NIDA REI: Coordination Center to Support Racial Equity and Substance Use Disparities Research (U24 Clinical Trial Not Allowed) | RFA DA 23 025

Opportunity Information: Apply for RFA DA 23 025

The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), offered this discretionary funding opportunity (RFA-DA-23-025) to establish a Coordination Center to Support Racial Equity and Substance Use Disparities Research. The award mechanism is a U24 cooperative agreement, which typically means the funded organization works closely with NIH staff in a substantial, collaborative role rather than operating with the more hands-off structure common to standard grants. The opportunity is listed under CFDA 93.279 and sits within the education and health activity category. Importantly, it is designated "Clinical Trial Not Allowed," signaling that the center is not meant to run clinical trials; instead, it is intended to support and coordinate research and related activities across projects.

At the heart of the program is the CED Center, designed to provide intellectual, technical, and logistical support to projects within the broader initiative. In practical terms, this center functions like the backbone of a coordinated research network: helping investigators align methods and goals, reducing duplication, and making it easier for multiple projects to learn from each other in real time. A major emphasis is fostering collaboration and maintaining continuous feedback loops between researchers and the communities being served. That community-engaged focus is not framed as a one-time consultation, but as an ongoing process where community perspectives help shape implementation, interpretation, and relevance of the work.

The center is also expected to create and manage shared resources that can be accessed across participating projects. Shared resources can include common tools, templates, data-related supports, guidance documents, training materials, collaboration platforms, and other cross-project infrastructure that improves consistency and efficiency. Another core responsibility is coordinating initiative workgroups, which generally means organizing topical or functional groups (for example, methods harmonization, community engagement practices, dissemination planning, or ethics and equity considerations) so that people across separate projects can tackle common challenges together.

Dissemination is a prominent requirement, with expectations that the center will help move findings into forms that are useful beyond academic audiences. This includes authoring original scholarly products as well as producing literature intended for public consumption and lay audiences. In other words, the center is positioned not only to support science production, but also to translate and communicate results in accessible ways that can inform practice, policy, and community action. The opportunity also highlights facilitating dissemination of findings specifically to promote health in diverse communities, reinforcing that communication and impact are expected to be equity-oriented rather than generic.

Eligibility is broad and includes many types of U.S.-based entities: state, county, and local governments; special district governments; independent school districts; public housing authorities/Indian housing authorities; public and state-controlled institutions of higher education; private institutions of higher education; federally recognized Native American tribal governments; and Native American tribal organizations other than federally recognized tribal governments. It also includes nonprofit organizations (both 501(c)(3) and non-501(c)(3), excluding higher education institutions in those nonprofit categories), for-profit organizations other than small businesses, and small businesses. The notice further calls out additional eligible applicant types such as Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian Serving Institutions, Asian American Native American Pacific Islander Serving Institutions (AANAPISIs), Hispanic-serving Institutions, Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), Tribally Controlled Colleges and Universities (TCCUs), faith-based or community-based organizations, regional organizations, eligible federal agencies, and U.S. territories or possessions. Taken together, this eligibility framing aligns with the initiative's equity goals by explicitly naming institutions and organizations that often serve communities disproportionately affected by substance use harms and related inequities.

Foreign eligibility is restricted in a way that is typical for many NIH opportunities. Non-domestic (non-U.S.) entities (foreign organizations and foreign institutions) are not eligible to apply as the primary applicant, and non-domestic components of U.S. organizations are also not eligible to apply. However, "foreign components," as defined by the NIH Grants Policy Statement, are allowed. This usually means a U.S. applicant may include certain clearly defined international elements in the project when scientifically justified and compliant with NIH policy, even though a foreign institution cannot serve as the applicant organization.

From the funding details provided, the opportunity listed an award ceiling of $500,000. The original closing date was November 15, 2022, and the opportunity record was created on August 9, 2022. While the summary data does not specify the number of expected awards, the intent is clearly to fund a coordination center that supports multiple projects and networked activities rather than a single standalone research study.

• The National Institutes of Health in the education, health sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "NIDA REI: Coordination Center to Support Racial Equity and Substance Use Disparities Research (U24 Clinical Trial Not Allowed)" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 93.279.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2022-08-09.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2022-11-15. (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 DA 23 025

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