Active Living Research and Healthy Eating Research
Building Evidence to Prevent Childhood Obesity
2008 Call for Proposals - Rapid-Response Grants
Proposal Deadline: Rolling

Purpose
Active Living Research and Healthy Eating Research are national programs of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) that support research to identify promising policy and environmental strategies for increasing physical activity, promoting healthy eating and preventing obesity.

This call for proposals (CFP) supports time-sensitive, opportunistic studies to evaluate changes in policies or environments with the potential to reach children who are at highest risk for obesity, including African-American, Latino, Native American, Asian American, and Pacific Islander children (ages 3 to 18) who live in low-income communities or communities with limited access to affordable healthy foods and/or safe opportunities for physical activity. Research studies may focus on one or both sides of the energy balance equation - on physical activity (including sedentary behavior), healthy eating or both. Studies funded under this CFP are expected to advance RWJF's efforts to reverse the childhood obesity epidemic by 2015.

Because childhood obesity is a major threat to the lifelong health of children across the nation, it is important to learn as much as possible about the impact of these initiatives, and to act as quickly as possible to identify the most promising and effective strategies. Results of evaluations can inform policy debates for local, state and national action.

The annual solicitations and funding cycles of Active Living Research and Healthy Eating Research involve a 7- to 9-month period between proposal submission and the start of funding. While those solicitations serve an important purpose, they do not address the need for timely studies on emerging or anticipated changes in policies or environments. This CFP for rapid-response grants is an attempt to address the specific need to support critical research that can only be conducted during a short window of opportunity.

Letters of intent for the rapid-response grants may be submitted at any time, and invited proposals, if awarded, may begin within 12-14 weeks after submission of the full proposal (see How to Apply in the call for proposals document). Research studies may focus on one or both sides of the energy balance equation—on physical activity (including sedentary behavior), healthy eating or both.

Studies that are not urgent and time-sensitive are not eligible to receive grants under this CFP. It is the responsibility of the applicant to clearly demonstrate why the proposed study needs to be funded, conducted and completed on an urgent and time-sensitive basis. Letters of intent and proposals must: 1) define the window of opportunity to conduct the research; 2) explain why the window is limited by time and why the usual award cycle for Active Living Research and Healthy Eating Research would not be suitable; and 3) outline the relevance of the research to a specific policy or environmental change.

Total Awards Available through the Rapid-Response Grant Program
Up to $800,000 in total awards are available for rapid-response grants in 2008. The maximum amount for a single grant is $150,000, with a maximum funding period of 12 months.

Research Topics
Rapid-response grants are not limited to the specific funding priorities for current Active Living Research and Healthy Eating Research CFPs, but must be consistent with the programs' overall goals. The shared goals are to identify and evaluate policy and environmental approaches that have the greatest potential to prevent childhood obesity by increasing children's physical activity, decreasing sedentary behaviors, and improving diet and energy balance. Research projects may focus solely on physical activity (including sedentary behavior), or solely on healthy eating or on a combination.

Types of studies eligible for rapid-response funding are described below. These examples are for illustration purposes only. We rely on the creativity of researchers to generate the best ideas for solution-oriented environmental and policy research.

Opportunistic evaluations of imminent changes in policies or environments (i.e., "natural experiments").

Examples include:

• Evaluating the effects of policies that are about to be enacted, such as menu labeling in restaurants; physical activity or nutrition requirements in child-care settings; district or state adoption of school nutrition standards for competitive foods; or new funding to enforce physical education requirements; and 
• Evaluating the impact of environmental changes, such as a new supermarket opening in a low-income neighborhood where none had existed; changes to public transit options for accessing supermarkets; the introduction of farmers' markets in low-income neighborhoods; renovations of parks or playgrounds; street safety improvements as part of Safe Routes to Schools; or the initiation of community policing to improve the safety of parks and playgrounds.

Studies that can inform an ongoing or upcoming policy debate ( e.g., small experimental studies, secondary data analyses, cost-effectiveness analyses, health impact assessments, simulations of policy effects or macro-level policy analyses).

Examples include:

• Studies of menu labeling in restaurants;
• Small-scale evaluations of the feasibility of training Head Start staff to lead physical activity;
• Studies of how impending school nutrition policies affect youth food- and beverage-purchasing behaviors and the resulting impact on caloric intake;
• Small-scale evaluations of strategies to improve implementation of, or adherence to, potentially high-impact policies related to school nutrition or physical education, television restrictions in preschool or day care, or restaurant menu labeling; and 
• Cost-effectiveness and health impact assessments to inform the policy debate on promising national, state, community or institutional policy or environmental changes designed to promote healthy eating and/or increase physical activity levels among youth and their families (e.g., an increase in federal or state funding for Safe Routes to Schools).

Application Process and Deadlines

• Letters of intent may be submitted at any time. Click here to download the letter of intent application materials.
• Full proposals are to be submitted on an invitation-only basis.

How to Apply 
All letters of intent must be submitted via e-mail directly to either the Active Living Research or Healthy Eating Research national program office. Letters of intent may be submitted at any time. Studies focused solely on physical activity (including sedentary behavior) should be submitted to the Active Living Research national program office. Studies focused solely on healthy eating should be submitted to the Healthy Eating Research national program office. Studies that relate to physical activity and healthy eating equally may be submitted to either national program office. Click here to download the letter of intent application materials.

Timetable
The Active Living Research and Healthy Eating Research national program offices will make every effort to achieve a rapid turnaround time for each application.

• Within two weeks of receipt of the letter of intent, applicants will be notified of review results, and selected applicants will be invited by e-mail or letter to submit a full proposal.
• Invited full proposals must be submitted only through the RWJF Grantmaking Online system by one of the following dates: August 15 or October 15, 2008.
• It is anticipated that funding for approved studies would begin approximately 12-14 weeks after submission of the full proposal.

Conflict of Interest Disclosure
All finalists for this funding opportunity must complete a Conflict of Interest Disclosure Form. Click here to view the Conflict of Interest Disclosure Form.

For More Information

Read the 2008 Call for Proposals - Rapid-Response Grants.

Download the letter of intent application materials.

Read Frequently Asked Questions related to the 2008 call for proposals for rapid-response grants.

Read about terminology used in this CFP.

Visit the Active Living Research and Healthy Eating Research Web sites. 

Contact Us

For research that relates primarily to physical activity or sedentary behavior, contact:
Chad Spoon, M.R.P.
Research Coordinator, Active Living Research
Phone: (619) 260-5539
E-mail: cspoon@projects.sdsu.edu

For research that relates primarily to healthy eating, contact:
Laura Klein, M.P.H.
Research Coordinator, Healthy Eating Research
Phone: (800) 578-8636
E-mail: healthyeating@umn.edu

For research that relates to healthy eating and physical activity equally, contact either individual.