NACCHO-RFA_SCALING-UP-COVID-19-STRATEGIES-AMONG-RIM-POPULATIONS_FINAL.PDF

REQUEST FOR APPLICATIONS
SCALING UP COVID-19 PREVENTION AND MITIGATION STRATEGIES
WITH REFUGEE, IMMIGRANT, AND MIGRANT (RIM) COMMUNITIES
National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO)
Release Date: May 6, 2021
Due Date: June 11, 2021
For questions about the Request for Applications (RFA), contact Lucy Slater, Senior Director,
HIV, STI, & Viral Hepatitis, at lslater@naccho.org.

Summary Information
Project Title: Scaling up COVID-19 Prevention and Mitigation Strategies with Refugee,
Immigrant, and Migrant Populations
Proposal Due Date and Time: June 11, 2021 at 11:59 PM PT
Informational Webinar: May 17, 1:00 PM ET
Selection Announcement Date: July 2021
Source of Funding: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 6NU38OT00306-03-02
Funding Amount: Tier 1: up to $175,000; Tier 2: up to $250,000
Estimated Period of Performance: Upon execution of the contracts (between July 1 and July 31,
2021) to July 31, 2022.
Point of Contact for Questions Regarding this Application: Lucy Slater (lslater@naccho.org)
Overview
The National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO) is the voice of the nearly
3,000 local health departments (LHDs) across the country. These city, county, metropolitan,
district, and tribal departments work to protect and improve the health of all people and all
communities. NACCHO provides capacity-building resources that support LHD leaders in
developing and implementing public health policies and practices to ensure communities have
access to the vital programs and services that protect them from disease and disaster.
Additionally, NACCHO engages with federal policymakers on behalf of LHDs to ensure adequate
resources, appropriate public health legislation, and sensible policies are in place to address the
myriad of public health challenges facing communities. In partnership the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention (CDC), NACCHO is pleased to offer a funding opportunity to LHDs to
rapidly scale up innovative COVID-19 education, testing, contact tracing, vaccination, and
other prevention and mitigation strategies with refugee, immigrant, and migrant (RIM)
communities.
Background
Refugee, immigrant, and migrant (RIM) populations include people residing in the United States
who were born in another country.1 There is significant diversity among RIM populations, who
1 COVID-19 Case Investigation and Contact Tracing among Refugee, Immigrant, and Migrant (RIM) Populations:
Important Considerations for Health Departments https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/php/rim-
considerations.html
1 | P a g e

come from all over the world with different languages, experiences, and cultural practices and
who have spent varied amounts of time in the United States and have different immigration
statuses. RIM populations have been disproportionately impacted by COVID-19 morbidity and
mortality due to language and cultural barriers, occupational hazards, and structural racism and
xenophobia which may be particularly heightened for RIM populations of color. Upstream
factors include increased exposure to COVID-19 in occupational and other high-risk settings,
such as migrant farmworker housing, meat packing plants, or institutional settings such as
detention facilities; greater prevalence of underlying health conditions that increase the
severity of COVID-19; and fear or distrust of government or health systems, which may be
exacerbated for undocumented individuals or RIM populations of color, given the history of
medical discrimination and experimentation in the United States. Downstream factors include
language barriers, cultural practices, and unfamiliarity with the US public health and healthcare
systems, all of which may make it difficult to access, understand, and follow standard public
health guidance.
Prevention and mitigation of COVID-19 at the community level can be thought of as a
continuum of services. Primary prevention aims to promote population health and well-being
and prevent disease before it happens. Primary prevention of COVID-19 includes health
communications and health education efforts to raise awareness of risk, promote preventive
measures such as mask wearing and social distancing and address vaccine hesitancy, as well as
the conduct of vaccine distribution itself. Secondary prevention aims to prevent the progression
of disease through early detection and intervention, and includes COVID-19 testing, referrals to
care and isolation support, and contact tracing and investigation.
To ensure the success of both primary and secondary COVID-19 prevention and mitigation
strategies and to address inequities in COVID-19 morbidity and mortality experienced by RIM
communities, LHDs need strong and sustained community partnerships, experienced human
resources, cross-program infrastructure to support logistics for testing and vaccine delivery at
scale, and planning, evaluation, and financial management capacity. This funding opportunity
will support LHDs to strengthen partnerships with RIM communities in their jurisdictions and to
collaboratively design, implement, and evaluate innovative and sustainable approaches to
primary and secondary prevention strategies for COVID-19 in the short term, and additional
vaccine preventable diseases in the long term.
The goals of this project are to:
1. Improve COVID-19 prevention, contact tracing and mitigation among RIM populations.
2. Reduce inequities in COVID-19 morbidity and mortality in funded jurisdictions.
3. Identify models and best practices for primary and secondary prevention of COVID-19 that
are sustainable and have potential to address other communicable diseases among RIM
populations in the future.
4. Identify sustainable approaches for strengthening partnerships between LHDs and RIM
populations and adapting public health strategies for RIM populations.
2 | P a g e

