Grants for Small businesses - Science and Technology

The Women's Foundation of Minnesota (WFM) has launched the Innovators Program, a microgrant initiative aligned with its mission to support the leadership and ideas of young women and gender-expansive leaders. This program directly contributes to the foundation's strategic priorities by empowering youth (ages 16-24) to address gender and racial equity and justice within their communities. Through microgrants, cohort-based learning, and individual leadership coaching, WFM aims to fuel these leaders' ideas and support their development, ultimately advancing key recommendations outlined in the Young Women’s Initiative of Minnesota’s (YWI MN) Blueprint for Action. The primary target beneficiaries of the Innovators Program are young women and gender-expansive individuals aged 16-24 who reside in Minnesota. Priority is given to those who identify with priority communities of the YWI MN, including Black/African American, African Immigrant, American Indian, Hispanic/Latina, Asian/Pacific Islander, LGBTQ+, Disabilities, and Greater/Rural Minnesota communities. The program's impact goals are focused on three core areas: building pathways to economic opportunity, improving safety and well-being, and promoting young women's leadership. The Innovators program prioritizes projects that advance gender and racial equity and justice, led by visionary leaders from diverse backgrounds and experiences. Projects can be varied, including starting or continuing social change initiatives, designing personal learning plans, attending conferences to share learnings, organizing events for impact, supplying resources for advocacy, conducting research, or undertaking travel for learning purposes within Minnesota. The program emphasizes creative thinking in how microgrants can uniquely help move leadership and ideas forward, and how they can increase effectiveness in desired impact. Expected outcomes and measurable results include the successful implementation of grant-funded projects within a 12-month period, demonstrating an advancement in gender and racial equity and justice. Participants are expected to engage in mandatory online and/or in-person convenings for leadership development, advocacy, and community building. This includes direct professional coaching to support their projects and deepen their long-term leadership skills. The foundation's theory of change posits that by investing directly in young women and gender-expansive leaders, providing financial support, leadership development, and a supportive cohort, it can foster impactful projects and cultivate a new generation of leaders capable of driving systemic change.

This grant provides financial support to nonprofit organizations focused on empowering low- and moderate-income communities and underserved populations in New England and parts of New York.

This funding opportunity provides financial support for small businesses, property owners, developers, and nonprofit organizations to undertake renovation or new construction projects in specific areas of South and North Minneapolis.

This funding opportunity supports clinical trials aimed at improving treatments and care for individuals with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), encouraging collaboration with patients and caregivers in the research process.

The ERP seeks to solicit Faculty members to join the Virtual Post-Traumatic Epilepsy Research Center (P-TERC) in order to advance PTE research through development of early-career investigators and investigators new to the PTE field. The ERP Virtual P-TERC is a unique, interactive virtual research center providing intensive mentoring, national networking, collaborations, and a peer group for new PTE investigators. The overarching goal of the Virtual P-TERC is to develop successful, highly productive PTE researchers in a collaborative research and career development environment to enhance quality and expand quantity of the PTE research field. The Virtual P-TERC is a multi-institutional career development and research training platform that consists of Faculty and their Career Guides (primary mentors) and is managed by a Director and Deputy Director. The Virtual P-TERC Leadership (the Director and the Deputy Director) serve as a resource for the Faculty and Career Guides, assessing the progress of Faculty and facilitating communication and collaboration among all of the Faculty and Career Guides, as well as with national research societies and representatives from the community with lived PTE experience. In addition to fostering scientific development, the Virtual P-TERC, through its Leadership, provides for professional and leadership development of the Faculty to include skills and competencies needed to fund and manage a productive PTE research laboratory.

The FY24 PRMRP Impact Award supports applied research, defined as use-inspired and practice-oriented science that brings together outcomes from basic research, and insights from the real-world environment, to foster clinical applicability. The intent of the Impact Award is to translate the fundamental understanding of underlying mechanisms toward practical applications that have the potential for major near-term impact on patients affected by one of the diseases and conditions included in the FY24 PRMRP Topic Areas.Proposed research should refine mature concepts and ideas into translatable solutions with a view toward evaluating technical feasibility of promising new pharmacological agents, knowledge products, behavioral and rehabilitation interventions, diagnostic and therapeutic techniques, clinical guidance, and/or emerging approaches and technologies. The FY24 PRMRP Impact Award is not intended to support basic research.For the purposes of this funding opportunity, basic research is defined as exploratory science directed toward greater knowledge or understanding of the fundamental aspects of phenomena or outcomes, without specific applications toward process and products. Examples include, but are not limited to, high-risk/high-gain approaches, mechanistic studies, and preliminary data generation/validation. Applicants seeking funding for research that meets this definition should consider one of the other FY24 PRMRP program announcements being offered. For information about these award mechanisms, see Section II.A.1, FY24 PRMRP Research Development Pipeline.Pre-Application (Letter of Intent) Submission Deadline: 5:00 p.m. Eastern time (ET), May 13, 2024

