals to expand the evidence base for the primary prevention of youth violence. The purpose of this announcement is to fund the National Centers of Excellence in Youth Violence Prevention (Youth Violence Prevention Centers or YVPCs) to continue to build the evidence-base for violence prevention strategies and approaches that reduce community rates of youth violence within one or more geographically defined communities with high rates of youth violence. Applications for YVPCs supported under this announcement must 5 core elements: (1) an administrative infrastructure to support implementation, evaluation, and dissemination activities; to foster necessary local collaborations to achieve the YVPC’s goals; and to work with other funded YVPCs as part of the YVPC Network; (2) the selected community or set of communities with high rates of youth violence as the focus of all proposed YVPC activities; (3) a rigorous evaluation of at least two distinct prevention strategies related to at least two of the four research areas outlined in this NOFO that are designed to reduce community rates of youth violence in the selected community or set of communities; (4) a youth advisory council to provide input on the selection, implementation, and evaluation of youth violence prevention strategies; and (5) integrated training activities for early career and junior researchers in youth violence prevention to complement the implementation, rigorous evaluation, and scholarship activities of the YVPC.

Mechanism of Support The funding mechanism for this Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) will be a U01 research cooperative agreement.

Funds Available and Anticipated Number of Awards NCIPC intends to commit approximately up to $6,000,000 in FY 2021 to fund up to five (5) applications. Awards issued under this NOFO are contingent upon availability of funds and a sufficient number of meritorious applications. Because the nature and scope of the proposed research will vary from application to application, it is also anticipated that the size and duration of each award may also vary. The total amount awarded and the number of awards will depend upon the number, quality, duration and cost of the applications received and approved.

Budget and Project Period The maximum award amount will be $1,200,000 per award for the first 12 month budget period.

This includes both direct and indirect costs. An applicant may request a project period of up to five years. The maximum total project funding amount is $6,000,000 (including both direct and indirect costs) over the expected project period length, with a maximum of $1,200,000 per award per year. The project period for this award is expected to run from 9/30/2021 to

9/29/2026.

Throughout the project period, CDC's commitment to continuation of awards will be conditional on the availability of funds, evidence of satisfactory progress by the recipient (as documented in required reports), and the determination that continued funding is in the best interest of the Federal government.

Application Research Strategy Length Page limits for the Research Strategy are clearly specified in Section IV. Application and Submission Information of this announcement.

Eligible Institutions/Organizations Institutions/organizations listed in Section III. Eligibility Information 1. Eligible Applicants are eligible to apply.

Eligible Project Directors/Principal Investigators (PDs/PIs) Individuals with the skills, knowledge, and resources necessary to carry out the proposed research are invited to work with their institution/organization to develop an application for support. NOTE: CDC does not make awards to individuals directly.

Number of PDs/PIs An application may name more than one PD/PI; their names must appear on the face page of the application. However:

One (1) principal investigator must be designated as the contact PD/PI for all correspondence related to the application.

All PD/PIs must include their eRA Commons Identification in the Credential Field of the Senior/Key Person Profile Component of the SF-424 (R&R) Application Package.

Institutions/organizations proposing multiple PDs/PIs must visit the Multiple Program Director/Principal Investigator Policy and submission details in the Senior/Key Person Profile (Expanded) Component of the SF-424 (R&R) Application Guide.

Number of Applications Eligible applicant organizations may submit more than one application to this NOFO, provided that each application is scientifically distinct. However, applicant institutions can submit only one application with the same contact PD/PI. Only one application per contact PD/PI will be funded under this announcement. If two or more applications from the same contact PD/PI are received for this NOFO, the only application that will be submitted for review will be the last application received based on the document’s time and date stamp in Grants.gov (http://www.grants.gov). The applicant must ensure that duplicate applications are withdrawn prior to the application review date. Additionally, applicant institutions submitting applications with essentially the same proposed research to two or more CDC/ATSDR NOFOs will not be funded under more than one NOFO.

Additionally, applicant institutions submitting applications with essentially the same proposed research to two or more CDC/ATSDR NOFOs will not be funded under more than one NOFO.