Funding Overview and Timeline
NACCHO will issue contracts of up to $175,000 to LHD sites that elect to conduct required
activities under Tier One, and up to $250,000 to LHD sites that elect to conduct required Tier
One activities and supplemental activities under Tier Two.
Applications must be submitted by June 11, 2021 at 11:59PM PT to lslater@naccho.org, and
selections will occur on or around July 1, 2021. All necessary information regarding the project
and application process is outlined in this Request for Applications (RFA).
NACCHO will host an optional informational webinar for potential applicants on Monday May
17, 2021 at 1:00 p.m. ET to review the RFA and respond to questions. Please note that no new
information will be shared during the webinar and applicants do not need to wait for this
optional webinar to begin or submit applications. To register for the webinar, visit here.
Questions may be submitted in advance to lslater@naccho.org and will be accepted until
11:59PM (PDT) on Friday, May 14, 2021.
Key Application Dates
Event Date/Time
Informational Webinar May 17, 2021 from 1:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m. ET
Application Deadline June 11, 2021 at 11:59 PM PT
Anticipated Notification Date July 1, 2021
Project Period Upon execution of the contract (between July 1 and July
31, 2021 to July 31, 20222
Eligibility and Contract Terms
This RFA is open to LHDs and community-based organizations serving RIM populations.
LHDs
LHDs must partner with at least one community-based organization3 serving RIM populations in
their application, as described in a Memorandum of Understanding or Letter of Support from
the partner organization.
Each LHD may submit only one application. If two or more LHDs serve the same or overlapping
jurisdiction, only one will be awarded. LHDs are encouraged to work together on one
2 The project period shall begin upon both parties’ full execution of the contract and will end as late as July 31,
2022, contingent on CDC approving a no-cost extension.
3 Community-based organizations include, but are not limited to, nonprofits that provide health or social services
or support community development, common interest groups, and faith-based organizations.
3 | P a g e

