The goals of the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP)'s CBVP program are to collaborate across disciplines and sectors (e.g., law enforcement, public health, community leaders, clergy) to change community norms regarding violence, provide alternatives to violence, and increase awareness of the perceived and actual risks and costs of violence among high-risk young people. OJJDP is committed to increasing and improving the available research about the factors that may impact violence involving youth at the community level, assessing the effectiveness and cost efficiency of existing community-based violence prevention efforts, and identifying and evaluating new or emerging community-based violence prevention models. . OJJDP encourages applicants to propose research questions and/or evaluation studies designed to produce findings with practical implications for efforts to prevent and reduce youth violence (including gun violence) and violence exposure at the community level. Click here for more information. 

Approximately 100,000 adolescents and young adults in the United States experience a first episode of psychosis (FEP) every year. The early phase of psychotic illness is widely viewed as a critical opportunity for indicated prevention, and a chance to alter the downward trajectory and poor outcomes associated with serious mental disorders such as schizophrenia. Multi-element FEP specialty care programs can produce a range of positive clinical and functional outcomes. The timing of treatment is critical; short and long-term outcomes are better when individuals begin treatment close to the onset of psychosis. Numerous studies find a substantial delay between the onset of psychotic symptoms and the initiation of treatment; in the U.S. treatment is typically delayed between one and three years, suggesting that many FEP persons are missing a critical opportunity to benefit from early intervention. Early identification, rapid referral to specialty FEP care, and engagement in phase-specific treatment are essential to shortening the duration of untreated psychosis (DUP) and pre-empting functional deterioration. The World Health Organization advocates reducing DUP to 3 months or less by addressing bottlenecks in the pathway from early psychosis identification to initiation of specialty care. Accordingly, this Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) with set-aside funds will support R01 grants that test reproducible strategies for substantially reducing DUP among persons with FEP by removing significant bottlenecks in the pathway to specialty FEP care. Click here for more information. 

This FOA encourages R01 research grant applications from institutions/organizations that propose to investigate the effectiveness of structural interventions aimed at reducing the risk of HIV/AIDS transmission by changing the environment of alcohol use. Although a variety of structural and environmental interventions have been employed successfully to reduce other drinking-related problems, similar research extending into the realm of HIV/AIDS risk reduction is still in its developing stages. Click here for more information. 

With this solicitation, the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) seeks applications for research on radicalization to violent extremism as it occurs in the United States, and for evaluation of promising practices to prevent or mitigate radicalization in U.S. communities. This research will supplement work that NIJ funded in FY12, and projects now underway at other Federal agencies. The goal of this research is to aid State, local, and tribal criminal justice agencies and their attendant communities in implementing programs that prevent or counter radicalization to violent extremism. This solicitation focuses on all forms of radicalization that lead to violent extremism in the United States. Proposals should develop and analyze information and data that have clear implications for criminal justice in the following focus areas: (1) comparative analysis at the individual (micro-) level; (2) online radicalization to violent extremism; and (3) evaluations of promising practices to prevent or mitigate radicalization. Click here for more information. 

The Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) invites applications to support research on various topics in the field of alcohol treatment and services for alcohol use disorders. The scope of interest is wide-ranging. It includes pharmacologic and behavioral treatments; recovery strategies; interventions for alcohol-induced tissue damage; and the organizational, financial, management, and environmental factors that facilitate or inhibit the delivery of evidence-based services for alcohol use disorders. Research objectives of this FOA include, but are not limited to, research within the following four broad research domains: (1) medications development for the treatment of alcohol use disorders and alcohol-induced tissue damage; (2) behavioral therapies and mechanisms of behavioral change; (3) health services research; and (4) recovery research. Cutting across these domains, NIAAA encourages treatment and health services-related studies on a number of special emphasis populations and topics including: (a) psychiatric/substance abuse/medical comorbidity, (b) adolescents, (c) fetal alcohol spectrum disorders, (d) health disparities/special populations, and (e) use of novel methods and technologies. Click here for more information. 

This funding opportunity announcement (FOA) invites Exploratory/Developmental Phased Innovation (R21/R33) grant applications to support research and/or infrastructure needs leading to more accessible and affordable hearing health care (HHC). The proposed research aims should lead to the delivery of better healthcare access and outcomes and be directed to solutions that are effective, affordable and deliverable to those who need them. Outcomes and health services research are also responsive to this FOA. Click here for more information. 

The American Diabetes Association is accepting nominations of outstanding investigators from academic and nonprofit research institutions for its 2013 Pathway to Stop Diabetes Research initiative. Grants of up to $1.62 million over five to seven years will be awarded to support investigators with an innovative basic, clinical, translational, epidemiological, or health services research initiative relevant to any diabetes type, diabetes-related disease state, or diabetes complication. The program seeks to bring new perspectives to diabetes research by offering three types of funding: support for the transition from trainee to independent investigator, support for early-career diabetes investigators, and support for established investigators new to diabetes research. Click here for more information. 

Child Care Research Scholars Grant
Deadline: April 21, 2013 (letter of intent); May 21, 2013
The Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation (OPRE) in the Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has recently published a discretionary research funding announcement titled "Early Care and Education Research Scholars: Child Care Research Scholars," which is summarized below. If you have questions regarding this grant announcement, please email the OPRE grant review team at ChildCareScholars@icfi.com or call 1-877-350-5913. The full announcement for "Early Care and Education Research Scholars: Child Care Research Scholars" is available online here. These grants are meant to build capacity in the research field to focus research on questions that have direct implications for child care policy decision-making and program administration and to foster mentoring relationships between faculty members and high quality doctoral students.