Partnering with National Organizations to Support Community-Based Organizations to Increase Vaccination Coverage Across Different Racial and Ethnic Adult Populations Currently Experiencing Disparities | CDC RFA IP21 2108

Opportunity Information: Apply for CDC RFA IP21 2108

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), through the Department of Health and Human Services and its National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases (NCIRD), announced this discretionary funding opportunity (CDC RFA IP21 2108) as a cooperative agreement designed to reduce persistent racial and ethnic disparities in adult vaccination. The focus is specifically on increasing influenza (flu) and COVID-19 vaccination coverage among adult populations in the United States that are currently experiencing lower vaccination rates and related inequities. A central theme of the opportunity is not only delivering outreach and vaccination support, but also strengthening the evidence base by identifying, testing, and documenting practical interventions that work in real communities.

The grant is structured as a national-to-local partnership model with three interconnected parts. The CDC intends to fund a small number of national-level recipients (the listing notes an expected four awards) that will, in turn, work closely with a large network of community-based organizations (CBOs). The design reflects the idea that trusted, locally rooted organizations are often best positioned to address barriers such as access challenges, misinformation, language needs, and historical distrust, while national organizations can provide coordination, evaluation capacity, and scalable infrastructure.

Part A is required for all national recipients and functions as the backbone of the program. Under Part A, each national recipient is expected to select roughly 50 to 100 CBOs, primarily drawn from the recipient's existing affiliations and networks, and support them in carrying out community-level vaccination equity activities (Part C). The national recipient role is hands-on and ongoing: coordinating efforts across the funded CBO portfolio, providing technical assistance, and setting up monitoring and evaluation so CDC can understand what strategies are most effective and under what conditions. National recipients also serve as a bridge between local work and broader learning, helping CBOs connect to shared resources and ensuring their experiences and outputs contribute to a larger evidence base. Regular progress reporting to CDC is an explicit responsibility, reinforcing the cooperative agreement nature of the award, where CDC engagement and oversight is more active than in a typical grant.

Part B is an additional, more specialized component that only one to two of the national recipients will be selected to implement. This part emphasizes broader cross-site coordination and knowledge sharing across the entire program, beyond any single recipient's CBO network. In practice, Part B recipients would convene or coordinate participating CBOs and other organizations so they can exchange tactics, lessons learned, and promising practices, helping the overall initiative move faster and avoid duplicating effort. Part B recipients are also responsible for managing materials produced across the program, which could include outreach toolkits, training content, communication products, or other resources created by CBOs and partners. This central management role is meant to make community-generated materials easier to find, adapt, and reuse, supporting sustainability and wider dissemination.

Part C describes what the community-based organizations will do on the ground, supported and monitored by the national recipients. The CBO activities center on three practical strategies. First, CBOs will equip influential messengers by providing them with training and materials. This reflects a recognition that trusted voices such as community leaders, faith leaders, local advocates, and culturally competent communicators can be decisive in addressing hesitancy, answering questions, and guiding people to services. Second, CBOs will increase vaccination opportunities and enhance provider partnerships, which points to solutions like coordinating with clinics and pharmacies, supporting vaccination events, improving referral pathways, or reducing logistical barriers that make it hard for adults to get vaccinated. Third, CBOs will establish partnerships with state and local health departments, aligning local outreach and service delivery with public health systems so efforts are coordinated, data-informed, and better integrated into existing vaccination infrastructure.

Operationally, the opportunity is time-stamped to the 2021 launch of COVID-19 vaccine rollout and continued flu vaccination needs, with a creation date of March 15, 2021 and an original application deadline of March 29, 2021 (electronically submitted by 11:59 pm ET). The award ceiling is listed as zero in the source data, which typically indicates the ceiling was not specified in that particular summary record rather than implying no funding. Eligibility is broadly categorized as "Others" with additional clarification referenced in the full notice, suggesting CDC expected applications from national organizations capable of managing subawards or partnerships with many CBOs and implementing evaluation and coordination at scale.

Overall, this opportunity funds a coordinated national effort to support community-led work that increases adult flu and COVID-19 vaccination in racial and ethnic groups facing disparities. It combines practical community interventions (trusted messengers, access expansion, and local health department partnerships) with structured evaluation, reporting, and shared learning, aiming to produce both immediate improvements in vaccination coverage and longer-term knowledge about what reduces inequities most effectively.

• The Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control - NCIRD in the health sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Partnering with National Organizations to Support Community-Based Organizations to Increase Vaccination Coverage Across Different Racial and Ethnic Adult Populations Currently Experiencing Disparities" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 93.185.
• This funding opportunity was created on Mar 15, 2021.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Mar 29, 2021 Electronically submitted applications must be submitted no later than 1159 pm ET on the listed application due date.. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 4 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: Others (see text field entitled Additional Information on Eligibility for clarification).

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