The SCIRP IIRA is intended to support studies that have the potential to make an important contribution to SCI research, patient care, and/or quality of life.Important aspects of this award mechanism include: Impact: Applications should articulate the short- and long-term impact of the proposed research on both the SCI research field as well as the SCI community. Projects must address one or more of the FY24 SCIRP Focus Areas. Relevance to Military Health: Projects should be relevant to spinal cord-injured military Service Members, Veterans, and/or their Family members and care partners. Collaboration with military and VA researchers and clinicians is encouraged. Preliminary Data: Observations that drive a research idea may be derived from laboratory discovery, population-based studies, a clinicians first-hand knowledge of patients, or anecdotal data. Applications must include preliminary and/or published data that are relevant to the mission of the SCIRP and support the proposed research project.IIRA applications may focus on any phase of research from basic through translational, though studies focused exclusively on target identification are discouraged. Permitted research includes preclinical studies in animal models (except where otherwise specified), research with human subjects or human anatomical substances, as well as ancillary studies associated with an existing clinical trial.

This program provides funding to expand high-speed internet access in underserved areas of Pennsylvania, targeting households and businesses lacking adequate broadband service.

This program provides up to $5,000 in digital support to small businesses in Washington County, Virginia, to enhance their online presence and operational capabilities.

This program provides competitive funding for community organizations and local governments to build or improve public facilities that support work, education, and health monitoring in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

This funding opportunity supports private landowners in New York State to establish new forested areas of at least five acres, promoting climate change mitigation and environmental sustainability.

This funding opportunity supports innovative research projects that improve the early diagnosis and prognosis of Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias, emphasizing community collaboration and inclusivity for underrepresented populations.

This grant provides funding for research projects that develop and validate clinical outcomes and biomarkers to improve the understanding and treatment of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), with a focus on community collaboration and non-interventional studies.

The goals of the paleoclimate program are to: (i) provide a baseline for present climate variability and future climate trends, and (ii) improve the understanding of the physical, chemical, and biological processes that influence climate variability and trends over the long-term. Research topics include observational and modeling studies of past climate variability and its drivers and studies that develop new paleoclimate proxies and records. Competitive proposals will address specific aspects of scientific uncertainty for their proposed research. The Paleoclimate program of the Division of the Atmospheric and Geospace Sciences together with other Divisions in the Geoscience Directorate have joined in coordinating and supporting the annual Paleo Perspectives on Present and Projected Climate (P4CLIMATE) competition with the objectives to support studies within two research themes: 1) Past Regional and Seasonal Climate; and 2) Past Climate Forcing, Sensitivity, and Feedbacks. Researchers are encouraged to consider the P4CLIMATE competition as a possible source of support for their global change research. Since proposals eligible for funding in the P4CLIMATE competition are not eligible for funding in the Paleoclimate Program, researchers are strongly advised to contact the Directors of the Paleoclimate Program for guidance as to the suitability of their proposed research for either program. The paleoclimate program strongly encourages proposals from: Researchers at all career stages, including through the AGS Postdoctoral Research Fellowship program. Researchers at all institution types, including MSIs, non-R1 institutions, and institutions in EPSCoR jurisdictions. Researchers from traditionally underrepresented groups in Paleoclimate Science.

This program provides funding for collaborative research projects that use computational methods to explore and understand brain function, targeting interdisciplinary teams from U.S. and international institutions.

This funding opportunity supports independent research projects that explore the effectiveness and integration of massage therapy in healthcare, particularly those led by trained massage therapists.

This program provides financial support for research projects that improve agricultural sustainability and water efficiency in Kansas, focusing on drought-tolerant crops and innovative agricultural technologies.

This grant provides funding for research and initiatives that address the impacts of drought and climate change, aiming to enhance resilience and inform decision-making for communities and ecosystems across the United States.

