Strengthening U.S. Public Health Infrastructure, Workforce, and Data Systems | CDC RFA OE22 2203

Opportunity Information: Apply for CDC RFA OE22 2203

Strengthening U.S. Public Health Infrastructure, Workforce, and Data Systems (CDC RFA OE22-2203) is a CDC discretionary grant designed to help public health agencies recover from the strain of the COVID-19 pandemic while building a stronger, more modern system that can handle future emergencies. The opportunity is intentionally "non-categorical" and cross-cutting, meaning it is not limited to a single disease or program area. Instead, it focuses on the core capacities health departments need to function well day to day and to scale quickly during crises. The grant emphasizes that COVID-19 exposed and intensified long-standing weaknesses in public health infrastructure, widened or revealed health disparities, and created new operational demands that many agencies were not resourced to meet. The overall aim is to stabilize essential functions in the short term and also make strategic investments that continue paying off long after the immediate pandemic period.

The funding is organized around two complementary components. Component A focuses on direct investments in governmental public health infrastructure, specifically workforce, foundational public health capabilities, data modernization, and physical infrastructure improvements. Component B supports the role of National Public Health Partners by funding technical assistance and evaluation support that helps Component A recipients implement improvements effectively, measure progress, and share learning across jurisdictions. The structure reflects the idea that rebuilding public health capacity is not only about money for staff and systems, but also about sustained support, expertise, and accountability to ensure changes take hold and are maintained.

A major centerpiece of Component A is workforce expansion and strengthening. The grant recognizes that public health agencies need more people, but also better systems to recruit, hire, retain, and support them. Allowable workforce-related needs include bringing on new staff, retaining current staff, improving staff wellness, expanding training and professional development, and upgrading workforce development and management capacity. A notable feature is flexibility: recipients are allowed wide latitude to contract with organizations they consider appropriate to expand workforce capacity, and there are no restrictions on the types of positions that can be hired. This is meant to let jurisdictions respond to local realities, whether that involves epidemiologists, data analysts, community health workers, informaticians, communications staff, program managers, or other roles that strengthen the overall system.

Another core emphasis is data modernization, aligned with CDCs Data Modernization Initiative. The grant supports investments that make public health data systems more efficient, timely, and useful for real-world decision-making. The intent is to improve how agencies collect, manage, analyze, and share data so they can respond faster, coordinate more effectively with healthcare and community partners, and operate in an increasingly complex public health and healthcare environment. Alongside data systems, the opportunity supports foundational capabilities and physical infrastructure improvements, with the goal of modernizing agency operations and enabling health departments to function as stronger service providers and partners. Taken together, these upgrades are meant to expand, improve, and accelerate public health services, strengthening the response to COVID-19 while also improving readiness for future threats.

Health equity is described as the cornerstone of the work. Applicants and recipients are expected to demonstrate and improve their ability to advance health equity and reduce health disparities, particularly for populations at higher risk and communities that are medically underserved. The grant explicitly highlights the need to address historic underinvestment affecting economically or socially marginalized communities, rural communities, and communities with people from racial and ethnic minority groups. In practice, this means infrastructure upgrades and workforce growth are not treated as purely internal improvements; they are framed as tools to deliver better and more equitable public health services and outcomes across different populations.

The opportunity also emphasizes that true public health transformation involves more than internal fixes. It calls for repositioning public health agencies within the broader health and healthcare systems they operate in, which requires building and strengthening partnerships at local, state, tribal, territorial, and national levels. This partnership orientation connects directly to both components: Component A recipients are expected to work effectively across systems, while Component B partners help provide the technical assistance and evaluation capacity to support that transformation. The notice also notes that some strategies may be "approved but unfunded" depending on available appropriations, and that all awards ultimately depend on funding availability.

Key administrative details from the listing include that the funding instrument is a grant under CFDA 93.967, administered by the Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CSELS). Eligible applicants include state, county, and city or township governments, special district governments, and other eligible entities as clarified in the full eligibility text. The opportunity was created June 16, 2022, with an original application deadline of August 15, 2022 (11:59 pm ET for electronic submissions). The award ceiling listed is $161,600,000, with an expected 116 awards. All recipients under the program receive workforce funding under Component A, and Component B recipients are also funded, reinforcing the central priority of rebuilding and sustaining public health staffing and core operational capacity nationwide.

• The Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control - CSELS in the health sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Strengthening U.S. Public Health Infrastructure, Workforce, and Data Systems" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 93.967.
• This funding opportunity was created on Jun 16, 2022.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Aug 15, 2022 Electronically submitted applications must be submitted no later than 1159 pm ET on the listed application due date.. (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 $161,600,000.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 116 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: State governments, County governments, City or township governments, Special district governments, Others (see text field entitled Additional Information on Eligibility for clarification), Unrestricted (i.e., open to any type of entity above), subject to any clarification in text field entitled Additional Information on Eligibility.

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