Pilot Grant Program

Announcement of
second annual seed grant competition

View the Request for Proposals linked below for detailed information!

REACH Center and Pilot Grant Overview

The REACH Center is a multi-institutional partnership between George Washington University, George Mason University, Howard University, and the Environmental Defense Fund. The Center leverages the power of novel geospatial environmental datasets and research co-generation with governmental and nongovernmental partners to co-develop research that explores health-protective solutions for climate-sensitive risk factors from local to global scales.

The goal of the seed grant program is to build capacity so that a new cohort of researchers and community partners will have the skills, connections, and research agendas to apply for National Institutes of Health R-level research grants in relevant topical areas while also targeting effective interventions to health-protective solutions.

Resources

REACH Center overview, Developmental Core, Exposure Assessment Core, Community Engagement Core, Research Project 1, and Research Project 2
CAFÉ Research Coordinating Center at Boston University and Harvard University

Developmental Core Director: Robert Orttung

Developmental Core Co-Director: Rachel Clark

Who Should Apply?

REACH pilot awards are open to multidisciplinary teams led by PI-eligible investigators at George Washington, Howard, and George Mason universities. Teams should be composed of at least two researchers who contribute distinct methods, frameworks, or expertise, in addition to at least one community partner. Cross-institutional collaboration is encouraged. While the overall project should focus on health-protective solutions for climate-sensitive risk factors, individual team members can bring specific skill sets to the project from such diverse fields as Earth and atmospheric sciences, public health, environmental health, medicine, public policy, engineering, and social sciences. We particularly encourage applications from early-stage investigators and investigators from gender, racial, and ethnic groups which are underrepresented the research field.

This pilot grant opportunity is intended to lead to community-engaged research proposals. Community partners may be local, state, or national governments; community-based organizations; and/or other non-academic end-users of scientific research. Proposals may be submitted under one of two community engagement tracks as described below.

What Kinds of Projects Will Be Funded?

Track 1: Research Projects (up to $40,000)

Proposals in this track should come from teams of researchers and one or more community partners that have a history of working together. The research project should be responsive to questions and concerns defined by community partners and employ environmental and/or health data (e.g. geospatial data from Earth system models, statistical models, satellite observations, sensor networks, wearable sensors, etc.) to explore solutions that advance health-protective solutions for climate-sensitive risk factors.

For Track 1 proposals, community partners are expected to co-create the research questions to ensure that they reflect community concerns, and participate in study implementation (this could include data collection, development of deliverables, dissemination of results, research translation, etc.).

Track 2: Partnership-Building Projects (up to $20,000)

Proposals in this category should come from researcher/community partner teams that have not yet established strong relationships, and/or do not have a history of working together. Partnership-building projects should focus on strengthening relationships between researchers and community partners and co-creating a research agenda responsive to community priorities or concerns that can form the basis for future research proposals that will explore potential, proposed, or implemented health-protective solutions for climate-sensitive risk factors; include application of environmental and/or health data; and be focused on issues related to NIH research priorities. The aim is to lay the groundwork for productive partnerships spanning multiple sectors wherein researchers and community partners understand their mutual research needs.

Pilot Grant Deadlines

Deadline	Submission
June 1, 2025 5 PM EST	1-page Letter of Intent
July 15, 2025 5 PM EST	Full Proposal
August 15, 2025	Decisions Announced
September 1, 2025	Project Start Date

Application Content and Instructions

One-Page Letter of Intent (11pt Arial, 1 inch margins)

Each team of applicants should submit a one-page letter of intent. This letter should include:

Project title
Identification of whether submission will be under Track 1 or Track 2
Names, affiliations, and contact information of the lead PI and co-PIs, community partner, and other participants
Concise summary of the research project, including the problem to be addressed and the type of data and analysis used to further the search for solutions. What existing community need will the project address and how will it do that?
Any missing components that the research team would like help filling. For example, if the research team has not yet identified community partners, we can help identify potential partners.