Application Type. NEW

Special Date(s) A pre-application teleconference call will be conducted on January 27, 2021 to address questions from prospective applicants regarding NOFO RFA-CE-21-005, The CDC National Centers of Excellence in Youth Violence Prevention (YVPCs): Rigorous Evaluation of Prevention Strategies to Prevent and Reduce Community Rates of Youth Violence. The call will begin at 12:00 PM Eastern Standard Time (EST) and end at 1:00 PM Eastern Standard Time (EST), or sooner if all questions are addressed. Questions and answers from the discussion will be included in an amended NOFO approximately 3 weeks after the call.

Participant Access Information:

Call Date: January 27, 2021 Call Start Time: 12:00 PM Eastern Standard Time (EST) Call End Time: 1:00 PM Eastern Standard Time (EST) Call Leader: Susan Neurath, PhD, Scientific Program Official Toll-Free Number: 1-866-600-6035 Passcode: Use Passcode 23198543# when prompted

Application Materials: See Section IV.1 for application materials.

Part 2. Full Text Section I. Funding Opportunity Description

Statutory Authority Section 301 (a) [42 U.S.C. 241(a)] of the Public Health Service Act, and section 391 (a) [42 U.S.C. 280 b(a)] of the Public Service Health Act, as amended.

1. Background and Purpose Background http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/PAR-11-022.html#SectionIV1

Youth violence is a critical public health issue that has significant short- and long-term negative impacts on youth, their families, and their communities. Homicide, for example, was the third leading cause of death in 2018 for young people aged 10-24 years in the United States (U.S.).3 In 2018, more than 400,000 young people aged 10-24 were treated in emergency departments for nonfatal physical assault-related injuries. Moreover, in 2019, approximately 22 percent of U.S. high school students reported being in at least one physical fight during the prior year.4 Youth violence negatively impacts the young person, their family, the community where they live, and society by increasing heath care costs and limiting opportunities for youth and their communities to thrive. Youth homicides and nonfatal physical assault-related injuries result in more than $20 billion annually in combined medical and lost productivity costs alone.3 This is an underestimate of the true financial burden of youth violence, as it does not include costs associated with the criminal justice system, psychological and social consequences for victims, perpetrators and their families, or other costs incurred by communities.

CDC’s YVPCs have significantly advanced the science and practice of youth violence prevention to demonstrate that communities can stop youth violence before it starts. The YVPCs’ innovative research and community partnerships are strengthened by multidisciplinary teams (e.g., epidemiology, behavioral and social sciences, medicine, public health, community development, community health psychology, communications and marketing, private industry, community-based organizations, faith-based organizations, and community members). These teams work closely with many sectors (e.g., public health departments, schools, law enforcement, faith-based organizations, community members, youth) to develop, implement, and rigorously evaluate prevention strategies in communities experiencing high rates of youth violence. The YVPCs serve as national models and provide guidance to communities across the country to prevent violence. The multi-disciplinary YVPCs that work closely with community partners and conduct cutting-edge research also provide critical environments to train the next generation of youth violence prevention researchers. More information about the YVPCs is available at: https://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/youthviolence/yvpc/index.html.

Youth are recognized as integral and interested community partners and have been shown to add considerable value to the development and implementation of youth violence prevention strategies.5 As such, it is imperative to engage youth living in communities with high rates of youth violence to ensure that implemented youth violence prevention strategies are culturally informed and relevant to unique community characteristics. Youth engagement approaches can also build the collective capacity of youth to challenge and transform community institutions to promote social and economic justice. Thus, engaging youth as respected and culturally competent advisers regarding the selection, development, implementation, and evaluation of youth violence prevention strategies may build protective factors across the social ecology and improve community conditions that contribute to youth violence.

The YVPCs partner with communities, including communities of color, that experience concentrated disadvantage and inequities in risks for youth violence. For more than four decades, homicide has been the leading cause of death among non-Hispanic black youth aged 10-24, and in 2018, was the third leading cause of death for non-Hispanic American Indian/Alaskan Native and Hispanic youth in this age group.3 Prevention strategies that address social and structural conditions offer the potential to ameliorate the root causes of health and violence-related inequities (e.g., concentrated disadvantage, disinvested communities, poverty, limited educational opportunities, unemployment). The conditions in which people are born, grow, live, work and age contribute to health inequities, including the unfair and avoidable differences in health status seen across population groups. Rigorous evaluations to determine the effectiveness of violence prevention programs, policies, and practices that address social and structural conditions contributing to health inequities in communities with high rates of youth violence and that specifically focus on youth aged 10-24 years are needed to reduce the negative consequences of these inequities.

