The University of Kentucky Center for Poverty Research (UKCPR), with underwriting from the Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) in the U.S. Department of Agriculture, will competitively award grants to qualified individuals and institutions to provide rigorous research that expands understanding of, and the attendant policy implications for, food-related hardships among older persons in the United States. For purposes of this RFP, older persons are defined as those ages 60 and older. We seek research proposals in one of three topical domains: (1) Describing households with food insecure seniors, including, but not limited to, factors such as functional status and ability to live independently, access to transportation, mental function, spousal health status, and social network and family connections; (2) Understanding factors underlying participation and recertification in food assistance and other safety net programs; and (3) Evaluating the causal impact of food and non-food assistance programs on health and nutrition outcomes, as well as related outcomes such as consumption tradeoffs. Total anticipated funding under this mechanism is $1.2 million for one large grant at $500,000, two large grants at $250,000 each, and four small grants at $50,000 each.

A requested letter of intent to submit a proposal is due by December 12, 2018. Full proposals are due January 23, 2019, with award dates on or about March 27, 2019. The full RFP is available here.

Conformance to all application requirements is required. Please direct administrative questions to Mr. Jeff Spradling at ukcpr@uky.edu and reference RFP on Food Hardships in the subject line. Further information about UKCPR and its programs is available at http://www.ukcpr.org/ .