Interventions that Address Structural Racism to Reduce Kidney Health Disparities Research Coordinating Center (U24 - Clinical Trial Not Allowed) | RFA DK 22 015

Opportunity Information: Apply for RFA DK 22 015

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding opportunity RFA-DK-22-015 supports a single Research Coordinating Center (RCC) for a new consortium focused on reducing kidney health disparities by directly addressing structural racism. The broader program, called the Interventions that Address Structural Racism to Reduce Kidney Health Disparities Consortium, is built around community-engaged intervention research. In practice, this means the consortium is intended to work alongside communities most affected by kidney disease disparities to design, carry out, and evaluate interventions that meaningfully dismantle or reduce the harmful impacts of structural racism on kidney health outcomes. The RCC is the backbone of that effort and is expected to unify the work of multiple independently funded Intervention Sites that will be supported through a companion funding announcement.

This award uses a U24 cooperative agreement mechanism, which typically signals an active partnership between NIH staff and the funded recipient. The RCC is not being funded to run a clinical trial; the announcement explicitly states "Clinical Trial Not Allowed." Instead, the RCC role is to organize and coordinate the consortium's research activities so that the intervention projects can be compared, aligned, and learned from as a collective body of work. The goal is not just to run isolated projects, but to create a coordinated, scalable, and sustainable research enterprise that can produce practical knowledge about what works to reduce kidney health inequities when structural racism is treated as a root cause rather than a background factor.

The RCC is expected to carry out three major categories of responsibilities. First, it must provide organization, management, and administrative support for the entire consortium. This includes planning and running consortium meetings, supporting cross-site communication, managing governance structures and working groups, tracking milestones and deliverables, and generally keeping the multi-site program functioning smoothly and transparently. Second, it must provide research coordination and serve as the hub for data management and analysis across consortium studies. This typically involves developing common data elements when appropriate, establishing shared protocols for data collection and quality control, creating secure data systems, supporting harmonization across sites, and conducting or coordinating statistical analyses that allow the consortium to generate insights that go beyond any single intervention site. Third, the RCC must actively foster collaboration and capacity-building, helping to develop a community of investigators and partners who have the skills and relationships needed to design, implement, evaluate, and disseminate effective interventions that address structural drivers of kidney disparities. A key emphasis is on interventions that are not only effective, but also scalable and sustainable, meaning they can be maintained over time and expanded to broader settings if proven successful.

Eligibility for this opportunity is broad and includes many types of U.S.-based organizations. Eligible applicants include state, county, city, township, and special district governments; independent school districts; public and state-controlled and private institutions of higher education; federally recognized Native American tribal governments; tribal organizations that are not federally recognized; public housing authorities/Indian housing authorities; nonprofit organizations with or without 501(c)(3) status; for-profit organizations other than small businesses; and small businesses. The announcement also highlights a range of community- and equity-focused institutions and organizations as eligible, such as Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), Hispanic-serving institutions, Tribally Controlled Colleges and Universities (TCCUs), Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian Serving Institutions, Asian American Native American Pacific Islander Serving Institutions (AANAPISIs), faith-based or community-based organizations, regional organizations, eligible federal agencies, and U.S. territories or possessions. At the same time, foreign participation is restricted: non-domestic (non-U.S.) entities are not eligible to apply, non-domestic components of U.S. organizations are not eligible, and foreign components (as defined by NIH policy) are not allowed.

The opportunity falls under NIH and is listed as discretionary funding, with the cooperative agreement structure reinforcing that NIH expects ongoing coordination with the agency throughout the project period. The posted award ceiling is $500,000, and the original closing date was November 17, 2022 (created July 27, 2022). It is associated with CFDA numbers 93.307, 93.361, and 93.847. Overall, the intent is to fund a central coordinating entity that can make the consortium function as a cohesive, high-quality, community-engaged research program, producing rigorous and actionable evidence on how to reduce kidney health disparities by targeting structural racism through real-world interventions rather than isolated, purely descriptive research.

• The National Institutes of Health in the education, food and nutrition, health sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Interventions that Address Structural Racism to Reduce Kidney Health Disparities Research Coordinating Center (U24 - Clinical Trial Not Allowed)" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 93.307, 93.361, 93.847.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2022-07-27.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2022-11-17. (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 $500,000.00 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 DK 22 015

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