The National Institutes of Health is offering awards of up to $485,000 to encourage community-based organizations to develop and implement strategies to reduce health disparities for people with disabilities. Organizations that participate in the Community Champions for Disability Health Challenge will also receive training and mentorship opportunities. The challenge is led by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) at the National Institutes of Health.
“People with disabilities often experience preventable health disparities, many of which result from systemic factors rather than their disabling condition,” said Theresa Cruz, PhD, director of NICHD’s National Center for Health and Rehabilitation Research. “This Challenge calls for effective, sustainable, community-driven solutions to reduce these disparities and advance health equity for people with disabilities.”
More than 70 million people in the United States have one or more disabilities. People with disabilities are more likely to suffer from chronic diseases, including obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease, than people without disabilities. They are also less likely to receive preventive health care and have limited access to exercise equipment and proper nutrition. They often face barriers to receiving health care, including limited access to medical facilities and equipment, lack of transportation to appointments, and difficulty communicating with health care providers.
The two-tiered Disability Health Challenge Community Champions seeks creative ideas to promote healthy habits, increase access to health services and information, and reduce barriers to health promotion for people with disabilities. The challenge is open to U.S.-based non-academic, 501(c)(3) organizations, including advocacy, community, and faith-based organizations. Teams must explain how people with lived experience of disability can be part of the solution.
In the first phase, organizations will submit innovative proposals to reduce health disparities by improving, expanding, diversifying or enhancing current programs and services for people with disabilities. The deadline for submissions to the first phase is November 1, 2024. Up to eight organizations will be awarded $25,000 each and invited to move on to the second phase.
Organizations participating in Phase 2 will have one year to implement their proposals and demonstrate how they have improved their organization’s services and outcomes. Midway through this phase, organizations will have the opportunity to compete for a provisional award of $7,500. Throughout Phase 2, organizations will receive training and mentoring from experts from NIH and the National Institute of Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research (NIDILRR), part of the Office of Community Living. NICHD plans to announce up to three Grand Prize winners in February 2026 and award each winner $75,000.
HeroX is helping to design, implement, and manage the challenge on behalf of the NIH through a multiple award contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Additional funders of the challenge include NIDILRR and the following NIH organizations: National Eye Institute, National Institute of Deafening and Communicative Disorders, National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases, and the Office of Program Coordination, Planning, and Strategic Initiatives within the NIH Office of the Director.
For complete application requirements, deadlines and rules, please visit https://www.challenge.gov/?challenge=community-disability-health.
For more information on how to register and participate, please visit https://www.herox.com/CommunityDisabilityHealth