Thousands of youth receive treatment in emergency departments for violence-related injuries each day, and a substantial proportion of these youth experience a subsequent violence-related injury, perpetrate violence against others, or premature death.6 Homicides among youth are primarily the result of a firearm-related injury. For instance, firearm homicides accounted for 89% of all youth homicides in 2018.3 Profound disparities in homicide and nonfatal violent injury rates also exist across racial and ethnic groups. For example, in 2018, compared to non- Hispanic white youth, the rate of firearm homicide was nearly 16 times higher for non-Hispanic black youth, four times higher among non-Hispanic American Indian/Alaskan Native youth, and three times higher among Hispanic youth.3 Additional prevention strategies are needed to specifically reduce the risk of homicide and severe violence-related injuries among these groups. In 2013, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) published research priorities to reduce the threat of firearm-related violence, including key topics for prevention research (e.g., improve understanding of whether interventions intended to diminish the illegal carrying of firearms reduce firearm violence).7 Strategies to reduce youth’s risk for homicide and potentially lethal injury can focus on addressing key risk factors, such as gang activity and youth affiliation with gangs, rates of substance use and drug trafficking, unsupervised firearm access, prior involvement in injurious violence, and retaliatory attitudes and norms.

Emergency departments are increasingly implementing prevention interventions for violently injured youth and demonstrating effectiveness in reducing subsequent youth violence, crime, and associated risk factors (e.g., Caught in the Crossfire, SafERteens, Project SYNC).8-12 These programs vary in their approaches with some offering brief interventions in the emergency department and others partnering with community-based organizations to provide critical wrap-around services. Many implemented hospital-based programs have not been rigorously evaluated for their impact on community rates of youth violence. Hospital-based violence prevention programs, while individual-level interventions, could potentially reduce community rates of violence.13,14 Although relatively few individuals perpetrate the majority of violence in communities, these individuals may be more likely to be treated in an emergency department for violence-related injuries.15-17 Research evaluating the effectiveness of implemented hospital-based programs not yet rigorously assessed for their impact on youth violence is needed. Additionally evaluating the impact of evidence-based programs when implemented at scale within a community or communities with high rates of youth violence could confer important knowledge about strategies to reduce community rates of youth violence.

Innovation is also needed in how violence prevention strategies are implemented. Online platforms have the potential to exacerbate or reduce the risk of multiple forms of youth violence ,18 including fighting, retaliatory violence, weapon carrying, gang violence19-22 and cyberbullying/bullying23; thus, research is needed to determine whether these platforms could be leveraged to help prevent youth violence. Evidence-based youth violence prevention strategies designed for the physical world could be adapted for online implementation and evaluated for their impact on community rates of youth violence. For example, innovative approaches to identify and disrupt escalating online violence and subsequent transmission of this violence from online platforms to the physical world could include digital interventions based on existing street outreach and bystander intervention techniques. Similarly, existing bullying prevention models could be adapted to online platforms to prevent cyberbullying and bullying in the physical world. New prevention strategies are also needed. For instance, research indicates that gang-related violence is closely linked to the social media activities of gang members.24,25 The FBI’s National Gang Intelligence Center reports that gangs use the internet to intimidate others, recruit members, showcase illegal activities, coordinate and defend their gang’s reputation, coordinate assaults, and promote other illegal activities,25 but effective online gang violence prevention strategies are not yet available. Therefore, additional research is needed to determine the effectiveness of adapted and novel prevention approaches implemented online to reduce violence burden in both the online and physical worlds.

For the purpose of this announcement, the following terms and concepts are defined as followed:

Youth violence is defined as the intentional use of physical force or power, threatened or actual, exerted by or against youth ages 10-24, which results in or has a high likelihood of resulting in injury, death, psychological harm, maldevelopment, or deprivation. It includes violence between individuals or groups who may or may not know each other.

It frequently takes place outside the home, in the streets, or in institutional settings, such as schools and workplaces.

• Primary prevention of youth violence seeks to prevent youth violence before it occurs.

• Community is defined as any defined population with shared characteristics, risk/protective factors, and potential for exposure to a prevention strategy with corresponding data sources (e.g., neighborhoods, municipalities, hospital or school catchment area, police jurisdictions).

