About the Cultivate award (2023-2024)
Massey’s “Seed to Harvest” community grant initiative is a mechanism for community partners to address person-centered care across the cancer continuum, from health promotion and prevention through survivorship, and to reduce suffering from cancer for citizens in Massey's catchment (geographical) area.
The catchment area is the home to 4 million racially, ethnically, geographically, and socio-economically diverse individuals. The catchment spans nearly 19,000 square miles, is approximately 275 miles or 1.5-5 commuting hours to Massey; and is defined as 66 contiguous localities in Virginia's central, eastern and southern areas.
Request for submissions
Cultivate, Massey's Level 2 Community Grants initiative, will accept Letters of Intent (LOI) from community organizations interested in developing a new initiative or continuing their Level 1 (Seed) initiative as a joint collaborative community-academic partnership with a Massey researcher and/or the research development administration team.
Similar to the Level 1 (Seed) Community Grant Initiative, the Level 2 Cultivate awards should be designed to translate evidence-based knowledge about reducing cancer risks and improving cancer outcomes into practice. However, Level 2 (Cultivate) Community Grant recipients can request up to $20,000, and there must be a joint/collaborative project oversight team involving both Massey and the community organization’s leadership.
Level 2 (Cultivate) awards should align with Massey's 2021-2025 strategic priorities. Objectives include:
- Implementing evidence-based interventions to eliminate cancer disparities and influence patients’ health outcomes
- Developing sustainable cancer health promotion, prevention and survivorship education initiatives
- Promoting and amplifying efforts targeting Human Papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination; tobacco cessation; colorectal, breast and lung cancer screenings; prostate cancer awareness and obesity and/or physical exercise
- Increasing awareness of racial and ethnic disparities in clinical trial participation, moving beyond the description/definition of the problem and towards the development and deployment of evidence-based methods to engage diverse populations in research
- Assisting cancer patients and survivors in increasing their self-efficacy and knowledge of resources and support to impact their health outcomes
- Developing and launching policy-changing initiatives at the local and/or state level that will improve cancer outcomes for Virginians
Grant funding amount and project period: Community organizations will receive up to $20,000 for up to a 24-month project period. Massey anticipates funding two grants in 2023 through this mechanism.
Organizations interested in submitting a proposal must meet the following criteria:
- Are recognized in the state of Virginia and by the IRS as a non-profit with documented exemption from income taxes with a 501(c) (3) public charity designation OR must be a government agency OR must be a recognized house of worship
- Cannot be a political or lobbying organization or represent an individual or an individual or family-based foundation
- Do not have any record of discrimination related to age, sex, race, color, sexual orientation, national/ethnic origin or disability
- Must provide evidence of being able to successfully manage a budget of $20,000 (the amount of the award)
- Agrees to jointly develop, implement and evaluate their project under a joint Massey/Community Organization oversight or leadership team. Applicants who are invited for a full application must agree to participate in a joint proposal development workshop.
Applicants requesting funds for event sponsorships, scholarships, publication of books, conferences, dinners, fundraisers, capital campaigns or endowment funds will not be considered.
Applicants selected to submit a full application must participate in a joint proposal development workshop.
During the proposal development workshop(s), the applicant organization will work jointly with a Massey researcher or research development team to collaboratively determine how best to develop, implement and evaluate their project under a joint Massey/Community organization project team. Applicant organizations not participating in the proposal development workshop(s) will not be considered for funding.
Scheduling for the proposal development workshop(s) will be determined based on the joint availability of Massey’s research team and the applicant organization’s team.
- April 4, 2023: LOI released
- April 25, 2023: LOI due
- May 9, 2023: Invitation to submit full proposal
- May 16-23 (TBD): Proposal development workshop(s)
- July 25, 2023: Anticipated notice of award
- August 15, 2023 - August 14, 2025: Anticipated project period
The LOI must include all requested following information and not exceed two pages. Applicant organizations are strongly encouraged to contact the Massey Office of Community Outreach and Engagement at engagemassey@vcu.edu to discuss the LOI. If selected to move forward with a full application, the full application must directly involve Massey’s involvement in the project's planning, implementation, and evaluation.
Questions?
Interested applicants are encouraged to reach out to the program coordinator before submitting the LOI to gain any needed clarification on the process and/or associated requirements. Support is available to assist organizations in the development of evidence-based grant proposals.
For more information please contact Brad Williams, Senior Program Coordinator, at engagemassey@vcu.edu or (804) 628-0896.