Empowering Nonprofits to Work on Tobacco Prevention in American Indian/Alaskan Native Communities

Purpose

This Request for Applications (RFA) seeks to fund up to ten (10) non-profit organizations and/or tribal consortia that serve American Indian / Alaskan Native communities across California to build capacity toward ending California’s tobacco epidemic through policy, systems, and environmental change strategies.

Description

This RFA seeks to fund up to 10 non-profit organizations and/or tribal consortia that serve AI/AN communities across CA to build capacity toward ending California’s tobacco epidemic through policy, systems, & environmental change strategies. The term “tobacco” used in this RFA refers to commercial tobacco products. This RFA does not seek to impinge upon the sacred use of traditional or ceremonial tobacco in AI/AN communities. New Applicants who meet the qualifications for this funding opportunity & current grantees funded under the CA Department of Public Health (CDPH), CA Tobacco Prevention Program Competitive Grant (CG) #20-10013, Reducing Tobacco-Related Disparities in American Indian and Alaskan Native Communities, are encouraged to apply. In 2019, CTPP launched the Tribal Initiative, which funded tribal governments under 3 RFAs: CG RFA #18-10064, CG RFA #19-10011, & CG RFA #20-10003, & tribal-serving organizations under CG RFA #20-10013. Tribal Initiative grantees have worked to implement and evaluate evidence-based health promotion & health communication activities designed to: 1. reduce tobacco and nicotine use, tobacco-related disease rates, tobacco-related health disparities; & 2. develop a stronger evidence base of effective tobacco use prevention and reduction programs with the goal of reducing tobacco-related health disparities among tribal communities in CA. Funded grantees were expected to accelerate the adoption, implementation, & impact of policy and systems change campaigns within CA tribal communities. Additionally, collaboration and community engagement were important underpinnings of the tribal funding opportunities. In May/June of 2023, Key Informant Interview (KII) invitations were extended to Project Directors and/or Project Coordinators of all tribal government & tribal-serving organization grantees. The purpose of the KIIs was to gain insight and inform future funding opportunities to better support tobacco prevention work within the American Indian population of CA. A total of 16 Key Informant Interview (KII) respondents participated, comprised of 11 participants representing tribal governments, from California Tribal Grant Waves 1-3 (funding tribal governments directly) & five participants from the tribal-serving organizations. Interview notes were examined for themes relevant to this funding opportunity & RFA ideas were generated from themes collected from the KIIs. This RFA will incorporate the following features: • Build capacity and skills among tribal members and staff employed by tribal-serving organizations (such as non-profits or consortia) to implement tobacco1 use prevention and reduction interventions & provide health education services. • Mobilize and engage community residents and tribal organizations to engage in tobacco use prevention and cessation, and to support policy and systems changes. • Design, support, adopt, implement, and evaluate tribal policy and systems change campaigns that seek to prevent and reduce tobacco use. For this RFA, Applicants are required to work on two main components: (1) Community Engagement and Organizing, and (2) Policy Development and Implementation