• A community with high rates of youth violence is a community that has multiple empirically robust risk factors for youth violence and where rates of youth violence are higher than national averages (e.g., juvenile rates of fighting, juvenile arrest rates for violent offenses, homicide rates among youth ages 10-24, emergency department data on violence-related injuries among youth ages 10-24, and school data on disciplinary incidents involving violence).

• Policy is defined as a law, regulation, procedure, administrative action, incentive, or voluntary practice of governments and other institutions (see http://www.cdc.gov/stltpublichealth/policy).

• Social and structural conditions are those conditions which contribute to health inequities across population groups (e.g., concentrated disadvantage, disinvested communities, poverty, limited educational opportunities, unemployment).

• Criminal justice strategies are those that involve or affect the policies, programs, or practices of law enforcement and the criminal and civil courts (e.g., policing, arrest, trial, sentencing, incarceration, mandated intervention and treatment strategies).

This NOFO seeks diversity among applicant institutions, research investigators, and partnering organizations to ensure researcher experience and research outcomes are applicable and beneficial to all communities experiencing high rates of youth violence. Applicant organizations from or collaborating with Minority Serving Educational Institutions (MSIs) representative of and serving the selected community are highly encouraged. MSIs include Hispanic Serving Institution's (HSIs), Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), Tribal Colleges and Universities (TCUs), and Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian Serving Institutions, as defined by the U.S. Department of Education. Meritorious applications from eligible MSIs or eligible institutions collaborating with MSIs may be considered during the second level of review to broaden distribution of awards (see Section V. Application Review Information 4. Review and Selection Process).

Considerations Regarding NOFO Scope:

This NOFO will not support applications that propose to evaluate the following specified strategies, including online or in-person adaptations of these strategies: universal school-based programs, parenting and family relationship programs, Youth Empowerment Solutions (YES), Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED) in neighborhoods (e.g., greening, abandoned building/vacant lot remediation), business improvement districts (BIDs), prevention planning systems (e.g., Communities That Care (CTC), Promoting School-Community University Partnerships to Enhance Resilience (PROSPER Partnership Model), and national-and state-level policies [i.e., the earned income tax credit (EITC), Medicaid expansion, and school vouchers]. Applications proposing to evaluate these specified strategies, including online or in-person adaptations of these strategies may not be forwarded for full panel peer review and will not be recommended for funding consideration during the NCIPC second level review (see Section V. Application Review Information).

This NOFO will not support applications that propose to evaluate the following prevention strategies without the innovative element specified below:

Evaluation of a youth violence prevention hospital-based program with established effectiveness (e.g., SafERteens, Project SYNC, Caught in the Crossfire), including adaptations of the existing evidence-based program, without the rigorous evaluation of a scaled multi-hospital implementation of the established hospital-based violence prevention program.

Evaluation of a prevention strategy to reduce online violence related behavior without also evaluating the effects on community rates of youth violence in the physical world.

Evaluation of street outreach approaches, bystander interventions, and bullying/cyber-bullying interventions without the inclusion of an online intervention component.

These evaluation approaches without the innovative element described do not meet the scientific intent of this NOFO and are NOT sought in response to this NOFO. Applications without these innovative elements may not be forwarded for full panel peer review and will not be recommended for funding consideration during the NCIPC second level review (see Section V. Application Review Information).

Healthy People 2030 and other National Strategic Priorities CDC’s NCIPC within HHS is committed to achieving the health promotion and disease prevention objectives of "Healthy People 2030" and to measuring program performance as stipulated by the Government Performance and Review Act (GPRA). This funding announcement addresses the “Healthy People 2030” priority area(s) of injury and violence prevention and is in alignment with NCIPC’s performance goal(s) to conduct a targeted program of research to reduce injury-related death and disability. For more information, see www.healthypeople.gov and http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/mgmt-gpra/. For additional information about the CDC injury research priorities, see https://www.cdc.gov/injury/researchpriorities/index.html.

Public Health Impact Youth violence is a significant public health problem with homicides among youth being the third leading cause of death in 2018.3 This announcement supports YVPCs to collaborate with a community or set of communities experiencing high rates of youth violence to implement and evaluate the effectiveness of prevention strategies designed to reduce rates of youth violence.

The work supported by this announcement is likely to impact youth violence in the selected communities as well as produce generalizable knowledge that can help prevent youth violence in other communities.

