Funding Opportunities

Evaluating Early Access to Medicaid as a Reentry Strategy

Deadline: August 11, 2011

The National Institute of Corrections (NIC) Administration Division is seeking applications for the development, implementation, and evaluation of a project to assess the effects of access to Medicaid at the time of release from incarceration on reentry outcomes, including health care utilization, employment success, and recidivism. The recipient of the award will work in a partnership with the selected state's prisons, jails, and Medicaid agency to implement and evaluate the project. This project will be conducted over a 36-month period. This cooperative agreement is a collaborative project between the National Institute of Corrections and the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE), U.S. Department of Health of Human Services (HHS). To be considered, applicants must demonstrate at a minimum (1) in-depth knowledge of the criminal justice and healthcare fields, (2) experience working with local jails, state prisons, and state Medicaid agencies, (3) the capacity to engage local jails, state prisons, and state Medicaid agencies participation in this project, and (4) the experience and organizational capacity to carry out the goals of this project. Click here for more information.

National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR)-Disability Rehabilitation Research Project (DRRP)-Disability in the Family
Deadline: August 8, 2011
The purpose of the Disability and Rehabilitation Research Project (DRRP)is (1) to plan and conduct research, demonstration projects, training, and related activities, including international activities, to develop methods, procedures, and rehabilitation technology, that maximize the full inclusion and integration into society, employment, independent living, family support, and economic and social self-sufficiency of individuals with disabilities, especially individuals with the most severe disabilities, and (2) to improve the effectiveness of services authorized under the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. Under this program, the Department is announcing a priority for a center on disability in the family. Under this priority, the DRRP must contribute to the outcome of increased participation and community living for individuals with disabilities and their families. Click here for more information.

National Adult Protective Services Resource Center
Deadline: August 19, 2011
The Administration on Aging is holding a competition to establish a National Adult Protective Services Resource Center. The purpose of this APS Resource Center is to provide APS systems, agencies, and professionals with current and relevant information and support to enhance the quality, consistency, and effectiveness of APS programs across the country. The primary functions of the APS Resource Center are to: 1. Identify evidence-based best practices for APS programs and interventions and determine replicability; 2. Identify and promote the evaluation of novel, but unevaluated, practices developed by APS professionals that have the potential to advance and strengthen the efficiency, effectiveness, and relevance of APS work; 3. Compile and synthesize research that informs APS programming and interventions and that promotes the translation of research evidence into programmatic practices and interventions; 4. Provide specific and targeted technical assistance to state and local APS programs to facilitate the implementation of identified best practices and research findings with the aim of improving their organizational, procedural, and systemic capacity and service delivery capabilities. Click here for more information.

2011 SFBTA Research Awards
Deadline: September 1, 2011
The SFBTA Research Awards are aimed at fostering the growth of the Solution-Focused Brief Therapy by encouraging original research in solution-focused practices, and to support students or practitioners who wish to study solution-focused practices. The inclusion of practitioners is an effort to bridge the gap between research and practice in advancing knowledge of Solution-Focused Brief Therapy. There will be five $2,500 Research Awards available to support ongoing or proposed studies conducted by doctoral or master level students or practitioners where SF practices are the focus of their work. Priority will be given to research, which supports the evidence-base of SF practices, mechanisms of change research, or other research, which could directly or indirectly investigate the effectiveness of SF practices. Click here for more information.

What we know (and don't) about effective programs and strategies for improving early language and literacy
(From ChildTrends)
Children's experiences both inside the home and in early care and education settings play a significant role in the development of their emerging language and literacy skills. Results from experimental evaluations of different approaches to improve early language and literacy have suggested that children's skills can be influenced by effective early childhood interventions. Child Trends recently reviewed findings from fifteen random assignment experimental evaluations of literacy and language programs. This fact sheet, WHAT WORKS FOR EARLY LANGUAGE AND LITERACY: Lessons from Experimental Evaluations of Programs and Intervention Strategies, summarizes what is known about the impact these programs and intervention strategies have on young children's development in language and literacy. Some programs were shown to significantly improve certain aspects of early learning (such as children's vocabulary skills), though others did not. Click here for the full report.

NIHCM Releases Data Brief on Understanding U.S. Health Care Spending
(From the APHA Friday Letter)
The National Institute for Health Care Management (NIHCM) Foundation has released a new data brief, titled Understanding U.S. Health Care Spending, in which researchers examine why Americans spend more than $8,000 per person on health care and the factors driving spending growth. NIHCM's analyses document the extreme concentration of expenditures, with just 5 percent of the population responsible for almost half of all spending, and demonstrate the importance of rising spending for hospital and physician services as the primary drivers of expenditure growth. Click here for more details. 

Center on Adherence and Self-Determination Research and Practice Brief
Promoting and valuing personal choice in mental health services has been linked to improved outcomes for individuals with serious mental illnesses.  The Center on Adherence and Self-Determination (CASD) has begun to examine the complex relationship between choice and outcomes by way of the concept of self-determination.  We have produced the second in a series of our Research and Practice Briefs.  These R&PBs are meant to summarize the CASD's research into succinct statements that might be used by advocates, policy makers, and other interested parties to promote the agenda of self-determination. R&PB No. 2 offers a conceptual foundation for the promotion of choice and self-determination.  Also discussed, is the ethical balance between self-determination and beneficence, and how self-determination is associated with improved outcomes. Click here for the full report.

ICPSR Data Archive Updates

Below is a list of new data collection additions to the Interuniversity Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR) data archive.

25929 Crime Control Effects of Prosecuting Intimate Partner Violence in Hamilton County, Ohio, 1993-1998

28462 Transatlantic Trends Survey, 2009

29781 Building Strong Families (BSF) Project Data Collection, 2005-2008, United States

31561 State-Level Data on Limited Liability Companies (LLC), United States, 2004-2009

31661 Moving to Opportunity (MTO) for Fair Housing Demonstration: Interim Impacts Evaluation, Tier 1 Restricted Access Data, 1994-2001 [United States]

Click here for more information.