RITA & ALEX HILLMAN FOUNDATION ANNOUNCES PUBLIC RFP FOR HILLMAN EMERGENT INNOVATION PROGRAM GRANTS

New program offers rare early-stage funding for bold and original nursing-driven programs to improve care for vulnerable populations


New York, NY, March 19, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- In an effort to jumpstart new solutions to health challenges faced by vulnerable populations–including the economically disadvantaged, racial and ethnic minorities, LGBTQ people, the homeless, rural populations, and others–the Rita & Alex Hillman Foundation (RAHF) is seeking bold, early-stage nursing-driven interventions for its 2018 Hillman Emergent Innovation Program. The Foundation is releasing the program’s first public Request for Proposals (RFP) today. The program will award up to four, one-year grants of $50,000 each.

The RFP application deadline is Monday, April 30, 2018. For full details, the RFP timeline, and instructions on how to apply to the Hillman Emergent Innovation Program, please click here.

“Addressing the unmet health care needs of vulnerable populations and finding ways to provide more equitable, high-quality, and person-centered care to people who desperately need it is an absolute imperative,” said Ahrin Mishan, Executive Director of the Rita & Alex Hillman Foundation. “As our social and health safety net continues to erode, this is now more vital than ever.”

Seeking bold early-stage work from a diverse range of applicantsThe Hillman Emergent Innovation Program seeks bold, early-stage (pre-evidence or untested) innovations that target health and health care problems in new ways.

In the belief that transformative ideas are as likely to come from small community care settings as they are from major academic research centers, the Foundation welcomes applications from a broad range of institutions, care settings, and practitioners (including nurse clinicians, researchers, postdocs, and adjunct faculty). Proposals that include one or more of the following qualities will receive priority in the RFP process:

  • Creativity; lateral or out-of-the-box thinking; disruptive potential
  • Engagement of patients, families, caregivers, and/or community organizations
  • Interprofessional or multidisciplinary collaboration
  • Institutional and community partnerships
  • Provision of care in non-hospital settings
  • Resourcefulness

“Funders tend to avoid supporting projects at this early stage, but risk-taking is key to identifying and developing ideas with the potential to radically reimagine and improve how care is delivered to communities in need,” said Rachael Watman, Vice President of Programs at the Rita & Alex Hillman Foundation.

A pipeline for nursing-driven innovation
Nursing has a long history of developing innovative solutions to some of society's most daunting health care challenges. The Rita & Alex Hillman Foundation is building on this tradition by creating a pipeline for innovation through three complementary grant programs. The first, the Hillman Emergent Innovation Program (described above), seeks promising ideas in the earliest experimental stage. The Foundation also awards three-year grants to support mature programs that already have strong preliminary evidence behind them, through the Hillman Innovations in Care Program. Finally, successful programs with an established evidence base that are ready for national scaling can receive support through the Hillman Innovation Dissemination Program.

This announcement marks the first public RFP for the Hillman Emergent Innovation Program, which also made awards in 2017 through an invited proposal process.

ABOUT THE RITA & ALEX HILLMAN FOUNDATION
The Rita & Alex Hillman Foundation’s mission is to improve the lives of patients and their families through nursing-driven innovation. To this end, the Foundation cultivates nurse leaders, supports nursing research, and disseminates new models of care that are critical to making the U.S. healthcare system more patient-centered, accessible, equitable, and affordable. The Foundation’s goal is to leverage the power of nursing’s unique knowledge to ensure that the healthcare system can deliver the high-quality care patients need and deserve. For more information, please visit www.rahf.org.

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A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/e5494332-4710-48cd-9af6-d5e277b5b830


            

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