Relevant Work NCIPC is the nation’s leading public health authority on violence and injury prevention. CDC’s approach involves three elements: a focus on prevention, a science-driven approach to identify risk and patterns, and multidisciplinary collaboration to address the problem and keep people safe, healthy, and productive. NCIPC’s Division of Violence Prevention (DVP) has developed technical packages to help states and communities take advantage of the best available evidence to prevent violence (https://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/pub/technical-packages.html).

CDC also developed a document that combines the best available evidence from the http://www.healthypeople.gov http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/mgmt-gpra/ violence prevention technical package that is related to preventing adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) (https://www.cdc.gov/injury/priority/aces.html).

The strategies and approaches in the technical package represent different levels of the social ecology with efforts intended to impact individual behaviors as well as the relationship, family, school, community, and societal factors that influence risk and protective factors for violence.

NCIPC’s research priorities (https://www.cdc.gov/injury/researchpriorities/index.html) and the Division of Violence Prevention’s Strategic Vision (https://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/publichealthissue/strategicvision.html/) support the need for evaluating the effectiveness of prevention strategies that lack rigorous evaluation research. In addition, NCIPC's research priorities and DVP's Strategic Vision highlight the need to evaluate the efficacy and effectiveness of approaches across all levels of the social ecology and to expand evidence for populations that experience a disproportionate burden of violence.

The current YVPCs have demonstrated success in reducing youth violence in communities with high rates of youth violence. More information about the current and past YVPCs can be accessed at: https://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/youthviolence/yvpc/index.html.

2. Approach The objective of this research funding opportunity is to establish Youth Violence Prevention Centers (YVPCs) to advance the prevention of youth violence in communities with rates of youth violence that are higher than the national average. Applications for the YVPC should describe:

I. an administrative infrastructure to support implementation, evaluation, and dissemination activities; to foster necessary local collaborations to achieve the YVPC’s goals; and to work with other funded YVPCs as part of the YVPC Network;

II. the selection of a community or set of communities with high rates of youth violence as the focus of all proposed YVPC activities;

III. a rigorous evaluation of at least two distinct prevention strategies related to at least two of four Research Areas specified in this NOFO that are designed to reduce community rates of youth violence in the selected community or set of communities;

IV. a youth advisory council from each selected community to provide input on the selection, implementation, and evaluation of youth violence prevention strategies; and

V. integrated training activities for early career and junior researchers in youth violence prevention to complement the implementation, evaluation, and scholarship activities of the YVPC.

I. YVPC Administrative Infrastructure to Support Research, Collaboration, and Dissemination Activities The proposed YVPCs will require significant administrative and institutional support and capacity to accomplish the multiple research, community and youth engagement, and training activities. Many of the requirements of the funded YVPCs require complex skills and capacity.

Applicants must demonstrate these capacities and should demonstrate a willingness to collaborate with CDC scientific staff and with other funded YVPCs so that these capacities are enhanced and expanded. To fulfill this requirement, the applicant must complete the following:

1. Demonstrate institutional capacity to design, implement, and evaluate strategies to prevent youth violence in selected communities. This includes: The SF-424 Biographical Sketch for the contact Principal Investigator (PI) and/or Co-Investigator(s) (Co-I) must include documentation of expertise in designing, implementing, and evaluating youth violence prevention strategies in communities with high rates of youth violence. The knowledge, experience, and expertise necessary to conduct this research and achieve proposed objectives must be documented with at least one first-authored, peer-reviewed journal publication, as defined by the NIH National Library of Medicine, in the relevant area. Experience requirements may be demonstrated through the combined experiences of a PI and/or Co-I(s) (if applicable). The citation of the relevant publication(s) must be clearly identified (by bold text or highlight) in the appropriate SF-424 Biographical Sketch. Applications that do not demonstrate expertise by the PI or Co-I to design, implement, and evaluate strategies to prevent youth violence in communities with high rates of youth violence through at least one first-authored, peer-reviewed journal publication presented on their SF-424 Biographical Sketch will be considered nonresponsive and will not be forwarded for peer review.

