GPCAH: Community Pilot Grant

The GPCAH Community Pilot Grant supports innovative research and outreach aimed at enhancing the health and safety of agricultural workers in the Midwest. Funded by NIOSH, this program encourages projects focusing on critical issues like mental health, injury prevention, and chemical safety. With grants up to $30,000, it invites collaboration from various organizations, particularly those within the nine-state region. Special emphasis is placed on proposals addressing the needs of underrepresented groups in agriculture.

The GPCAH is dedicated to protecting the health and safety of farmers, ranchers, farm workers, their families, and agricultural community members in the Midwest and beyond. The GPCAH is funded by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), which is a unit of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. We conduct basic and applied research, offer education, training and outreach, and translate research results into effective ways to prevent work-related injury and illness in agriculture. Our pilot grant program supports research projects that address hazards relevant to farmers and farm workers in our 9-state region (IA, IL, IN, KS, NE, MO, MN, OH, & WI). We especially encourage projects addressing work-related stress and mental health, the prevention of slips/trips/falls and other traumatic injuries, and chemical safety.
Community-track pilot project directors are typically staff members of organizations with established connections to agricultural workforces who propose to develop, implement, and/or evaluate evidence-based agricultural safety and health intervention or outreach/education programs. Recent community-track pilot grant topics include respiratory protection training to prevent COVID-19 among agricultural workers, suicide prevention training within Iowa’s agricultural community, and podcasts focusing on mental health and farm stress.
Funding
The Center funds pilot projects (up to $30,000 per project) intended to promote innovative outreach and research efforts to prevent agricultural injury and illness. The pilot program supports both community-based organizations and academic researchers, especially new investigators and trainees. Projects must target agricultural injury and illness prevention to help improve safety and health among agricultural communities in our Midwest region.

Eligibility

All persons with an interest in agricultural health or safety and appropriate knowledge, skills, and resources are invited to collaborate with an “eligible institution” to prepare an application. “Eligible institutions” include:for‐profit, non‐profit, and public or private organizations
units of local or state government and eligible federal agencies
units of local and state‐tribal government, and
faith‐ or community‐based organizationsWe are accepting pilot project proposals from within our nine‐state region (IA, IL, IN, KS, MN, MO, NE, OH, WI).
Projects from outside this region will be considered to the extent that they address agricultural safety and health issues of relevance to agricultural workforces within the upper Midwest.