Regional Data Models Funding

6 March 2026 Optional Office Hours for Q&A from 12 to 1 p.m. (link sent via CHS-PHN)
1 April 2026 Optional Office Hours for Q&A from 2 to 3 p.m. (link sent via CHS-PHN)
6 April 2026 Last day to submit email questions about the first round RFA
8 April 2026 Last Q&A update posted
10 April 2026 Proposals due (until 11:59 p.m.) for projects beginning July 1, 2026
30 June 2026 Proposals due (until 11:59 p.m.) for projects to begin Oct. 1, 2026
30 Sept. 2026 Proposals due (until 11:59 p.m.) for projects to begin Jan. 1, 2027
31 Dec. 2026 Proposals due (until 11:59 p.m.) for projects to begin April 1, 2027

The purpose of these funds is to increase capacity to meet the Assessment and Surveillance Foundational Public Health Responsibilities by sharing staffing, knowledge, and skills across jurisdictions through planning, implementing, evaluating, and sustaining regional data models.  

In its 2021 session, the Minnesota Legislature passed a budget that included $6 million annually for the Commissioner of Health to provide funding for community health boards and tribal governments to build foundational public health capacity across the state and pilot new organizational models.

MDH consulted with the State Community Health Services Advisory Committee (SCHSAC) in the fall of 2021 and winter of 2022 before releasing the first round of grants. In 2023, SCHSAC, informed by the Joint Leadership Team, approved recommendations for the second round of grant funding. And in 2025, SCHSAC approved the recommendation to earmark a portion of State Infrastructure funding for Regional Data Models.

Regional Data Models have been developed and piloted since the inception of this grant and have shown success in increasing a region’s capacity to meet the assessment and surveillance capabilities of the Foundational Public Health Responsibilities. MDH is interested in funding and sustaining regional data models to ensure data capacity statewide. 

Up to $1.6 million of the annual State Infrastructure Funding can be allocated to Regional Data Models each year. Up to 8 regions across the state can be funded, and each region can receive up to $200,000 per year.  Applications submitted by April 10th will begin around July 1, 2026. Subsequent applications will be reviewed and contracts awarded so that grant periods align with the state fiscal year whenever possible.

For the purposes of this application, “region” is defined as multiple Community Health Boards and/or Tribes that work together across jurisdictions. MDH will not determine geographical boundaries for a region and encourage participating parties to work together to identify best fit for the group’s collective needs and capacity. Applicants may choose to work within a predetermined region such as Local Public Health Association or State Community Health Services Advisory Committee regions but are not limited to these boundaries and are encouraged to think about new configurations that meet their needs. 

Eligible entities

Community health boards and Tribes are eligible to apply.

Scope

Funds will support projects that implement or sustain a regional data model. A Regional Data Model creates a shared infrastructure to support data access, collection, use, management, and sharing. Data Models go beyond datasets and dashboards – they provide the staffing, knowledge, expertise skills, and the necessary infrastructure to increase an entire region's ability to utilize data.

The way a Region’s Data Model is organized will be unique to the needs of the participating jurisdictions. A region may decide a hub-and-spoke model would best serve its needs, or a shared services model would be better. Successful Regional Data Models have included the following core elements:

• Focused on creating or increasing capacity to meet Assessment and Surveillance Foundational Public Health Responsibilities (FPHR) through regional staffing, knowledge, skills, and resources.
• Creates infrastructure for regional sharing and collaboration where each CHB and/or Tribe benefits and has a voice.
• Is responsive to the regions' unique context, needs, and relationships.
• Builds or complements ongoing, successful partnerships, while leveraging regional strengths and assets to eliminate disparities in regional data capacity.

Application requirements

A group of community health boards and/or Tribes should collaborate to complete this application to access funding to support a regional data model. Only one form should be completed per region.

• You will need to determine the project’s fiscal host by time of contract negotiation.
• Minnesota Department of Health will not create or enforce any predetermined regional boundaries. You are encouraged to assess the needs and interest among the participating entities and your communities. Participating CHBs and Tribes and a Regions’ geographical boundaries can be adjusted over time.
• The intent of these funds is to ensure that any CHB or Tribe that wants to be a part of a regional data model, has the opportunity to do so. MDH will work with CHBs and Tribes to ensure statewide coverage as needed.
• That said, if a CHB or Tribe is part of more than one application, they will be asked to choose only one Region to be part of.

This application will ask generally about your purpose and plan for implementing a Regional Data Model. Because each region has different needs related to data capacity, the region will work with Center for Public Health Practice staff to plan and submit an initial project plan 8 weeks after effective date of contract and adapt that plan throughout the course of the project, as conditions and information change.