2. Demonstrate community engagement with a partnership plan, which includes, at a minimum, description of the community partner(s), past collaborative activities between the applicant and the partner(s), and the role the partner(s) will play in the identification, development, implementation, and evaluation of the selected prevention strategies and research areas. The support of community partners should be demonstrated by data sharing agreements, memoranda of understanding, or letters of support. Applicants must provide evidence of support by all partners who play a role in implementing the selected prevention strategies and accessing data necessary to complete the proposed research, and the partner should describe their role and commitment to assisting the applicant with this research in their data sharing agreement, memoranda of understanding, or letters of support. Although a partnership with a public health department (city, county, or state) may not be necessary for implementing and evaluating the proposed research, nor required for funding consideration under this NOFO, applicants are nevertheless encouraged to establish this partnership to strengthen the relevance and sustainability of the selected prevention strategy. These indicators of support should describe the past and current working relationship between the applicant and the partner. Partnerships should include a diverse range of perspectives including, but not limited to, community partners who:

a. Are well-positioned to inform and engage with youth violence prevention efforts.

b. Are members of the selected community or set of communities and understand the cultural, social, and policy factors that may affect the proposed activities.

c. Provide data or assist with accessing data on youth violence within the selected community or communities.

d. Express a willingness to collaborate with the applicant to inform the development, implementation, and evaluation of strategies that fit the needs of the selected community https://www.nlm.nih.gov/nichsr/stats_tutorial/section3/mod6_peer.html or set of communities.

e. Are empowered to speak and act on behalf of the agencies or groups they represent.

Applications must demonstrate community engagement with a partnership plan and data sharing agreements, memoranda of understanding or letters of support from all partners necessary to conduct the proposed research.

3. Demonstrate the proposed YVPC has the administrative, research, and community and youth engagement staff necessary to complete all proposed center activities. The description of proposed staff should indicate the responsibilities of each position and the percent time each staff member will commit to activities. The application should include a SF-424 Biographical Sketch for each identified staff member that reflects established skills and experience necessary to complete assigned responsibilities. For positions unfilled at the time of the application, the applicant should describe their recruitment strategy, timeline for filling the position, and any potential adverse impacts on proposed activities if filling the position is delayed.

4. Designate a full-time project coordinator with substantial experience, education, training, and credentials in project management, whose primary responsibility will be coordination of operations and logistics, and who will communicate directly with CDC scientific and programmatic staff. Applicants should describe how the contact PD/PI and project coordinator will ensure that all components of the proposed work are carried out with fidelity, will document and notify CDC within three business days of any deviations from project protocol (including plans for revision and remediation when appropriate), will participate on monthly calls with CDC staff, will attend the annual reverse site visits in Atlanta or YVPC sites, and will participate in site visits by CDC staff to the contact PD/PI’s institution.

5. Demonstrate a willingness to participate in the YVPC Network. The YVPC Network will be composed of the YVPC PIs, additional YVPC staff selected at the YVPC PI’s discretion, members of the YVPC community partnership groups, and CDC staff. The YVPC Network will serve as an ongoing forum for exchange, critical dialogue, and constructive feedback and discussion within and among the funded YVPCs. The YVPC Network may also provide suggestions to other CDC DVP-funded and NCIPC-funded activities [e.g., Striving to Reduce Youth Violence Everywhere (STRYVE), Core Violence and Injury Prevention Program (CORE-VIPP), Injury Control Research Centers (ICRCs), the National Violent Death Reporting System (NVDRS)], and Preventing Adverse Childhood Experiences Data to Action through activities, such as periodic conference calls. The YVPC Network will be encouraged to share information about their proposed evaluations, common indicators of youth violence behaviors and outcomes, and strategies to successfully develop and maintain community and youth engagement and training opportunities. This information could be used by the YVPCs to strengthen their Center plans and to help demonstrate the overall impact of the YVPCs.

II. YVPC Community Selection The applicant is required to identify a community or set of communities with high rates of youth violence as the focus of all proposed YVPC activities. The applicant must demonstrate that the selected community or set of communities has rates of youth violence that are higher than national averages, including homicides and the more severe forms of violence that are likely to result in injury or death (e.g., shootings, aggravated assaults, violent crime arrest rates, and emergency department admissions for violent injuries among youth). Applicants may demonstrate this burden through a combination of available information at the community level (e.g., administrative data, syndromic surveillance data, vital statistics, community surveys, or other appropriate documentation). Applications that do not demonstrate that the selected community or set of communities has rates of youth violence that are higher than the national average will be considered nonresponsive and will not be forwarded for peer review.

