[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 24 (Friday, February 4, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 6563-6565]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2022-02409]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention


Announcement of Requirements and Registration for the REACH Lark 
Galloway-Gilliam Nomination for Advancing Health Equity Challenge 
(REACH Lark Award Challenge)

AGENCY: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Department of 
Health and Human Services (HHS).

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), located 
within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), announces the 
2022 Racial and Ethnic Approaches to Community Health (REACH) Lark 
Galloway-Gilliam for Advancing Health Equity Award Challenge (REACH 
Lark Award Challenge). This biennial challenge was established in 2019 
to recognize extraordinary individuals, organizations, or community 
coalitions associated with the REACH program whose work has contributed 
to the implementation of culturally tailored interventions that advance 
health equity, reduce health disparities, and increase community 
engagement to address preventable risk factors (e.g., tobacco use, poor 
nutrition, physical inactivity, and inadequate access to clinical 
services).

DATES: The Challenge will accept applications from February 7, 2022 
through March 18, 2022.
    Award Approving Official: Rochelle P. Walensky, MD, MPH, Director, 
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and Administrator, Agency 
for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Kristy Mugavero, National Center for 
Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Centers for Disease 
Control and Prevention, 4770 Buford Hwy. NE, Mailstop S107-5, Atlanta, 
GA 30341, Telephone: 770-488-2047, Email: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Racial and ethnic disparities in health 
remain pervasive across the United States. CDC administers REACH, a 
national program that provides funding to state and local health 
departments, tribes, universities, and community-based organizations. 
Since REACH was established in 1999, the program has demonstrated 
success in addressing these disparities and promoting health equity by 
engaging with diverse communities and implementing culturally tailored 
interventions. For more information about the REACH program, visit 
https://www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/dnpao/state-local-programs/reach/index.htm.
    The intent of this challenge is to recognize individuals and 
organizations or community coalitions associated with the REACH program 
that meaningfully assisted with and carried out culturally tailored 
interventions that advance health equity, reduce health disparities, 
and increase community engagement to address preventable risk factors 
(e.g., tobacco use, poor nutrition, physical inactivity, and inadequate 
access to clinical services) in populations or groups 
disproportionately affected by chronic disease; specifically, African 
American/Black, American Indian or Alaska Native, Asian, Hispanic or 
Latino, and Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander persons. To 
support the science and practice of improving health equity, this 
challenge can help further the goals of the REACH program by 
documenting and further disseminating the innovative or unique 
interventions employed by individuals, organizations or community 
coalitions applying or nominated for this award.
    Subject of Challenge Competition: The challenge is authorized by 
Public Law 111-358, the America Creating Opportunities to Meaningfully 
Promote Excellence in Technology, Education and Science Reauthorization 
Act of 2010 (COMPETES Act).
    The ``applicant'' refers to each individual, organization, or 
community coalition who submits an application or nomination. The 
``nominee'' refers to each individual or organization/community 
coalition who is nominated, whether self-nominated or nominated by a 
separate applicant.
    Applicants will be asked to respond to a series of questions 
related to how the nominee assisted with and carried out culturally 
tailored interventions to advance health equity, reduce health 
disparities, and increase community engagement to address preventable 
risk factors (e.g., tobacco use, poor nutrition, physical inactivity, 
and inadequate access to clinical services) in populations or groups 
disproportionately affected by chronic disease; specifically African 
American/Black, American Indian or Alaska Native, Asian, Hispanic or 
Latino, and Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander persons.

Eligibility Rules for Participating in the Challenge

    The REACH Lark Award Challenge is open to the public. To be 
eligible for this award, nominees must meet the following eligibility 
requirements:
    (1) Shall have completed the application (for self-nominees) or 
have had an application submitted on their behalf (for those nominate 
by others) for the competition under the rules promulgated by HHS/CDC;
    (2) Shall have complied with all the requirements under this 
section and satisfy one of the following requirements:
    a. Be a currently or previously funded CDC REACH recipient that has 
not previously received the REACH Lark Award in any year; or
    b. Be a technical assistance provider to a former or current REACH 
recipient (current and past REACH recipients can be found at: https://www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/dnpao/state-local-programs/reach/index.htm); or
    c. Be a partner organization, part of a partner network, or 
coalition members that collaborated on REACH-related work with a 
current or previously funded REACH recipient;
    (3) Shall not have been a REACH Lark Award Challenge recipient in 
any previous year;
    (4) Shall be either:
    a. A U.S. citizen or legal permanent resident, eighteen years of 
age or older, if the nominee is an individual or group of individuals; 
or
    b. Incorporated in and maintain a primary place of business in the 
United States, if the nominee is an entity; where the United States 
means a state, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto 
Rico, and any other territory or possession of the United States;
    (5) Shall not be a federal entity or federal employee acting within 
the scope of their employment;
    (6) Shall not be an employee of or contractor of CDC;