Full Proposal (11 pt Arial font, 1 inch margins)

Cover page (1 page maximum)
1. Project Title
2. Track Number
3. Participants: List all project participants and their role(s) on the project (at least two researchers from different disciplines and, for Track 1 proposals, at least one community partner)
4. Abstract of the research project written in lay language that can be understood by the general public
Science Proposal
1. Track 1 (5 page maximum)
  1. Identify the community partner and describe the history of collaboration between the community partner and the research team.
  2. Describe what community concern the research question is responsive to, how that concern was identified, how community partners contributed to the development of the research questions, how community partners will participate in study implementation (this could include data collection, development of deliverables, dissemination of results, research translation, etc.), and the plan for communicating project results to community members.
  3. Proposals must describe how the research will add to the literature and how the proposed approach deploys innovative methods to fill identified knowledge gaps.
  4. Applications should describe the kinds of environmental and health data that they will work with in their application.
  5. Proposals must identify a health resilience solution that they will study.
2. Track 2: (3 pages maximum)
  1. Identify the community partner and describe prior collaboration between the community partner and the research team (if applicable).
  2. Describe how the project team will strengthen the relationship between the researchers and community partner during the grant period, including a description of how the research team will collaborate with the partner to identify and understand their mutual research needs, shape a clear research question, and develop community engagement strategies.
  3. Describe how the partnership will benefit both the research and the anticipated groups interested in or potentially affected by the research.
  4. Where possible, explain how the project will add to the literature, work with data, and analyze a health resilience solution.
References (no page limit)
1. Include references cited in the Science Proposal using standard citation format.
Future plans for NIH grant submission (400 words maximum)
1. Explain how the project will prepare the research team to apply for a future NIH grant submission, and provide a timeline for when the submission will take place.
NIH biosketch of PI and all academic co-investigators
Proposed budget and budget justification
1. Track 1 proposals may request up to $40,000; Track 2 proposals may request up to $20,000.
2. Indirect costs are not allowed.
3. It is expected that the project budget will be developed collaboratively by the researchers and community partner(s) and will support the effort and expenses of the community partner(s).
A Letter of Commitment from the community partner, describing the value of the project to the community and the role the partner will play in the proposed project.

Scoring Criteria

Applications will be scored by the REACH Developmental Score Committee based on following criteria: (1) innovation (20%); (2) research approach (40%); (3) project team (10%); (4) significance (10%); and (5) potential for leading to a subsequent successful grant application (20%).

Meet the 2025 Pilot Award Grantees

We are honored to recognize the following teams as 2025 REACH Center Pilot Award recipients:

Xindi (Cindy) Hu (GW Environmental and Occupational Health); Judy Wang (GW Statistics); Tatiyana Apanasovich (GW Statistics) – Data-driven solutions to mitigate the impact of hurricanes on private well drinking water quality and human health

This project integrates predictive tools, near real-time health data, and community collaboration to enhance resilience and disaster preparedness by safeguarding private wells, with a focus on private wells in North Carolina that were contaminated after Hurricane Helene.

Jenna R. Krall (GMU Global and Community Health); Marybeth Mitcham (GMU Global and Community Health); Luis E. Ortiz (GMU Atmospheric, Oceanic & Earth Sciences); Lucas R. F. Henneman (GMU Civil, Environmental, and Infrastructure Engineering) – Housing insecurity, heat, and health: A coalition for resilience

This project seeks to address the intersection of extreme weather and homelessness by examining how affordable housing policies can mitigate air pollution and extreme heat for unhoused and housing-insecure populations.

Vera Kuklina (GW Geography & Environment); Victoria Miles (Nansen Environmental and Remote Sensing Center); Micah Hahn (University of Alaska Anchorage Environmental Health); Andrey Petrov (University of Northern Iowa Geography); Diana Khaziakhmetova (University of Arizona Geography, Development & Environment) – Urban heat islands effect on public health in Arctic cities

This project studies the effects of urban heat islands on public health in Fairbanks, Alaska, particularly among Indigenous communities, with the goal of informing solutions for health resilience in other cold cities.

We are excited to see the impact of these projects as they progress. Seed grants provide a unique opportunity for grantees to explore new ideas, test innovative approaches, and lay the foundation of partnership and collaboration for future advancements. We look forward to supporting their journeys and sharing their successes with the broader community.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who can apply?: REACH pilot awards are open to multidisciplinary teams led by PI-eligible investigators at George Washington, Howard, and George Mason universities. Teams should be composed of at least two researchers who contribute distinct methods, frameworks, or expertise, in addition to at least one community partner. Cross-institutional collaboration is encouraged.
Who should I contact with any questions?: If you have one or more components of a proposal, but are missing other bits and pieces, we are here to help! REACH Center staff will be happy to assist you in preparing a full proposal. Please contact Robert Orttung (rorttunggwu [dot] edu (rorttung[at]gwu[dot]edu)) or Rachel Clark (rachelclarkemail [dot] gwu [dot] edu (rachelclark[at]gwu[dot]edu)) with any questions.