Detailed Summary 

This document is not the final RFP (to be released: January 7, 2021) and does not include all the details you will need to write your proposal. It is meant to inform you, in advance, about some of the major components you will see on the RFP. Information in this document is subject to change.  

Purpose 

The purpose of the RFP’s Community Innovation Funding Category is to fund organizations to design and implement a community project to reduce tobacco, nicotine, and vaping product use among a specific youth population. VFHY will provide organizations up to $30,000 per year for 3 years.  VFHY maintains the Tobacco-Free Generation Community Innovation Toolkit, a growing collection of policy, systems, and environmental change strategies which protect youth from the dangers of tobacco, nicotine, and vaping product use. Applicants must design a community-innovation project aimed at a key youth population or populations of their choice. An important component of this funding category is to develop, implement, and document innovative practices to reduce tobacco-related population health disparities. Applicants may adapt strategies found in the Community Innovation Toolkit, or propose their own strategies, or both.  

How Do I know Which Strategies to Propose? 

VFHY is carefully vetting strategies in our Community Innovation Toolkit to make sure they are impactful and easy to implement. The Community Innovation Toolkit is likely to include many of the strategies found here. The full toolkit will be released on January 7, 2021 along with the RFP. If you want to get an early start, take a look at the strategies and see if they might be tailored to the young people you work with. The list is not exhaustive, and you are welcome to propose your own strategies that you believe will be effective. You are also welcomed to combine your own strategies with one or more on our toolkit.  If you already have a fully formed idea for what you want to implement over three years, you may describe your project in the proposal. If you have some idea for what you want to implement, but need to spend part of the first year in planning (holding focus groups, implementing a needs assessment, etc.) that will also be permitted.  

Which Populations May I Target? 

We leave the decision up to you, so long as you can demonstrate some evidence in your proposal that your population is at risk of being disparately impacted by tobacco, nicotine, or vaping products. Recent state and national data suggest that groups who are at an increased risk include youth who:

• Are in the juvenile justice system 
• Have a behavioral health disorder 
• Have lower academic achievement  

• Identify as African American 
• Identify as American Indian/Native American 
• Identify as Hispanic or Latino 

• Identify as LGBTQ+ 
• Live in poverty 
• Live in rural areas 

However, there are other groups that you might choose to target. Depending upon you program and mission, you might also choose more specific groups (e.g., rural youth who identify as LGBTQ, etc.)