The Arizona Department of Health Services (ADHS) Bureau of Women’s and Children’s Health (BWCH) oversees Adolescent Health programming to improve the health and well-being of young people in the state. As of 2005, BWCH has been administering state lottery funds for the prevention of teen pregnancies and sexually transmitted infections (STIs). According to the Arizona Vital Statistics, from 2011 to 2021, the teen birth rate for Arizona teenagers ages fifteen through nineteen (15-19) has declined from thirty-six point nine (36.9) to fifteen point three (15.3) per 1,000 females. The repeat birth rates of youth of the same age, who had already had a child decreased from 142.7 in 2011 to 135.8 per 1,000 in 2021. Despite the declines, birth rates for Arizona teens ages fifteen through nineteen (15-19)   exceeds   the   national   rate   of   thirteen   point   nine   (13.9)   in   2021 (https://blogs.cdc.gov/nchs/2023/01/20/7245/). Arizona's racial and ethnic groups exhibit significant disparities in teen pregnancy rates, with Hispanic, American Indian, and African American females aged nineteen (19) or younger experiencing the highest rates. In 2021, American Indian youth had a notably elevated pregnancy rate of sixteen point three (16.3) per 1,000 females, surpassing the state average of ten point six (10.6) per 1,000. Similarly, rates for Hispanic or Latino youth were fourteen point four (14.4) per 1,000, and for Black or African American youth, they were twelve point six (12.6) per 1,000, both above the state average, while rates for White Non-Hispanics six (6) per 1,000 and Asian or Pacific Islanders three point four (3.4) per 1,000 were considerably lower. Teen pregnancy is intricately linked with complex factors such as school failure, behavioral issues, and family challenges, which often hinder youths’ ability to avoid pregnancy. Positive Youth Development (PYD) programs present a promising approach by emphasizing the enhancement of protective factors over merely addressing risk behaviors. These programs have shown efficacy in reducing sexual risk behaviors, Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), other sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), and unintended pregnancies. By fostering ongoing development and maturation, PYD programs empower youth to recognize and manage risk-taking behaviors, making them a viable strategy for teen pregnancy prevention (Gavin et al., 2010). According to the 2021 Arizona Surveillance STD case data, forty-nine percent (49%) of STD cases (chlamydia, gonorrhea, and syphilis) in Arizona were among adolescents under the age of twenty-five (25). Since 2019, the rate of chlamydia among teenagers fifteen through nineteen (15-19) years old has been slowly decreasing but still remains high at 2,031 per 100,000 in 2019 to 1,729 per 100,000 in 2021. For gonorrhea, the rate among these teenagers increased from 384 per 100,000 in 2019 to 467 per 100,000 in 2021. As for syphilis, in 2019, twenty-two (22) per 100,000 fifteen through nineteen (15-19) year-old teenagers were reported to have syphilis, increasing to twenty-six (26) per 100,000 in 2021. Regarding STDs/STIs, major disparities between Arizona’s racial and ethnic groups also persist. The Arizona 2021 Annual STD Report indicates that Black (994 per 100,000) and American Indian/Alaska Native (787 per 100,000) populations have consistently higher rates of chlamydia, the Black population (763 per 100,000) continues to have the highest rate of gonorrhea, and the American Indian/Alaska Native (172 per 100,000) and Black (123 per 100,000) populations have the highest rates of syphilis, surpassing their Hispanic, White, and Asian/Pacific Islander counterparts. Financial Notes: Approximately $700,000.00 will be available each Grant year for a five (5) year grant period to provide services to youth for the prevention of teen pregnancies and STIs. Annual funding for services will be provided during the state fiscal year, from July through June; Therefore, the first and last years of funding will be partial funding: first year funded upon award through June 30, 2025; fifth year from July 1, 2029 through September 30, 2029. Budgets will be reviewed annually and may be decreased based on: 1. Changes in state lottery funding allocations. 2. Failure to meet the number of youths proposed to be served; or meet the required program completion by youth for Teen Pregnancy Prevention Programming. 3. Failure to comply with Grant requirements. 4. Negative audit findings. 5. Failure to spend budget funds efficiently.

The PRMRP Discovery Award is intended to support innovative, untested, non-incremental, high-risk/potentially high-reward research that will provide new insights, paradigms, technologies, or applications. The proposed project may be exploratory, hypothesis-driven, or hypothesis-generating research but must be novel and must be based on a strong scientific rationale and a well-developed study design and plan of analysis. Studies supported by this award are expected to lay the groundwork for future avenues of scientific investigation or product development. The outcome of research supported by this award should be the generation of robust preliminary data that can be used as a foundation for groundbreaking future research projects.This award is not intended to support/validate ongoing research and inclusion of preliminary data is not allowed. Inclusion of preliminary data other than serendipitous finding is not consistent with the exploratory nature of this award. Applicants seeking funding for research to further an existing research project should consider one of the other FY24 PRMRP program announcements being offered. For information about these award mechanisms, see Section II.A.1, FY24 PRMRP Research Development Pipeline.