Other expectations

Selected grantees will be required to:

• Participate in regular check-ins with PHP staff by phone/video.
• Participate in in-person and/or virtual grantee meetings.
• Be responsive to other PHP evaluation activities to be determined (e.g., occasional written reports, interviews, focus groups, or other activities).
• Share information about their work and their lessons learned with others.
• Submit invoices quarterly.

Grant management

Each funded project will formally enter into a 5-year grant agreement. The grant agreement will address the conditions of the award, including implementation for the project.

Grantee should read the grant agreement, sign, and once signed, comply with all conditions of the grant agreement.

Work that begins prior to a fully signed grant agreement will not be reimbursed.

The funded applicant will be legally responsible for assuring implementation of the work plan and compliance with all applicable state requirements including worker's compensation insurance, nondiscrimination, data privacy, budget compliance, and reporting.

Grant budgets

Applicants are required to submit a budget estimate for the first year of the project. Instructions are embedded into this REDCap form. Grant recipients will be required to submit an annual budget estimate for each year of the grant agreement. Budgets, like workplans, can be adjusted throughout the course of the project.

Grantees will need to provide information about proposed subcontracts in accordance with the Financial Guide for MDH Grants to community health boards.

Ineligible expenses:

• Solicitating donations
• Incentives and gift cards
• Taxes, except sales tax on goods and services
• Lobbyists, political contributions
• Bad debts, late payment fees, finance charges, or contingency funds
• Cost of membership dues for state or national affiliated organizations  

Please note:

• Budget revisions are required whenever there is a change of 10% or more in any line item. Grantees do not need prior approval to move funds that are less than 10% of a budget line item.
• There is no match requirement for this funding.

Office hours

The Center for Public Health Practice staff will host two office hours to answer questions and discuss the funding opportunity with interested applicants on March 16 from 12 to 1 p.m. and April 1 from 2 to 3 p.m.  

Please see the email sent via CHS-PHN on (insert date) for the meeting link or email health.ophp@state.mn.us. 

Questions

Questions about the funding opportunity, application process, and office hours can be directed to the Center for Public Health Practice at health.ophp@state.mn.us.  

You can find more information about Regional Data Models, including past informational webinars online: Regional Models to Collect, Use, and Share Local Population Health Data

Are there any MDH expectations for number of partners in a region?

The participating local public health agencies and the jurisdictions they serve are defined as the “region." MDH will not determine number of partners for a region and encourage participating parties to work together to identify best fit for the group’s collective needs and capacity. Applicants may choose to work within a predetermined region such as Local Public Health Association or State Community Health Services Advisory Committee regions but are not limited to these boundaries and are encouraged to think about new configurations that meet their needs. In order to reach statewide coverage through eight regional models, a region must include two or more community health boards.

How do we get ready to apply? What should we be doing?

• A foundational element of Regional Data Models is relationships. The first step is to begin having conversations with other CHBs that may be interested in sharing staffing, knowledge, skills, and resources to meet the assessment and surveillance foundational capabilities. We encourage you to explore partnerships within and outside pre-existing regions.
• As you are having conversations with partners, begin to identify data strengths, assets, priorities, needs, opportunities, and capacity gaps. It’s also essential to determine readiness and capacity to participate. Developing an infrastructure for sharing data resources across jurisdictions is a highly engaged process.
• While we encourage conversations to begin through a needs assessment lens, once you have partners identified and committed to a process, you can include more formal assessment plans in your application.
• We recognize that many community health boards have limited capacity. We encourage partners that are interested, but don’t feel that they have the capacity or readiness to fully engage in this process, to connect with CHBs that feel ready and able to take the lead on the work and indicate their future interest in participation. As the Regional Data Model is developed and matured, partners can be onboarded when they and the Regional Data Model partners are ready.

Are their guidance documents or strategic plans related to Statewide Data Efforts?

• Regional Data Models provide a unique opportunity for governmental public health to work collaboratively to update and upgrade the ways we access, collect, analyze, use, manage and share data across our system.
• Regional Data Models are a strategy to address the difference in data capacity across the state and are being implemented alongside other system transformation efforts including the Joint Leadership Team (JLT) Roadmap, the MDH Strategic Plan, and other data modernization efforts such as the work of the LPH Data Modernization SCHSAC Workgroup and internal MDH data modernization initiatives. We are actively working to create alignment and feedback loops to weave together these threads of work and ensure the governmental public health system is moving forward together.
• There’s so much to learn from Regional Data Models that can inform system transformation efforts such as developing and sharing best practices, identifying challenges and opportunities for systems change, and piloting and testing new approaches.
• It’s important to recognize that some systemwide data challenges will not be “automatically” addressed through Regional Data Models. For example, some data access and sharing challenges will require collaboration and systems change work in addition to the work taking place through Regional Data Models. Groups with shared leadership and representation such as the Joint Leadership Team and the LPH Data Modernization SCHSAC Workgroup are well positioned to take on these challenges.