Rapid Response: Reinvesting in Racial and Indigenous Health Equity Research

Introduction & Purpose

The purpose of this call for proposals (CFP) is to meet the current moment by supporting timely, actionable health equity research that has been interrupted by shifts in federal funding. We will award up to $5 million for Rapid Response Research grants to help at least partially offset federal funding losses to existing research.

Rapid Response Research funding is exclusively available to applicants who have already received federal funding (e.g., from the NIH, CDC, NSF) for their health equity research, but have since had their funding partially or fully rescinded due to federal administrative actions. While we will not re-scrutinize the scientific merits of projects that have lost federal funding, our intent is to support research consistent with Evidence for Action’s mission to advance community-centered, action-oriented racial and Indigenous health equity research that focuses on structural solutions that are innovative, push beyond the status quo, and target root causes. 

Eligibility & Selection Criteria

• Applicants must have lost federal funding for their health equity research project to be eligible to apply (those who have submitted an application for federal funding that will no longer be reviewed due to executive orders, are not eligible). Documentation demonstrating how the research project has been interrupted is required (e.g., a termination letter, stop work order, emails or other communications directly from the federal funding agency).  
• All organizations based in the United States or its occupied territories are eligible to apply. Submissions from teams that include both U.S. and international members are eligible, but the lead applicant organization must be based in the United States or its occupied territories and the research must focus on improving health equity in the United States. Research that focuses on populations residing outside of the U.S. or its occupied territories is ineligible for funding under this call.
• We welcome applications from organizations with project directors (PDs) of all personal and professional backgrounds. We will prioritize applications that include PDs who are early to midcareer antiracist or anticolonial researchers who are within 15 years of completion of their last earned degree (i.e., the PD received their last degree in or after 2010).
  • PDs for this award need not have been the Principal Investigator or PD of the originally funded project
• We especially encourage project director(s) having backgrounds and life experiences that are underrepresented on research teams, including Indigenous , Black, Latino, and other persons of color  to apply.
• Project directors receiving greater than 50% of their salary from a current RWJF grant are not eligible to apply.

E4A primarily funds social science-oriented and applied research projects. Biomedical, clinical, and bench science projects are not eligible. We will prioritize research focused on structural solutions to the social determinants of health over those related to specific disease diagnoses or treatment.

Key Dates & Deadlines

• August 27, 2025 (2–3 p.m. ET)
  Optional applicant webinar. Registration is required.
• Office Hours 
  E4A will host weekly office hours. Access dates and times.
• October 1, 2025 (3 p.m. ET)
  Deadline for receipt of brief proposals.
• Week of November 17, 2025
  Applicants are notified of review committee decisions.
• January 15, 2026
  Grant start date.
  

Total Awards

• Type of Award: Awards will be structured as grants and will be made to organizations, not to individuals.  
• Amount of Award: Awards may range from $50,000 to $200,000 each. You may only request funding equivalent to the amount that was guaranteed and remained unspent on your federally funded project at the time of termination. Please request only what is necessary to allow us to fund as many recipients as possible. We expect larger awards to correspond with more distributed funding (e.g., multiple people’s salaries or multiple activities).
• Award Duration: Awards may be for up to two years (24 months) in duration.
• Use of Funds: Grant funds should cover aspects of research previously funded but not yet expended through a federal grant or contract, including salary support for research staff, students, and trainees; funds for community partners, participant incentives, consultant fees, data collection, analysis, interpretation, travel, dissemination, meetings, supplies; support for intellectual contributions (e.g., review sessions, advisory board service, community prioritization and input processes); or for research capacity-building, among a variety of other costs related to the research. Grant funds will also cover indirect costs to support the applicant organization’s general operations. In keeping with RWJF policy, funds may not be used to support clinical trials of unapproved drugs or devices, to construct or renovate building facilities, or for lobbying or political activities.
• Payment of Awards: Payment of the award generally will be based upon spending against approved budgets or milestones, rather than through invoices.