application to serve their entire jurisdiction(s) and select one agency to submit the application
and serve as a fiscal agent for the funds.
Community-based Organizations
Community-based organizations serving RIM populations are also eligible to apply, but are
required to develop and implement a partnership/practice agreement with a LHD, as described
in a Memorandum of Understanding or Letter of Support from the partner LHD. Assistance in
locating the LHD in your area can be found here.
Applicants should plan for 12 months of project implementation. Projects will begin on the date
of contract execution. NACCHO will pay the selected project areas upon receipt of deliverables
per the payment schedule identified in the scope of work contained in the contract. Please note
that NACCHO reserves the right to make changes to the project timeline and payment schedule
if necessary.
NACCHO standard contract language can be found here if needed.
Project Expectations and Requirements
This project seeks to enhance the capacity of LHDs and RIM communities to work effectively
with each other to prevent and respond to COVID-19 by supporting innovative and sustainable
approaches to COVID-19 contact tracing, testing, education, vaccination, and other prevention
and mitigation strategies. Awardees will be expected to design, implement, and evaluate
interventions that meet the following criteria:
• Focus on RIM populations: Interventions should focus on at least one specific, defined
RIM population that resides and/or works within the LHD’s jurisdiction.
• Community Engagement: A partnership between a LHD and one or more community-
based organizations that serve RIM populations, or with community leaders within RIM
populations, should guide all aspects of their project.
• Community Assessment: Selection of priority interventions and approaches should be
informed by recent review of target RIM community COVID-19 primary and secondary
prevention needs.
• Promising or Evidence-Based Practice: Interventions should be informed by evidence
and/or data. This can include an adaptation of an existing, evidence-based strategy or
an innovative strategy that is designed using evidence-based principles, theories, or
frameworks. Recognizing the unprecedented nature of the COVID-19 pandemic,
applicants may also propose emerging practices that have been implemented and
appear promising in other jurisdictions but that have not yet been evaluated. (See the
Appendices for examples of such practices).
• Feasible and Replicable Across Jurisdictions: Proposed interventions should
demonstrate the potential to feasibly be replicated and/or adapted for use in other
jurisdictions.
• Ready for Start-Up or Implementation: Proposed interventions should be ready to be
implemented or already being implemented to some extent.
4 | P a g e

• Sustainability (Tier 2): The project should be sustainable—that is, result in initiation of
expanded public health efforts with RIM communities that have the potential to be
sustained beyond the project end date, e.g., development of a community advisory
board or other relationships and infrastructure that will facilitate ongoing collaborations
beyond the project and beyond the COVID-19 pandemic.
Tier 1 applicants will be expected to describe one or more primary prevention communications
activities they plan to conduct in partnership with the RIM community to advance COVID-19
prevention and mitigation. Such activities may include health communications that raise
awareness of risk, promote preventive measures such as mask wearing and social distancing, or
address vaccine hesitancy. Tier 2 applicants will be expected to describe an additional primary
prevention or a secondary prevention activity to support scale up of COVID-19 vaccine delivery,
testing, and/or contact tracing in partnership with the RIM community.
Evaluation
To support the identification of best and promising practices of COVID-19 prevention and
control strategies for RIM populations, robust evaluation strategies will be key to the success of
the project. NACCHO will work with funded applicants to design and implement individual
project and overall program evaluation efforts and will provide technical assistance to funded
sites to support monitoring and evaluation. Each site will be expected to work with NACCHO to
develop an evaluation plan and collect the necessary data to answer key evaluation questions.
Summary of Required Grant Activities to be Covered by Award
During the project period, awardees will:
• Participate in a virtual kick-off meeting
• Conduct a rapid assessment of community needs (if appropriate)
• Finalize a workplan and evaluation plan
• Implement the workplan and evaluation plan
• Develop a sustainability plan (Tier 2)
• Collaborate with NACCHO and CDC to collect analyze, interpret, and synthesize
evaluation findings.
• Collaborate with NACCHO and CDC to share ongoing lessons learned and findings
through reports, webinars, and limited peer-to-peer technical assistance with other
jurisdictions interested in learning more about the innovation or improvement.
• Participate in regularly scheduled project conference calls and other potential project or
dissemination meetings, as appropriate.
Summary of key project deliverables for funded sites:
• Final workplan
• Final evaluation plan
• Clean, aggregate summaries of all data collected under the evaluation plan (e.g., Excel
worksheets of collected data, summaries of qualitative data analysis)
5 | P a g e

