Reinvesting in Racial and Indigenous Health Equity Research – Oct 1

Posted by Robert Wood Johnson Foundation on September 2, 2025

Robert Wood Johnson Foundation issues call for proposals for Reinvesting in Racial and Indigenous Health Equity Research

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) has issued a Rapid Response: Reinvesting in Racial and Indigenous Health Equity Research call for proposals.

The purpose of this call for proposals is to meet the current moment by supporting timely, actionable health equity research that has been interrupted by shifts in federal funding. RWJF will award up to $5 million for rapid response research grants to help at least partially offset federal funding losses to existing research.

Funding is exclusively available to applicants who have already received federal funding (e.g., from the NIH, CDC, NSF) for their health equity research, but have since had their funding partially or fully rescinded due to federal administrative actions. While the foundation will not re-scrutinize the scientific merits of projects that have lost federal funding, the intent is to support research consistent with Evidence for Action’s mission to advance community-centered, action-oriented racial and Indigenous health equity research that focuses on structural solutions that are innovative, push beyond the status quo, and target root causes.

Applicants must have lost federal funding for their health equity research project to be eligible to apply (those who have submitted an application for federal funding that will no longer be reviewed due to executive orders are not eligible). Documentation demonstrating how the research project has been interrupted is required (e.g., a termination letter, stop work order, emails, or other communications directly from the federal funding agency).

Awards may range from $50,000 to $200,000 each. Applicants may only request funding equivalent to the amount that was guaranteed and remained unspent on your federally funded project at the time of termination. Awards may be for up to two years in duration.

All organizations based in the United States or its occupied territories are eligible to apply. Submissions from teams that include both U.S. and international members are eligible, but the lead applicant organization must be based in the United States or its occupied territories and the research must focus on improving health equity in the United States. Research that focuses on populations residing outside the U.S. or its occupied territories is ineligible for funding under this call.

Applications are welcomed from organizations with project directors (PDs) of all personal and professional backgrounds. Applications that include PDs who are early to midcareer antiracist or anticolonial researchers who are within 15 years of completion of their last earned degree (i.e., the PD received their last degree in or after 2010) will be prioritized. PDs for this award need not have been the principal investigator or PD of the originally funded project. We especially encourage PDs having backgrounds and life experiences that are underrepresented on research teams, including Indigenous , Black, Latino, and other persons of color to apply. PDs receiving greater than 50 percent of their salary from a current RWJF grant are not eligible to apply.

For complete program guidelines and application instructions, see the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation website.

Deadline: October 1, 2025 at 3:00 p.m. ET