2024 Long COVID Network & Capacity Building Grants: Request for Proposals
The Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) Long COVID Program is requesting proposals for eligible organizations to plan, create, and share equitable resources and information about long COVID and related conditions. Activities will increase understanding of the impacts of long COVID and related conditions, raise awareness, reduce stigma, address disparities, and improve care and support for those most impacted. Grantees will also participate in a grantee network to increase coordination and enhance the scope of care and support for people with long COVID and related conditions.
Recipients or audiences of these efforts could include, but are not limited to, people living with long COVID and related conditions, caregivers, health care providers, ancillary health care workers, workplaces, schools, communities, and local and Tribal public health.
To address inequities and disparities related to long COVID, Minnesota law states that MDH will award the grants to organizations that serve communities disproportionately impacted by COVID-19, long COVID, and related conditions. This includes, but is not limited to, rural and low-income areas, Black and African Americans, African immigrants, American Indians, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, Hispanic/Latino(a) communities, LGBTQ+ communities, and persons living with disabilities. Organizations may also address intersectionality within these groups.
Full funding details and application instructions are in the 2024 Long COVID Network & Capacity Building Grants Request for Proposals (PDF). Applicants are encouraged to review the scoring criteria included with the RFP.
Funding, project dates, and process
The grant period will be July 1, 2024 – June 30, 2027. Up to 10 awards will be given, totaling $900,000 annually. Awards are estimated to range from $75,000 - $150,000 annually. Annual grant funding is contingent upon availability and satisfactory grantee performance.
Funding will be allocated through a competitive process. If selected, grantees may only incur eligible expenditures once the grant agreement is fully executed.
Timeline
Request for Proposals (RFP) released: Feb. 29, 2024
Virtual information session (optional): March 12, 2024, 10-11 a.m.
Questions due (optional): March 22, 2024 by 4:30 p.m. CDT
Applications due: April 5, 2024 by 11:59 p.m. CDT
Anticipated notice of award: May 2024
Grant period begins: July 1, 2024 (or when grant agreement is fully executed, whichever is later)
Questions
All questions regarding this RFP must be submitted in writing to health.longCOVID@state.mn.us with the subject line “RFP Question.” All questions and answers will be posted within seven business days at 2024 Long COVID Grants: RFP Questions and Answers.
Please submit questions no later than 4:30 p.m. Central Daylight Time (CDT) on Friday, March 22, 2024. To ensure that all applicants have access to the same information, questions submitted after March 22 will neither be answered nor published to the website.
MDH staff and members of the grant application review committee may not advise applicants or review drafts of proposals. To ensure the proper and fair evaluation of all applications, any other communications regarding this RFP, including verbal, telephone, written, or internet initiated by or on behalf of any applicant to any employee of MDH, other than questions submitted to as outlined above, are prohibited. Any violation of this prohibition may result in the disqualification of the applicant.
While applicants may not communicate with MDH staff regarding the RFP itself, applicants may communicate with MDH staff regarding requests for data, information on health promotion or prevention practices, and other content-related questions.
Information session
MDH hosted a virtual one-hour webinar on March 12, 2024. The slides are below.
Watch the recording: 2024 Long COVID Network and Capacity Building Grants: RFP Information Session
View Long COVID RFP Information Session slides (PDF).
Application materials and submission
Review the full instructions and scoring criteria in the 2024 Long COVID Network and Capacity Building Grants Request for Proposals (PDF).
Applicants must submit all of the following materials for the application to be considered complete:
- Application form (Word)
- Work plan template (Word)
- Budget template (Word)
- Due Diligence Review form (PDF)
- Application Conflict of Interest Disclosure form (PDF)
Applications must be submitted via email to health.longCOVID@state.mn.us with the subject line “Long COVID RFP Application – [applicant organization name]” no later than 11:59 p.m. Central Daylight Time on Friday, April 5, 2024.
Late or incomplete applications will be rejected and not evaluated. Do not provide any materials that are not requested in the RFP, as such materials will not be considered nor evaluated. MDH reserves the right to reject any application that does not meet these requirements. It is the applicant’s sole responsibility to allow sufficient time to address all potential delays caused by any reason whatsoever, including undelivered emails or computer or technology problems on the part of the applicant.
Acknowledgment of application receipt: MDH will “reply all” to the email address that submitted the application to acknowledge receipt of your application within one business day of the due date/time. If you do not receive this acknowledgment email by the end of April 8, it means that MDH did not receive your application/documents. In that case, please contact kate.murray@state.mn.us as soon as possible but no later than 12:00 p.m. on April 9 for further instructions.