• Electronic copy of written protocols, procedures, tools, or job aids that were used to
implement/guide the innovation or improvement and which other jurisdictions might
benefit from seeing
• Written summaries of results and lessons learned
• Final sustainability plan (Tier 2)
Support and Technical Assistance
NACCHO and CDC will provide ongoing support to awardees in the form of:
• Technical assistance via conference calls and/or webinars to facilitate project planning,
implementation, data collection and analysis, and reporting
• Connection to national, state, and local subject matter experts
• Program and project evaluation planning, development of data collection tools, and
support for data management and analysis
• Synthesis of evaluation findings across jurisdictions
• Provision of templates for dissemination/summary products
Application Instructions
1. Cover page and project abstract (1 page)
o Include project title; applicant organization name and address; primary point of
contact name, email address, and phone number; whether you are applying under
Tier One or Tier Two; requested funding amount; and <250 word project summary.
2. Statement of Need (1-2 pages)
o Briefly describe the demographics of your jurisdiction and of the RIM population(s)
that you serve.
o Describe the impact of COVID-19 on your jurisdiction in general, as well as on the
RIM population(s) you propose to reach.
o What has been the response to COVID-19 among RIM communities in your
jurisdiction to date? What challenges and barriers are RIM communities
experiencing in their response to COVID-19?
3. Partnerships (1-2 pages)
o Describe existing partnerships between the LHD and organizations or leaders within
the RIM communities you propose to work with. What ongoing structures are in
place to facilitate communication and engagement?
o How will your LHD/community-based partnership jointly engage on an ongoing basis
with RIM communities to support their meaningful participation in program
planning and implementation?
4. Needs Assessment (1-2 pages)
6 | P a g e

o Describe any special data collection/needs assessment activities for COVID-19
prevention and mitigation interventions in RIM communities that have been
conducted by you or others in your jurisdiction since March 2020. What data sources
were reviewed? If special assessments were conducted, what were the goals of the
assessment? What were the results? Attach any assessment tools and reports of
findings.
OR
o Describe how you will rapidly review data and/or collect information to better
understand COVID-19 prevention and mitigation needs in the RIM population you
propose to reach. How will you partner with the RIM community in this effort?
Describe data sources you will use and/or how you will design and/or select
assessment tools, conduct the assessment and rapidly analyze findings. (See the
Appendices for examples of assessment strategies or tools).
5. Intervention(s)
Tier One (Required): All applicants must complete this section (2-3 pages). Describe
at least one primary prevention communications activity you propose to conduct in
partnership with the RIM community to address priority COVID-19 prevention and
mitigation needs. Such activities may include use of health communications
methods such as dissemination of written materials, billboards, TV, radio, or social
media that raise awareness of risk, promote preventive measures such as COVID-19
testing, mask wearing and social distancing, or address vaccine hesitancy. Examples
of best and promising primary prevention practices in RIM communities can be
found in the Appendices.
o Describe how you have used or expect to use your needs assessment findings to
inform the design of this/these activities.
o Explain how this activity will be culturally and linguistically appropriate, and how
it will be accessible to persons of low-literacy and low-English proficiency.
o What evidence or justification can you provide that this intervention will be
effective in RIM communities?
o Provide a brief workplan for this activity, explaining what will happen, when, and
by whom.
Tier Two (Optional): Only applicants who wish to apply for Tier Two activities in
addition to Tier One activities need complete this section (2-3 pages). In addition to
the required primary prevention communications activity you have described in Tier
One, describe at least one additional primary or secondary prevention activity that
you will perform. Such activities should support scale-up of COVID-19 vaccine
delivery, COVID-19 testing, and/or COVID-19 contact tracing in RIM communities.
Examples of best and promising secondary prevention practices in RIM communities
can be found in the Appendices.
o Describe how you have used or expect to use your needs assessment findings to
inform the design of this/these additional activities.
7 | P a g e

