School Wellness Policy Cooperative Agreement

Important Dates

Letter of Intent to Apply Date (Optional): Sept. 1, 2014, no later than 11:59 PM (EDT)
Application Submission Date: Oct. 6, 2014, no later than 11:59 PM (EDT)
Award Date: November 2014

Application Package

• Request for Application Package

Authorization

Section 204 of the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 added Section 9A to the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act (NSLA) (42 USC 1758b), Local School Wellness Policy Implementation, in order to strengthen wellness policies of LEAs by placing greater emphasis on implementation and evaluation efforts.

Furthermore, authorizing language in the HHFKA directed the USDA to appropriate $3 million for FY 2011 for an implementation study around school wellness policies, to remain available until expended.

Purpose

This competitive cooperative agreement solicits applications for a national-level surveillance system that will address the most important gaps in the coverage of the existing government-funded national school wellness policy surveillance systems. Applicants seeking funding under this School Wellness Policy Cooperative Agreement should consider, at a minimum, the following specific capabilities when developing their proposals:

• The capability to link enacted school district wellness policy and related state law data with data being collected through other existing surveillance systems (e.g., SNDA, CLASS, SHPPS) in 2014-2015 (i.e., data collection occurring at various levels as outlined above);
• The capability to conduct a nationwide evaluation of the scope of “on-the-books” (enacted) school district wellness policies and related state laws;
• The ability to collect and analyze qualitative data that can explore the implementation of and compliance with HHFKA policies across various stakeholders (e.g., administrators, school food authorities, parents, children); and
• The capacity to develop and disseminate timely policy briefs, fact sheets, and other translation products (e.g., infographics) to inform the USDA, Congress, and the research field of key school wellness policy surveillance results and gaps as well as to produce papers for peer-reviewed publication.

Funding

In this funding cycle, the USDA anticipates awarding up to $1,700,000 in grant funding to support either singular (one entity) or modular (collaboration among multiple entities) efforts to monitor and evaluate local school wellness policies (LWPs) of local educational agencies (LEAs) participating in the National School Lunch Program. FNS plans to award a single grant for a maximum amount of $1,700,000 for three years. Grant funds for public or private, non-governmental institutions will be made available on a competitive basis, subject to availability of federal funds.

Eligibility

Eligible Entities include public and private non-governmental entities:

• Accredited Institutions of Higher Education
• Nonprofit Organizations other than Institutions of Higher Education