Contact: Fred Blosser (202) 401-3749
April 21, 2005

The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) is inviting applications for up to $2 million in competitive funding to create new Centers for Excellence to Promote a Healthier Workplace. The NIOSH Request for Applications was issued on April 14, 2005, and the deadline for receipt of applications is June 15, 2005.

NIOSH intends to award one to three new cooperative agreements under the Request for Assistance. The new Centers for Excellence created through the awards will establish collaborative programs across different professional disciplines to stimulate the integration of workplace health protection and workplace health promotion. The funding opportunity reflects the objectives of NIOSH's Steps to a Healthier U.S. Workforce program, which was launched last year. www.cdc.gov/niosh/steps/.

"Increasingly, as health professionals and business leaders recognize that it makes good sense to look holistically at health protection and health promotion, innovative approaches are needed to bridge longstanding historical gaps between these disciplines," said NIOSH Director John Howard, M.D. "We are pleased to offer this support for establishing high-quality Centers for Excellence that will develop and apply such approaches."

Information on the Request for Application, including further details on the objectives of the funding, the features on which applications will be judged, types of information required from applicants, and procedures for submitting applications, can be found at http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/rfa-files/RFA-OH-05-006.html.

The Request for Applications is open to for-profit and non-profit organizations, public and private institutions, units of state governments, domestic institutions, and faith-based or community-based organizations. NIOSH anticipates that awards will be announced in September 2005. Applications will be evaluated under a rigorous peer-review process to determine, among other criteria, that a proposal has a significant intention, that the proposed approach is well-reasoned, that the project is innovative, that staff is highly trained and well-suited to the task, and that the working environment will contribute to the success of the mission.