National Initiative to Advance Health Equity in K-12 Education by Preventing Chronic Disease and Promoting Healthy Behaviors

The purpose of this 5-year cooperative agreement is to improve the health and well-being of children, adolescents, and school staff in underserved and disproportionately affected communities. The CDC's Healthy Schools Branch plans to fund four nationally recognized recipients with expertise and experience providing support to CDC-funded state education agencies, districts, schools, out-of-school time providers, and the organization's constituents in the following priority areas: Priority 1 - School Health Services: Strategies and activities support access to physical, behavioral, and mental health services for students, with emphasis on students with chronic health conditions. Priority 2 - Emotional Well-Being: Strategies and activities support emotional well-being of students and staff. Priority 3 - Healthy Out-of-School-Time: Strategies and activities support healthy eating, physical activity, and emotional well-being of students and staff in out-of-school time programs. Priority 4 - School Administrator Support and Action for Healthy Schools: Strategies and activities support adoption of Whole School, Whole Community, Whole Child model policies within districts and schools that address healthy eating, physical activity, and emotional well-being of students and staff. Recipients will provide support through professional development and technical assistance, dissemination, partnerships, and implementation. Expected outcomes to be achieved by the end of the 5-year period of performance include: (1) Increased use of CDC and other evidence-based tools and resources; (2) Increased adoption and implementation of evidence-based school health policies, practices, and programs among state education agencies, districts, schools, and out-of-school time programs; and (3) Expansion of school-based mental health and health services. This notice of funding opportunity (NOFO) is intended to fund recipients with national reach to support the establishment of school policy, systems, and environmental changes to achieve and sustain positive health outcomes. Recipients will support nationwide implementation of cross-cutting approaches to promote health and prevent and control chronic diseases and their risk factors. Applicants should be able to fulfill the strategies, activities, and performance measures stated in the NOFO at a national, state, local, community, and school level. The applicant must demonstrate their ability at a national level to impact SEAs, districts, or schools in the chosen priority area; have members, networks, affiliates, and chapters in all states; and demonstrate a minimum of ten years of expertise, experience, and documented success in addressing the priority area. The applicant must have experience working with diverse populations and underserved communities and have an understanding of community engagement efforts that can strengthen cross-sector partnerships, ensure culturally and linguistically appropriate practices, build trust within communities, promote social connections, and advance health equity. Applicants may only apply for, and will only be awarded for, one priority area.