TRAILBLAZER AWARD
The Trailblazer Awards support collaborative, community-engaged research projects focused on topics that have potential to improve health. CHeP defines health broadly, and is seeking proposals that aim to impact social determinants of health and focus on improving the underlying factors influencing health outcomes. These projects may span various sectors and do not necessarily have to be clinical in nature. Examples of projects we are interested in funding include tobacco cessation, food security and nutrition programs, affordable housing initiatives, and cardiovascular disease and diabetes prevention. This RFA encourages and prioritizes projects that have outlined a sustainability plan using existing Indiana CTSI infrastructure (i.e., Connections IN Health, Monon Collaborative) and/or connections to statewide health initiatives.
Eligible projects will propose to: 1) implement exploratory research that has the potential to identify the impact of SDoH; 2) evaluate a program that has the potential to impact SDoH; or 3) implement and do a preliminary evaluation of a health-related program. Applicants are encouraged to demonstrate how the proposed project incorporates core elements of community-engaged research.
There must be both 1) a university lead and 2) a community lead for the project, and both partners must currently work in an Indiana-based institution or organizaiton.
Funding may be requested up to $25,000 over two years
Proposal Deadline: Letter of Intent due May 19, 2025 to chep@iu.edu | Proposals due June 2, 2025| Learn more and apply here.
We have created a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) page to answer questions regarding the funding opportunities.
TRAILBLAZER PLANNING GRANT
The Trailblazer Planning Grant Awards support development of community-university partnerships to improve health, or examine social determinants of health to result in future collaborative research proposals. The award can be used to establish new partnerships or to strengthen/expand existing community-university partnerships to solve critical health problems affecting Hoosiers. This award will not fund research pilots; instead, it will fund activities that help develop partnerships between organizations that have potential to later engage joint research projects to address health, or social determinants of health (SDoH). The expected outcome of this partnership development award is the development of a future research proposal for opportunities such as the Trailblazer Award. Examples of partnership development activities we are interested in funding include conferences, travel expenses and quality improvement assessments.
Awards will be up to $5,000 over two years to allow for partnership growth and collaborative grant proposal development.
Proposal Deadline: Letter of Intent due September 17, 2025 to chep@iu.edu | Proposals due October 1, 2025 | Learn more and apply here.
We have created a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) page to answer questions regarding the funding opportunities.
If you need assistance in developing your application and/or connecting with a community/academic partner, please reach out to one of our Community Health Partnerships Liaisons for assistance:
- Heidi Beidinger, University of Notre Dame Liaison: hbeiding@nd.edu / 574-631-7636
- Silvia Bigatti, IUI Liaison: sbigatti@iu.edu / 317-274-6754
- Priscilla Barnes, Indiana University Bloomington Liaison: prbarnes@iu.edu / 812-855-4789
- Donna Vandergraff, Purdue University Liaison: dvanderg@purdue.edu / 765-494-8538
For more information, contact the Community Health Partnerships team at chep@iu.edu.
We have created a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) page to answer questions regarding the funding opportunities.
There will be a virtual Q&A on Thursday, April 24th at 1pm (EST). Register in advance for this meeting. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.