Jeffress Trust Awards Program in Research Advancing Health Equity Grant

The Jeffress Trust Awards Program in Research Advancing Health Equity supports Virginia-based partnerships in addressing systemic barriers to health equity. With funding up to $150,000 over two years, the program encourages innovative research in policy, systems, and environmental strategies. Eligible applicants include non-profits and municipalities, aiming to leverage community strengths to enhance health outcomes. This initiative prioritizes collaborative efforts and actionable insights to promote optimal health across Virginia's diverse communities.

Program Overview and Statement of Purpose
The Thomas F. and Kate Miller Jeffress Memorial Trust, founded in 1981 by Robert M. Jeffress in memory of his parents, is guided by its mission to benefit the people of Virginia and their research in chemical, medical, or other scientific fields. Since its founding, the Jeffress Memorial Trust has been a steadfast benefactor in support of scientists and research across the state of Virginia supporting mathematical modeling/simulations and analytics in bioinformatics, astrophysics, mathematical biology, drug development, and material science.
To further the mission of the Jeffress Trust to benefit the people of Virginia, the 2022 grant program was changed to the Jeffress Trust Awards Program in Research Advancing Health Equity. The program focuses on research addressing the root causes of and systemic barriers to health equity for the state of Virginia. The shift in funding priority during the 2022 grant cycle was made after an intensive landscape assessment of the health needs and funding initiatives available to Virginia. With its historic focus on supporting the advancement of Virginia and the work of its constituents, the goals of this current funding opportunity are to further leverage the strengths of Virginia communities, organizations, and institutions in continuing to help its residents achieve optimal health. The guidelines below reflect and include feedback, suggestions, and guidance from Virginia leaders in health equity from community based organizations, health care, research, philanthropy, advocacy agencies, and the many others involved in the important work seeking to advance health equity.
Funding Opportunities Available
Partnership/Collaborative Establishment Awards - $150,000 over Two-Years
A Planning Period is any timeframe up to two years and allows a partnership the ability to develop relationships or build a foundation upon which to carry out future research activities. The Planning Period will enable the partnerships to form, as well as to determine the problem they would like to answer through future research activities, what methods should be used to answer associated questions, and who will be responsible for the conduct of those future activities.
Outcomes for this grant will enable these partnerships to develop and refine the scope of work to be proposed for potential follow-on funding through the Research Implementation Grants opportunity.
The Jeffress Trust will distribute funding to support research activities in three areas:
Policy, Systems, and Environmental change strategies (PSE strategies) Analysis. Determine or identify new/promising PSE strategies, evaluating existing PSE strategies to learn what’s working and what’s not working (lessons learned), or adapting/adopting evidence-based PSE strategies for the context of Virginia to advance health equity. Strategies may focus on geographic or population-based communities at the local, regional, or statewide levels. Policy change approaches may include a law, regulation, procedure, administrative action, incentive, or voluntary practice of governments and other institutions. Systems change approaches may include changes that impacts all elements, including social norms of an organization, institution, or system. Environmental change approaches may include changes to the physical, social, or economic environment. Program/Practice Analysis. Analysis of new or existing community-based programs and their impact on advancing health equity and their potential to be scaled or replicated. Determining why programs no longer running may not have had the intended impact or effect as designed, that could improve future programming.General Research. Analysis of how institutional practices, social norms, relationships, leadership structures, modes of communications, values and beliefs, community history, community settings, societal factors and/or social-factors, influence health either through advancing or undermining health promoting policies and programs in ways not yet identified. Research must be action-oriented such that a plan for how findings will be used is clear and tangible.

Eligibility

Recipients of Partnership/Collaborative Establishment Awards will be eligible to apply for Research Awards during their second year of funding.Geographic/Institutional Eligibility: Virginia-based non-profit 501(c)3 organizations and municipalities are eligible to submit ideas to the Jeffress Trust Program. Federally recognized tribes are eligible as well. The Jeffress Trust seeks to support both new and established partnerships and welcomes applications from community-based organizations, advocacy organizations, faith-based institutions, neighborhood committees, local municipalities, academic institutions, hospitals including safety net institutions, and non-profit research organizations.