Evaluating Practice-based Programs, Policies, and Practices from CDCs Rape Prevention and Education (RPE) Program: Expanding the Evidence to Prevent Sexual Violence | RFA CE 20 001

Opportunity Information: Apply for RFA CE 20 001

This CDC funding opportunity (RFA-CE-20-001) is a cooperative agreement designed to strengthen what is known, with solid real-world evidence, about how to prevent sexual violence before it happens. The focus is on evaluating primary prevention efforts already being implemented through the CDC-funded Rape Prevention and Education (RPE) Program. In other words, the grant is not mainly about inventing brand-new interventions from scratch; it is about taking programs, policies, or practices that practitioners are already using through RPE and testing, in a rigorous way, whether and how they work to reduce sexual violence and related risk factors.

The research priorities are anchored in CDCs STOP SV: A Technical Package to Prevent Sexual Violence, which summarizes the best available prevention evidence and provides strategy directions that RPE recipients commonly use to plan and deliver prevention work. Under this NOFO, proposed evaluations are expected to add meaningful new knowledge in one or more of three strategy areas emphasized in the STOP SV package: (1) promoting social norms that protect against violence, (2) providing opportunities to empower and support girls and women, and (3) creating protective environments. The intent is to expand the evidence base in these areas by studying approaches that have traction in the field, are realistic for practitioners to deliver, and are acceptable to the communities where they operate.

A key expectation is that projects will be methodologically strong and designed to determine effectiveness, not just describe implementation. The CDC is looking for evaluations that can credibly answer whether the selected practice-based program, policy, or practice produces prevention impacts. At the same time, the NOFO makes clear that the work should expand the evidence base rather than replicate, adapt, or re-test what is already well established. That pushes applicants to justify why the evaluation fills an evidence gap and how the results will move the field forward, particularly for interventions that are already being used but have not yet been studied with enough rigor to be considered evidence-based.

Partnerships are not optional in this announcement; they are central to feasibility and success. Applicants must clearly lay out all collaborations needed to conduct the evaluation, including coordination with the RPE program or jurisdiction implementing the prevention strategy, participation from organizations involved in delivering or supporting the intervention, and any entities that will provide data or access to the populations being studied. Because many RPE strategies are embedded in community systems (schools, community organizations, local policies, coalitions, workplace settings, and similar structures), the CDC is signaling that meaningful, functional partnerships and data-sharing arrangements are essential and should be specified, not implied.

The NOFO particularly encourages evaluations that address risk and protective factors at the outer levels of the social-ecological model, meaning community- and societal-level change rather than only individual-level programming. That emphasis aligns with the idea that long-term reductions in sexual violence often require shifts in environments, norms, policies, and structural conditions, not only individual knowledge or attitudes. The CDC also encourages research that focuses on populations and communities that disproportionately experience sexual violence, which can include groups facing higher risk due to factors like structural inequities, discrimination, or other contextual vulnerabilities. Proposals that clearly connect an intervention to these inequities and measure outcomes relevant to those communities would align well with that priority.

Administratively, this is a discretionary HHS/CDC funding opportunity in the health category (CFDA 93.136) using a cooperative agreement mechanism, which typically means CDC will have substantial involvement beyond standard grant monitoring (for example, collaboration on technical aspects, performance expectations, or alignment with program goals). The award ceiling listed is $375,000, with an anticipated six awards. The eligible applicant pool is broad and includes multiple levels of government, tribes and tribal organizations, public and private institutions of higher education, nonprofits with and without 501(c)(3) status, public housing authorities, for-profit organizations (including small businesses), and other eligible entities as clarified in the full announcement. The NOFO was created November 25, 2019, with an original closing date of February 20, 2020, and applications were due by 5:00 p.m. ET on the due date.

Overall, the grant can be understood as an effort to close the gap between what communities are already doing to prevent sexual violence through RPE and what the research literature can confidently say works. By funding strong evaluations of practice-based strategies tied to the STOP SV framework, the CDC aims to produce results that practitioners and health departments can use to make better decisions, invest in approaches that demonstrate impact, and strengthen prevention at community and societal levels where lasting change is more likely.

• The Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention - ERA in the health sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Evaluating Practice-based Programs, Policies, and Practices from CDCs Rape Prevention and Education (RPE) Program: Expanding the Evidence to Prevent Sexual Violence" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 93.136.
• This funding opportunity was created on Nov 25, 2019.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Feb 20, 2020 Electronically submitted applications must be submitted no later than 500 p.m., ET, on the listed application due date.. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $375,000.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 6 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: State governments, County governments, City or township governments, Special district governments, Independent school districts, Public and State controlled institutions of higher education, Native American tribal governments (Federally recognized), Public housing authorities/Indian housing authorities, 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, For profit organizations other than small businesses, Small businesses, Unrestricted (i.e., open to any type of entity above), subject to any clarification in text field entitled Additional Information on Eligibility.

Apply for RFA CE 20 001

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