Call for Requests for Assistance

March 24, 2021

Purpose

The purpose of this opportunity is to provide funding to cover administrative and personnel costs incurred by AUCD network member participation in the Morehouse School of Medicine National COVID-19 Resiliency Network's Regional Community Coalition.

Overview

The National COVID-19 Resiliency Network (NCRN) is designed to develop and coordinate a strategic and structured national network of national, state/territorial/tribal, and local public and community- based organizations that will mitigate the impact of COVID-19 on communities.

The Regional Community Coalition (RCC) members include State & Territory Minority Health and Indian Health Service (IHS) Offices, other national and regional organizations and Community Health Workers representing disproportionately impacted communities throughout the United States.

NCRN focuses on the most vulnerable communities that have been disproportionately impacted by COVID-19. The following groups are prioritized:

• Black and African American
• Latino/a/x
• Asian American
• Native Hawaiian and other Pacific Islanders
• Native American
• Alaska Native

Additional groups represented through NCRN partnerships include incarcerated, justice-involved, victims of torture, people who live in rural area, people with disabilities, and migrant workers in the farming and meat-packing industries.

Goal of the NCRN Network:

To mitigate the impact of COVID-19 on racial and ethnic minorities, rural, and socially vulnerable populations, MSM established the National COVID-19 Resiliency Network (NCRN), to create a dissemination platform that focuses on these six foundational areas:

1. Identify and engage disproportionately impacted communities
2. Nurture existing and develop new partnerships within at-risk communities
3. Disseminate culturally and linguistically appropriate COVID-19 health related information
4. Leverage technology to connect communities to resources
5. Monitor and Evaluate the progress of the dissemination model
6. Apply broad and comprehensive dissemination methods to share best practices

Objectives of the Regional Community Coalition:

1. The RCC is established to allow for the expansion of NCRN at the grassroots level to provide an opportunity to network and engage among strategic partners.
2. The RCC will foster collaboration and networking to create sustainability among the NCRN Outreach partners, supporting future collaborative work for successful and immediate response, recovery, and resiliency. The members of the RCC are charged with ensuring that NCRN resources for COVID-19 testing, vaccinations, other healthcare and social services are used to inform at-risk communities.
3. The RCC also serves as a networking opportunity for Community Organizations to connect with Strategic Partners of the NCRN as well as representatives from State & Territory Minority Health and IHS Offices.

RCC Participant Role:

Regional Community Coalition participants will be responsible for informing and engaging with regional groups, aligning activities, building capacity, and engaging the community in coordination with NCRN's local and national partners on COVID-19 testing, vaccinations, and primary care services to vulnerable populations.

AUCD is the only strategic partner organization representing the disability community within NCRN, bringing to partnerships perspectives related to inclusion, plain language, accessible materials, accessibility of vaccination sites, and disability etiquette while engaging in the above activities.

Commitments and Deliverables

Selected programs will be expected to:

1. Sign up as an NCRN Community Organization at NCRN Partner Member Sign Up (msm.edu)
   
2. Participate in quarterly RCC meetings, scheduled on June 15, September 21, and December 7, 2021 from 3:00-4:30 pm eastern via Zoom. Meeting invitations and details will be sent by Morehouse NCRN to all community organizations who signed up using the above link.
   
3. Represent disability community perspectives in RCC meetings
   
4. Network with NCRN RCC member organizations within your region
   
5. Strategically align opportunities for sustainability, collaborations and partnerships for greater community impact around NCRN initiatives
   
6. Bring awareness to NCRN resources, activities and reach to support affected populations
   
7. Share a story that highlights NCRN RCC collaborations for archival purposes on the AUCD Diversity & Inclusion Toolkit, using the Share Your Story function, by the end of 2021.

Eligibility

All AUCD network members are eligible to seek assistance through this process. No more than one request per region will be selected to receive assistance.

AUCD network members not receiving assistance are still welcomed and encouraged to participate in NCRN and RCC activities.

Regions

• Region 1: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont Region 2: New Jersey, New York, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands
• Region 3: Delaware, District of Columbia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and West Virginia
• Region 4: Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee
• Region 5: Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, and Wisconsin
• Region 6: Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas
• Region 7: Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, and Nebraska
• Region 8: Colorado, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah, and Wyoming
• Region 9: Arizona, California, Hawaii, Nevada, American Samoa, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Guam, Marshall Islands, and Republic of Palau
• Region 10: Alaska, Idaho, Oregon, and Washington

Support

$1,000 will be provided as a stipend to each selected program to support activities described above. A total of 10 stipends, one for each of the 10 regions, will be provided in total.

Timeline

Requesting Assistance

Requesting programs must electronically submit responses to the narrative prompts outlined on page 4 of this application to Dawn Rudolph ([email protected]) by Friday, April 30, 2021 at 5:00 PM ET. Submission should be no more than 2 printed pages.

If you have additional questions, please contact Dawn Rudolph ([email protected]).

AUCD network members not receiving assistance are still welcomed and encouraged to participate in NCRN and RCC activities.

Narrative Prompts for Application

1. Identify the AUCD network member center or program applying for assistance, and contact information for the faculty or staff member proposed to engage in the NCRN RCC.
   
2. What are your existing efforts to engage with the vulnerable communities prioritized by NCRN?
   
3. What existing activities and resources are currently being implemented to address the intersection of disability with other vulnerable communities identified in #2 above?
   
4. Do you commit to signing up as an NCRN Community Organization and participating in RCC meetings as scheduled?
   
5. What is your approach to building sustainable, collaborative relationships with new partners outside of the disability community?
   
6. What is your approach to representing disability community perspectives with new partners outside of the disability community?
   
7. What is your approach to integrating new resources and information from outside the disability community into your existing COVID response efforts?
   
8. Do you commit to submitting a story about your NCRN RCC collaborations for AUCD's Diversity & Inclusion Toolkit?
9. For the full announcement, including the grading rubric for the proposals, click here.