Interventions that Address Structural Racism to Reduce Kidney Health Disparities - (U01 - Clinical Trial Required) | RFA DK 22 014

Opportunity Information: Apply for RFA DK 22 014

The NIH funding opportunity RFA-DK-22-014, titled "Interventions that Address Structural Racism to Reduce Kidney Health Disparities (U01 - Clinical Trial Required)," supports a consortium model focused on community-engaged research that directly tackles structural racism as a driver of kidney health inequities. The overall purpose is to design, refine, and rigorously test interventions that meaningfully reduce disparities experienced by people living with kidney disease, especially in populations that have been historically marginalized. The emphasis is not only on documenting inequities, but on implementing practical, testable solutions that dismantle or reduce the real-world effects of structural racism across healthcare and community contexts.

This award uses the U01 cooperative agreement mechanism, which means funded projects will be carried out in close collaboration with NIH and with other members of the consortium rather than operating as fully independent, stand-alone studies. Applicants apply as "Intervention Sites" that will coordinate their work with a separate Research Coordinating Center (RCC) funded through a companion announcement. The RCC is intended to support cross-site coordination, shared approaches to measurement and evaluation, and other consortium-wide functions. A key feature of this FOA is that proposed studies may be substantially revised after award and before implementation, reflecting the consortium's expectation that projects will be shaped collaboratively. In practice, this can include harmonizing intervention elements and aligning data collection measures across sites so results can be compared, combined, or interpreted consistently.

The projects supported under this FOA must be clinical trials, meaning applicants need to propose an intervention and a study design capable of testing its effects on outcomes related to kidney health disparities. The interventions are expected to address structural racism at a systems level rather than focusing only on individual behavior change. While the specific intervention topics are not exhaustively listed in the provided text, the intent is clear: applicants should target mechanisms by which structural racism operates (for example, inequitable access to kidney care, referral patterns, barriers to transplantation evaluation, dialysis initiation pathways, insurance or resource constraints, biased clinical processes, or other systemic barriers) and demonstrate how the intervention will mitigate those mechanisms in a measurable way. The FOA also strongly signals that meaningful community engagement is central, so interventions should be developed and implemented with community partners and impacted populations, not simply delivered to them.

Eligibility is broad and includes a wide range of U.S.-based organizations and governmental entities. Eligible applicants include state, county, and city or township governments; special district governments; independent school districts; public and state-controlled institutions of higher education; private institutions of higher education; federally recognized Native American tribal governments; tribal organizations that are not federally recognized; public housing authorities and Indian housing authorities; nonprofits with or without 501(c)(3) status; for-profit organizations (other than small businesses); small businesses; and other qualified entities. The FOA also explicitly calls out additional eligible groups such as Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), Hispanic-serving Institutions, Tribally Controlled Colleges and Universities (TCCUs), Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian Serving Institutions, and Asian American Native American Pacific Islander Serving Institutions (AANAPISIs), as well as faith-based or community-based organizations, eligible federal agencies, regional organizations, and U.S. territories or possessions. At the same time, the opportunity is limited to domestic work: non-U.S. entities (foreign organizations and foreign institutions) are not eligible to apply, non-domestic components of U.S. organizations are not eligible, and foreign components (as NIH defines them) are not allowed.

The administering agency is the National Institutes of Health, and the opportunity is categorized as discretionary funding using a cooperative agreement. The activity category is listed under education, food and nutrition, and health, with CFDA numbers 93.307, 93.361, and 93.847. The posted award ceiling is $500,000. The original closing date was 2022-11-17, and the FOA was created on 2022-07-27, indicating this is a time-bound solicitation from that period rather than an always-open grant program.

Taken together, this FOA is aimed at teams that can run real-world, community-engaged clinical trials and are prepared to collaborate in a structured consortium. Competitive applicants would typically be those able to partner authentically with communities affected by kidney disease inequities, propose interventions that change systems and structures (not just patient education), and participate in cross-site coordination and harmonized evaluation so the consortium can generate stronger, more generalizable evidence about what works to reduce kidney health disparities linked to structural racism.

• The National Institutes of Health in the education, food and nutrition, health sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Interventions that Address Structural Racism to Reduce Kidney Health Disparities - (U01 - Clinical Trial Required)" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 93.307, 93.361, 93.847.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2022-07-27.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2022-11-17. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $500,000.00 in funding.
• Eligible applicants include: State governments, County governments, City or township governments, Special district governments, Independent school districts, Public and State controlled institutions of higher education, Native American tribal governments (Federally recognized), Public housing authorities/Indian housing authorities, Native American tribal organizations (other than Federally recognized tribal governments), Nonprofits having a 501 (c) (3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Nonprofits that do not have a 501 (c) (3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Private institutions of higher education, For-profit organizations other than small businesses, Small businesses, Others.

Apply for RFA DK 22 014

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