o What evidence or justification can you provide that this/these activities will be
effective in RIM communities?
o Explain how this/these activities will be culturally and linguistically appropriate,
and how it will be accessible to persons of low-literacy and low-English
proficiency.
o Provide a brief workplan for this/these activities, explaining what will happen,
when, and by whom.
o Describe efforts you will take to ensure that your activities will improve the
ability of the LHD and of the RIM community to effectively promote the public
health of RIM communities for the long term. Examples of such efforts might
include aligning project staff and/or community advisory bodies within other
ongoing funding streams for long term sustainability; or promoting integration of
culturally and linguistically appropriate health communications into RIM
community health and social services.
6. Evaluation (1-2 pages)
o Describe how you will document implementation of this/these activities to inform
replication and scale-up efforts in other jurisdictions.
o Describe your current capacity to evaluate this project, including your ability to
develop an evaluation plan, design and implement data collection tools, and to
collect and analyze data.
o What kinds of technical assistance will you need to support evaluation of this
project?
7. Organizational Capacity (1 page)
o Describe your capacity to manage this project. Which staff will be involved in this
project, and why?
o Provide an overview of organizational roles in project implementation (i.e., what the
applicant will do and what role your LHD or community partner(s) will play)
8. Budget
o Complete a proposed project budget using the provided template, and provide a
justification for your expected costs in a budget narrative.
9. Required Attachments
o Memorandum of Understanding or Letter of Support from at least one community-
based/LHD project partner.
o Vendor Information Form
o Certification of Non-Debarment
o W-9
o FFATA data collection form
o Before a contract can be entered into, proof of active registration with SAM.gov in
accordance with an active DUNS number must be obtained. Registration can be
done here.
8 | P a g e

10. Optional Attachments
o RIM COVID-19 prevention needs assessment tools and findings
Selection Criteria
NACCHO will review and score applications for this RFA in accordance with the following criteria
(out of 100 points):
• Evidence of need to address COVID-19 among RIM populations (20 points)
• Extent to which proposed strategies are or will be responsive to local needs and trends
e.g., as identified through needs assessment (10 points)
• Extent to which proposed strategies are likely to result in sustainable and meaningful
engagement of RIM community-based organizations and community members in
COVID-19 prevention and mitigation planning and implementation (30 points)
• Extent to which proposed strategies are likely to improve COVID-19 prevention and
mitigation among RIM populations (30 points)
• Extent to which proposed interventions are evidence-based, ready for implementation,
and likely to be replicable/adaptable in other jurisdictions (10 points)
• Extent to which organization has the capacity and partnerships needed to ensure
successful implementation of the proposed intervention or improvement (10 points)
9 | P a g e

Appendices: Promising or Evidence-Based Practices and Assessment Resources
The National Resource Center for Refugees, Immigrants, and Migrants (NRC-RIM)
The National Resource Center for Refugees, Immigrants, and Migrants (NRC-RIM) has
developed and curated a collection of resources to support state and local health departments
working with refugee, immigrant, and migrant (RIM) communities that have been
disproportionately affected by COVID-19. Applicants are encouraged to review resources on the
NRC-RIM website while developing their application and to consider utilizing NRC-RIM
resources in their proposed approach.
Specifically, applicants may find the following resources useful when developing their
application:
1) Promising practices are strategies, approaches, or programs that have anecdotally shown a
positive impact in some local settings. NRC-RIM has collected nearly 40 promising practices
through one-on-one interviews with public health professionals actively engaged in COVID-
19 response among RIM communities.
2) Toolkits contain practical guides, checklists, and promising practices relevant to each toolkit
topic. All materials were curated specifically to support health departments with COVID-19
response among RIM communities:
a) Case investigation and contact tracing
b) Communications
c) Community engagement
d) Partnerships
e) Testing
f) Vaccination
3) Get the Facts and Get Vaccinated are COVID-19 vaccination campaigns that include fact
sheets, posters, social media assets, and public service announcements translated into 30+
languages; easy to use and customizable templates allow health departments and other
organizations to add their own logos.
4) In partnership with IDEO.org and leaders from refugee and immigrant communities, NRC-
RIM developed community-led COVID-19 campaigns about COVID-19 vaccines and contact
tracing; NRC-RIM offers an interactive guidebook for health departments to build new
campaigns in partnerships with communities.
10 | P a g e

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) COVID-19
The CDC COVID-19 Website has many useful resources and guidelines including:
• Communication Resources
• Community-Based Organizations COVID-19 Vaccine Toolkit
• Rapid Community Assessment Guide
11 | P a g e