Making America Healthy Again by Addressing Dementia Disparities

The Office of Minority Health announces the anticipated availability of funds for Fiscal Year (FY) 2025 under the authority of 42 U.S.C. § 300u-6 (Section 1707 of the Public Health Service Act) for demonstration projects to support innovative evidence-based/informed and community-focused approaches that reduce disparities impacting brain health as people age. Demonstration projects are time-limited projects for the purpose of assessing the effectiveness of an approach or intervention toward reaching a desired outcome. We expect award recipients under this opportunity to consider approaches to sustainability beyond the end of the support provided by OMH. Subjective cognitive decline (SCD) is self-reported confusion or memory loss and an early sign of Alzheimer's disease and dementia. Groups disproportionately affected by dementia and related chronic illnesses may face barriers to health care and social services that increase their risk of poor health outcomes. Projects funded under the initiative will use novel community-based strategies that address social determinants of health (SDOH) and risk factors in the environments where people live, work, learn play and worship. We intend for projects to reduce health disparities and demonstrate progress towards SCD-related Healthy People 2030 objectives. See https://health.gov/healthypeople/objectives-and-data/browse-objectives/dementias for more information. This initiative is in alignment with Make America Healthy Again Commission and the HHS Secretary’s health priorities for preventing and addressing chronic disease. Eligible applicants include any private nonprofit or public entity located in a State. “State” includes, in addition to the several States, only the District of Columbia, Guam, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Northern Mariana Islands, the Virgin Islands, American Samoa, the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands, and any agency or instrumentality thereof exclusive of local governments. (42 U.S.C. § 201(f) (PHS Act, Section 2(f)), 45 C.F.R. § 75.2). Eligible entities include private nonprofit or public faith-based organizations, community-based organizations, and American Indian/Alaska Native/Native American (AI/AN/NA) organizations. Recipients of awards must not restrict participation in the project on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, or other protected characteristic. Applications must be submitted through Grants.gov, and applicants must have an active SAM.gov registration when submitting an application. Interested applicants are strongly encouraged begin the registration process for both systems early. We typically fund awards in 12-month budget periods. We may approve shorter budget periods or periods of performance to accommodate administrative factors or funding constraints. For multi-year projects, recipients must submit a non-competing continuation (NCC) application for each budget period after the first. Continuation funding is contingent upon the availability of funds, satisfactory progress of the project, appropriate stewardship of federal funds, and the best interests of the government. Funding for all approved budget periods after the first is generally the same as the initial award amount subject to any offset with funds unused in the previous budget period.