The CDC National Centers of Excellence in Youth Violence Prevention Building the Evidence for Community and Policy Level Prevention | Apply Online

Opportunity Summary:

The CDC funding opportunity RFA-CE-15-002, titled "The CDC National Centers of Excellence in Youth Violence Prevention: Building the Evidence for Community and Policy Level Prevention," is a discretionary grant offered as a cooperative agreement through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It was designed to support the creation and operation of Youth Violence Prevention Centers (YVPCs) led by academic institutions, with the broader goal of strengthening what is known about how to prevent youth violence and then applying that knowledge in real communities that experience a high burden of youth interpersonal violence. The overall emphasis is not just on running programs, but on building credible evidence about what works at the community and policy level, and on reducing violence in defined geographic areas through strategies that can be tested, measured, and potentially scaled.

At its core, the announcement aims to fund centers that both implement and rigorously evaluate prevention approaches that operate beyond the individual level. The CDC is looking for strategies that change community conditions, systems, or policies, or combinations of those strategies, rather than only focusing on one-on-one services. This lines up with the CDC Injury Center's research priorities for youth violence prevention, especially priorities that focus on evaluating community and societal prevention approaches and studying how effective strategies, programs, and policies can be disseminated and implemented in practical, real-world settings. In other words, the funded centers are expected to produce findings that help the field understand not only whether a community or policy approach reduces youth violence, but also how it can be delivered effectively in a way that other communities could learn from.

The YVPCs described in the FOA are intended to be academic centers that function as strong, long-term partnerships among researchers, community members, and public and private organizations. A key expectation is "reciprocally beneficial" collaboration, meaning the relationship is not one-sided or extractive; it should be structured so that community partners and local stakeholders gain tangible value, influence, and capacity, while researchers gain the access and collaboration needed to conduct high-quality implementation and evaluation work. These collaborations are expected to include both governmental and non-governmental organizations, explicitly including local health departments, and to center on one or more defined high-burden communities. The shared endpoint is practical impact: measurable reductions in youth interpersonal violence in the places most affected.

To be responsive to the announcement, a funded YVPC must include two required core features. The first is an administrative infrastructure capable of supporting implementation, evaluation, and dissemination work. This infrastructure is not treated as a minor back-office function; it is described as necessary to make collaboration work locally, to coordinate complex multi-partner activities, and to ensure the center can meet both research and program goals. It also includes the responsibility to coordinate with other funded centers as part of a broader Youth Violence Prevention Center Network, suggesting the CDC wanted cross-site learning, alignment, and shared progress rather than isolated projects. The second required feature is integrated implementation and evaluation of a community or policy-level prevention approach in the selected high-burden community or communities. "Integrated" is important here: implementation and evaluation are expected to be planned together so that the strategy can be assessed properly, lessons can be documented, and the work can contribute to the overall evidence base.

In terms of timing and scale, the FOA was structured as a program announcement with multiple receipt cycles, specifically Cycle 1 in FY2015 and Cycle 2 in FY2016. The CDC anticipated funding three YVPCs in FY2015, with an intent to fund two additional YVPCs in FY2016 depending on funding availability. The estimated total funding listed for the opportunity is $3.6 million, and the award ceiling is $1.2 million (with no stated award floor). There is no cost-sharing or matching requirement, which lowers barriers for eligible institutions that may not have large pools of flexible funds to commit as match.

Eligibility is aimed primarily at institutions of higher education, including public and state-controlled universities and private universities, with additional eligible applicant categories referenced in the announcement's eligibility clarification text. This fits the center model described in the FOA, where academic leadership is expected, but with deep operational partnerships with community organizations and government entities.

Administratively, the opportunity was posted January 28, 2015, with an original closing date of May 4, 2015, later extended to May 11, 2015, and an archive date of June 3, 2015. The CFDA number associated with the program is 93.136, which is tied to Injury Prevention and Control Research and State and Community Based Programs. For access issues or technical questions about the full announcement, the CDC directed applicants to its Technical Information Management Section (TIMS) within the Procurement and Grants Office, providing phone and email contact details.

Overall, this grant opportunity is best understood as the CDC investing in a small number of well-organized, university-led centers that can do three things at once: work credibly with high-burden communities as real partners, implement prevention strategies that operate at community or policy levels, and evaluate and disseminate results in a way that strengthens national evidence about preventing youth violence. The cooperative agreement structure also signals an expectation of substantial CDC involvement and collaboration during the period of performance, reinforcing that the work is meant to contribute to a coordinated national effort rather than stand-alone local projects.

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