Healthy Eating Research

Introduction & Purpose

As part of its commitment to building a national Culture of Health, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) seeks ideas that advance health, equity, and wellbeing. Healthy Eating Research (HER) supports this goal through improving diet quality and nutrition for all Americans, addressing nutrition disparities, and reducing food and nutrition insecurity. HER’s mission is to support and disseminate research on policy, systems, and environmental strategies that promote healthy eating among children and families and advance nutrition security and health equity.

The purpose of this call for proposals (CFP) is to generate evidence on supportive family policies and programs that have strong potential to impact equitable access to nutritious food in communities, nutrition security, diet quality, and improved nutrition and health outcomes. We are especially interested in strategies to improve health outcomes for families with lower incomes and/or racially and ethnically diverse populations experiencing higher rates of diet-related chronic disease and/or health disparities. Findings will be used to guide and inform decisionmaking about policy and system changes that can advance nutrition equity and improve health.

Through this CFP, we seek to learn what works (or not) and why; who benefits the most from these policies and programs; and whether disparities are reduced. We are interested in solution-oriented research that focuses on policy, systems, and environmental (PSE) change at the national, state, local, and tribal levels. The CFP provides opportunities to develop and test innovative approaches to increasing access to healthy foods, such as through child nutrition programs; innovations in technologies; expanding program outreach and eligibility; simplifying program enrollment processes; identifying ways to improve equity within nutrition assistance programs; building the evidence base for these programs’ impacts on diet quality, food insecurity, nutrition, weight, and health; and areas for improvements and scalability.

HER issues CFPs to solicit scientifically rigorous, solution-oriented proposals from investigators representing diverse disciplines and backgrounds. To learn more about the program, we encourage applicants to visit the Healthy Eating Research website at www.healthyeatingresearch.org.

Eligibility & Selection Criteria

• Applicant organizations must be based in the United States or its territories.
• Awards will be made to organizations, not to individuals.
• Preference will be given to applicants that are either public entities or nonprofit organizations that are tax-exempt under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code and are not private foundations or Type III supporting organizations. The Foundation may require additional documentation. 

Key Dates & Deadlines

• January 31–April 3, 2024 
  RWJF online system becomes available to applicants to submit concept papers.
   
• April 3, 2024 (3 p.m. ET) 
  Deadline for receipt of concept papers. Those submitted after the deadline will not be reviewed.*
   
• May 8, 2024
  Applicants notified whether they are invited to submit a full proposal.
   
• July 10, 2024 (3 p.m. ET) 
  Deadline for receipt of invited full proposals. Those submitted after the deadline will not be reviewed.*
   
• September 2024
  Notification of finalists.
   
• November 2024
  Awards begin.

*All proposals for this solicitation must be submitted via the RWJF online system. If you have not already done so, you will be required to register at my.rwjf.org before you begin the application process. All applicants should log in to the system and familiarize themselves with online proposal requirements well before the final submission deadline. Staff may not be able to assist all applicants in the final 24 hours before the submission deadline.

Total Awards

Number of Awards:  Up to 10 awards will be funded.
Amount of Awards:  Each award will be up to a maximum of $275,000 with a total of up to $2.5 million to be funded through this CFP. We encourage proposals that request lower budget amounts.
Award duration:   Awards will be a maximum of 24 months in duration. We encourage proposals that request shorter periods (e.g., 12-18 months)