A funding opportunity forecasted by HHS is expected to be posted at the end of March for an estimated $6,500,000 to develop a “National Center on Health and Wellness”.
The Administration for Children and Families (ACF) www.acf.hhs.gov and the Office of Head Start (OHS) www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/ohs and the Office of Child Care (OCC) www.acf.hhs.gov/ programs/occ are going to partner with HRSA’s Maternal and Child Health Bureau (MCHB) www.hrsa.gov/about/organization/bureaus/mchb to develop the Center.
The Center will disseminate high quality research informed resources and provide Training and Technical Assistance (T/TA) to Head Start and Early Head Start agencies, state child care agencies and other early care and education settings across regions, states, tribes, and territories.
T/TA will provide help for pregnant women, infants, toddlers, and preschool children. The Center will also provide T/TA to promote positive child health outcomes related to physical health, oral health, disease prevention, nutrition, and overweight and obesity prevention.
To support family wellness, the Center will provide (T/TA) to engage families in their children’s health. The Center will support programs to provide safe and healthy environments for children and help others prepare and manage emergencies. In addition, the Center will provide T/TA to medical, dental, mental health, and other pediatric health professionals on early childhood educational programs.
In addition, the Center will make use of previously developed web-based materials and other resources and will work collaboratively and cooperatively with the other OHS and OCC National T/TA Centers and with ACF’s regional offices. Since the Center will conduct complex work, grantees will be expected to bring together a consortium of knowledgeable partners within the field of early childhood health and wellness.
Applicants eligible to apply for the FOA include state, county, city governments, public and private institutions of higher education, Native American tribal governments, nonprofits, for profits other than small businesses, and small businesses.
www.acf.hhs.gov/hhsgrantsforecast/index.cfm?switch=grant.view&gff_grants_forecastInfoID=71797 has details on the forecasted HHS funding. For questions email Sharon Yandian at Sharon.Yandian@ACF.hhs.gov.