Spinal Cord Injury Model Systems | HHS 2021 ACL NIDILRR SIMS 0049

Opportunity Information: Apply for HHS 2021 ACL NIDILRR SIMS 0049

The Spinal Cord Injury Model Systems (SCIMS) grant opportunity is a federal discretionary research grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Administration for Community Living (ACL), through the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research (NIDILRR). Its main purpose is to generate and share research-based knowledge that strengthens a coordinated, multidisciplinary rehabilitation system tailored to people living with traumatic spinal cord injury (SCI). The program emphasizes real-world clinical systems that can both deliver comprehensive SCI care and produce high-quality research evidence that improves outcomes across the lifespan.

To qualify, an applicant organization has to demonstrate that it provides a full continuum of SCI care. That continuum must include emergency medical services, acute care services, acute medical rehabilitation services, and post-acute services. In other words, this is not a grant for a single clinic or a stand-alone research lab; it is aimed at institutions that can show integrated care pathways from the moment of injury through rehabilitation and longer-term community living and follow-up. For this program, SCI is specifically defined as a clinically observable neurological impairment of the spinal cord that occurs after a traumatic event, which clarifies the focus on traumatic SCI rather than non-traumatic causes.

Awardees operate as SCIMS Centers and are expected to do more than provide care. Each Center must conduct research that is both site-specific (work rooted in its own patient population, services, and clinical practices) and collaborative (coordinated research efforts across the SCIMS network). A core requirement is participation in the SCIMS longitudinal database: Centers must collect standardized follow-up information on eligible participants over time and contribute those data to the national database. This database function is central to the program because it supports long-term, multi-site research on outcomes, rehabilitation approaches, secondary conditions, and community participation.

Funding levels are variable and tied to workload, particularly the scale of longitudinal follow-up data collection. While the award ceiling is $490,000, actual awards can be set anywhere up to that maximum depending on the number of database participants a Center has who are eligible for follow-up and the documented effort needed to complete those follow-ups. The notice also explains that existing Centers with substantially larger pools of follow-up-eligible participants may receive higher funding within the allowable range, with NIDILRR making those determinations after selecting grantees. Final award amounts are determined case by case, factoring in follow-up workload, other grant-related costs, and the overall program budget limits.

In terms of who can apply, eligibility is broad and includes various levels of government (state, county, city/township, and special districts), public and private institutions of higher education, federally recognized tribal governments and other tribal organizations, nonprofits with or without 501(c)(3) status, and for-profit organizations (other than small businesses), along with other entities as clarified in the full announcement. The opportunity was posted under Funding Opportunity Number HHS-2021-ACL-NIDILRR-SIMS-0049, categorized under Science and Technology and other Research and Development (CFDA 93.433). The announcement anticipated about 14 awards, with an original application closing date of May 8, 2021.

• The Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Community Living in the science and technology and other research and development sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Spinal Cord Injury Model Systems" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 93.433.
• This funding opportunity was created on Mar 09, 2021.
• Applicants must submit their applications by May 08, 2021. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $490,000.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 14 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: State governments, County governments, City or township governments, Special district governments, Independent school districts, Public and State controlled institutions of higher education, Native American tribal governments (Federally recognized), Native American tribal organizations (other than Federally recognized tribal governments), Nonprofits having a 501(c)(3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Nonprofits that do not have a 501(c)(3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Private institutions of higher education, For profit organizations other than small businesses, Others (see text field entitled Additional Information on Eligibility for clarification).

Apply for HHS 2021 ACL NIDILRR SIMS 0049

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