Understanding Food-Related Hardships among Older Americans

Request for Proposals

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, announces a second round competition for research contracts that expand 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 from qualified individuals and institutions to provide rigorous research 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 of four large subcontracts at $250,000 each and four small subcontracts at $50,000 each.

We request a letter of intent to submit a proposal by December 10, 2019. Full proposals are due January 14, 2020, with award dates on or about February 25, 2020. Consult the RFP for submission details. The full RFP is available here, or paste the address directly in your browser: http://ukcpr.org/sites/ukcpr/files/Final_Senior_Hunger_RFP_Round_2.pdf

Please direct questions to Jeff Spradling at ukcpr@uky.edu and reference Round 2 RFP on Food Hardships in the subject line. Further information about UKCPR and its programs is available at http://www.ukcpr.org/.