III. YVPC Prevention Strategies and Research Areas Applicants must select at least two (2) Research Areas from the four Research Areas specified below to reduce community rates of youth violence within one or more geographically defined communities with high rates of youth violence. The applicant must also propose the evaluation of at least two distinct prevention strategies (i.e., programs, practices, policies) on community rates of youth violence. These prevention strategies must directly relate to two or more of the Research Areas specified below (e.g., program designed to prevent youth violence related to addressing social and structural conditions and to preventing homicide). For the purposes of this NOFO: A) the application’s proposed research must address at least two of the four Research Areas specified below; B) the application must propose to evaluate at least two distinct prevention strategies; C) each of the two proposed strategies must be directly related to at least one of the specified Research Areas; D) any proposed prevention strategy can be related to one or more of the specified Research Areas. Applicants are encouraged to carefully consider the extent to which all proposed research can be feasibly completed within the five year project period and proposed budget.

Applicants are also encouraged to investigate the impact of selected prevention strategies on specific populations of youth (e.g., racial/ethnic groups, people with disabilities, and sexual and gender minorities). For each prevention strategy, applicants are also encouraged to collect the data necessary to understand and describe the mechanisms of change, the effects on inequities in risk for violence, risk and protective factors for violence, the cost effectiveness of the interventions examined, any potential unintended consequences of the prevention strategy, and possible secondary outcomes reflecting other forms of violence (e.g., teen dating violence, sexual violence). Risk factors include, but are not limited to, neighborhood poverty, cultural norms that support aggression towards others, social or structural conditions that contribute to heath inequities, and poor neighborhood cohesion. Protective factors include, but are not limited to, community connectedness, coordination of resources and services among community agencies, and economic opportunities for individuals and families. For more information on shared risk and protective factors for violence see: https://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/pdf /connecting_the_dots-a.pdf. Applications that do not propose to evaluate at least two https://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/pdf/connecting_the_dots-a.pdf https://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/pdf/connecting_the_dots-a.pdf distinct prevention strategies related to at least two of the research areas specified in this NOFO (i.e., Research Area 1, Research Area 2, Research Area 3, Research Area 4), demonstrate how the prevention strategies relate to at least two of the Research Areas specified in the NOFO, and evaluate the impact of the prevention strategies on community rates of youth violence will be considered nonresponsive and will not be forwarded for peer review.

Applicants may propose to conduct a research evaluation of a prevention strategy that is being developed or under implementation. However, applicants are reminded that NOFO RFA-CE- 21-005 is a research notice of funding opportunity and not a stand-alone program development announcement. Therefore, applicants cannot propose to develop or implement a prevention strategy without also conducting a rigorous research evaluation of the prevention strategy.

All applications will be evaluated during the peer review process on the strength of the research question, the appropriateness of the research question in addressing the scientific intent of the NOFO, the strength of the research design and approach in order to answer the research question, and the feasibility of completing the proposed research within the time frame of the project period and within the proposed budget, among other scored peer review criteria as described in Section V. Application Review Information Criteria. An application that proposes to develop or implement a prevention strategy without also conducting a rigorous research evaluation of the prevention strategy will be considered nonresponsive and will not be forwarded for peer review.

For each prevention strategy to be evaluated, applicants are expected to submit a narrative Theory of Change (TOC). The TOC describes the causal processes through which an implemented strategy is expected to result in reductions to community rates of youth violence.26,27 In their description of the TOC, applicants should:

Describe the selected prevention strategies to be evaluated.

Demonstrate through the TOC how the strategy is expected to affect community rates of youth violence. Based on the proposed strategies and analyses, the TOC may also need to reflect the proposed mechanisms of change, risk and protective factors for violence, and any proposed secondary outcomes. The applicant should describe how factors in the TOC would validly and reliably be measured to demonstrate the hypothesized changes.

Describe how the proposed research is innovative, advances the field of violence prevention, and adds to current evidence base by referring to CDC’s Continuum of Evidence (see https://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/pdf/continuum-chart-a.pdf). The proposed research may build upon a previous non-rigorous evaluation in order to extend the evidence-base for youth violence prevention. If the proposed research builds upon previous research or practice (including of an adaptation of the prevention strategy to be evaluated), applicants must describe the previous research or practice, the research gap(s), and how the proposed research will extend and not be duplicative with previous research.

https://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/pdf/continuum-chart-a.pdf

This NOFO is not intended to support policy implementation. However, an evaluation of a policy may be a part of the proposed research. The policy selected for rigorous evaluation must have been implemented prior to the proposed period of evaluation and may or may not be ongoing.