Strengthening Public Health Systems and Services through National Partnerships to Improve and Protect the Nation's Health | CDC RFA PW 24 0080

Opportunity Information: Apply for CDC RFA PW 24 0080

Strengthening Public Health Systems and Services through National Partnerships to Improve and Protect the Nation's Health (CDC RFA PW 24 0080) is a discretionary CDC cooperative agreement designed to bolster the national public health infrastructure by funding organizations that can deliver high-quality capacity-building assistance (CBA) at scale. The core aim is to raise the knowledge, skills, and operational ability of public health entities so they can deliver essential public health services more effectively, build stronger organizations and systems, and advance prioritized public health goals that are explicitly equity-based. In practice, this opportunity is about helping the public health field function better day to day and respond more effectively to emerging and ongoing threats by strengthening the underlying capabilities that make public health work possible.

A central feature of the NOFO is its emphasis on capacity-building assistance as the primary intervention. CBA is defined broadly as activities that strengthen and sustain the infrastructure and resources needed to improve system, organizational, community, or individual competencies and processes. The CDC frames CBA as more than one-off trainings; it includes technical assistance, structured training programs, information sharing, technology transfer, and the development of practical materials and tools. The expectation is that recipients will help target audiences adopt better practices, implement improved systems, and operate in a more comprehensive, responsive, and effective way. This can include helping agencies modernize procedures, strengthen performance management, enhance readiness, or implement evidence-based and equity-centered approaches that translate into better public health outcomes.

The grant is built around national partnerships and national reach. CDC is looking to fund organizations that already have the expertise, staffing, relationships, and operational capacity to support broad infrastructure and workforce needs across multiple jurisdictions or systems. In other words, the intended recipients are not simply local implementers; they are organizations positioned to support many public health partners through scalable assistance and coordination. Awardees are expected to carry out CBA activities in one or more strategic areas prioritized under the cooperative agreement, which signals an ongoing, collaborative relationship with CDC typical of cooperative agreements, where substantial federal involvement and coordination is more common than in a standard grant.

Applicants must focus their proposed CBA work on a selected population of focus within one of three categories. The first category is governmental public health departments, which generally includes state, local, territorial, tribal, or similar health departments and their functions. The second category is workforce segments within governmental public health departments, meaning proposals can target specific job groups or roles (for example, epidemiology, emergency preparedness, informatics, environmental health, communications, or leadership and management) rather than the entire agency. The third category is public health system components, a broader framing that can include organizations and entities that make up the wider public health system beyond the health department itself, depending on how the applicant defines the system component and the CBA need being addressed. This structure encourages applicants to be precise about who will receive the assistance and how it will measurably strengthen capability.

The NOFO also notes that the CBA program uses a two-part funding strategy, and this announcement covers the first part. A second funding strategy may be offered later, but only if funds are appropriated and priorities align, and only to organizations funded under this NOFO. That detail matters because it suggests a potential pathway for continued or expanded work for initial awardees, but it is not guaranteed and depends on future funding decisions.

Eligibility is broad and includes many types of entities that could credibly deliver national-level capacity-building support. Eligible applicants include state, county, and city or township governments; public and state-controlled institutions of higher education; private institutions of higher education; federally recognized tribal governments; tribal organizations; nonprofits with 501(c)(3) status; nonprofits without 501(c)(3) status; and other entities. The NOFO explicitly clarifies that nonprofits with 501(c)(6) status are also eligible, which can include certain membership organizations or professional associations that often have national networks and training infrastructures suited to large-scale CBA delivery.

Administratively, this is a CDC opportunity under the cooperative agreement funding instrument, within the health funding activity category, and is associated with CFDA number 93.421. The opportunity was posted with a creation date of 2024-01-31 and an original closing date of 2024-04-01. CDC anticipated making around 45 awards. The listed award ceiling is shown as 0 in the provided source data, which typically means the ceiling was not specified in that field or is defined elsewhere in the full NOFO documents rather than implying no funding.

Overall, the opportunity is best understood as an investment in the backbone of public health: the people, systems, tools, and organizational practices that determine whether public health agencies and partners can consistently perform essential functions and address inequities. Rather than funding direct service delivery alone, it prioritizes strengthening the ability of public health entities to plan, execute, evaluate, and improve their work over time, using scalable technical assistance and training approaches delivered by organizations with demonstrated national reach.

• The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the health sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Strengthening Public Health Systems and Services through National Partnerships to Improve and Protect the Nation's Health" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 93.421.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2024-01-31.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2024-04-01. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 45 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: State governments, County governments, City or township governments, Public and State controlled institutions of higher education, Native American tribal governments (Federally recognized), Native American tribal organizations (other than Federally recognized tribal governments), Nonprofits having a 501 (c) (3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Nonprofits that do not have a 501 (c) (3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Private institutions of higher education, Others.

Apply for CDC RFA PW 24 0080

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