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    (7) Shall not use federal funds to develop COMPETES Act challenge 
applications for this challenge, if the applicant is a federal grantee;
    (8) Shall not use federal funds from a contract to develop COMPETES 
Act challenge applications or to fund efforts in support of a COMPETES 
Act challenge submission, if the applicant is a federal contractor;
    (9) Shall not be deemed ineligible because an individual or team 
applicant or nominee used federal facilities or consulted with federal 
employees during a competition if the facilities and employees are made 
available to all individuals and entities participating in the 
competition on an equitable basis.
    (10) By participating, the applicant represents, warrants, and 
agrees that the entry contains accurate information. If an applicant is 
nominating another individual, organization, community coalition (e.g., 
not self-nominating), the applicant must provide acknowledgement in 
writing that the nominee consents to being nominated.
    (11) Applicants and nominees must agree to be recognized if 
selected as a winner and agree to participate in an interview with CDC 
staff to provide information that may be used by CDC staff to write a 
success story that describes the intervention(s) that promoted health 
equity. Winners and their intervention(s) may be recognized and the 
success story may be made public, including but not limited to, posted 
on the CDC's Division of Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Obesity 
website, the CDC website, social media, or other communication 
platforms, some combination of these communication channels, or all of 
these channels.
    (12) By participating in this challenge, applicants agree to assume 
any and all risks related to participating in the challenge. Applicants 
also agree to waive claims against the federal government and its 
related entities, except in the case of willful misconduct, when 
participating in the challenge, including claims for injury; death; 
damage; or loss of property, money, or profits; and including those 
risks caused by negligence or other causes.

Registration Process for Participants

    To participate and submit an application, interested parties should 
go to https://www.challenge.gov. The application requires responses to 
six questions; the answer to each question should be no longer than 300 
words. Generally, the questions ask the applicant to describe how the 
nominee assisted with and carried out culturally tailored interventions 
that achieve health equity, reduce health disparities, and increase 
community engagement to address preventable risk factors (e.g., tobacco 
use, poor nutrition, physical inactivity, and inadequate access to 
clinical services) in populations or groups disproportionately affected 
by chronic disease.
    Applicants can also submit evidence that demonstrates that the 
criteria were met through publications, links to online content, and 
other forms of written material.

Amount of the Prize

    No cash prize will be awarded. A maximum of two nominees (one 
individual and one organization or community coalition) will receive a 
plaque (``Winner''). While the winners may be invited to meetings by 
CDC, attendance at such events is not required as a condition of 
accepting the award.

Basis Upon Which Winners Will Be Selected

    CDC's Division of Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Obesity (DNPAO) 
Policy Office will convene a panel of three to five internal and 
external experts (panel members may recuse themselves in the event of a 
conflict of interest related to the nominee) to review the applications 
and select up to two award recipients (one individual and one 
organization or community coalition) from all eligible entries based 
on:
     The extent to which the problem or challenge is clearly 
identified and the strategies that the nominee used to address the 
challenges are described.
     The extent to which nominee's work addresses one or more 
of the following preventable risk factors: Tobacco use, poor nutrition, 
physical inactivity, and inadequate access to clinical services that 
are related to chronic diseases such as hypertension, heart disease, 
type 2 diabetes, and obesity.
     The extent to which the nominee's work aligns with the 
National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion's 
goals of achieving health equity by addressing social determinants of 
health. Examples of social determinants health include, but are not 
limited to the built environment, community-clinical linkages, food and 
nutrition security, social connectedness, and tobacco-free policies.
     The extent to which the solutions are culturally tailored, 
evidence or practice-based, and designed specifically to reduce health 
inequities for populations or groups disproportionately affected by 
chronic disease or related risk factors.
     The extent to which the nominee has actively and 
effectively engaged community members and partners across different 
sectors such as, but not limited to, transportation, healthcare, 
agriculture, emergency food systems, and faith-based organizations.
     The impact of the nominee's work in addressing preventable 
risk factors in populations or groups disproportionately affected by 
chronic disease.
    Panel members will score applications on a 100-point scale to 
select the winners.

Additional Information

    Information about the winners, such as the name and location of the 
individual, organization, or community coalition, priority population 
served, and health outcomes addressed, may be shared through press 
releases, the challenge website, and Division of Nutrition, Physical 
Activity, and Obesity and CDC Resources, and other publicly available 
platforms (e.g., social media, CDC website, etc.). Details regarding 
the winners and their applications may be shared with the public as 
part of recognition efforts.
    Applicants and nominees who are not selected for the award may be 
asked for permission for CDC to share information about successful 
interventions that promoted health equity on CDC's Division of 
Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Obesity website, the CDC website, 
social media, or other platform generally with appropriate attribution 
to the applicant or nominee.
    The award is named in honor of Lark Galloway-Gilliam, the founding 
Executive Director of Community Health Councils, Inc. (CHC). CHC began 
in 1992 to support planning, resource development, and policy education 
in response to the growing health crisis in the South Los Angeles area 
and other under-resourced and marginalized communities throughout Los 
Angeles County. Lark led the CHC team to engage communities and 
strengthen the connections among organizations in order to improve 
health, eliminate disparities, and achieve health equity. Under Lark's 
leadership, CHC became an expert in health equity in Los Angeles, 
across California, and the country. Lark also served in several 
leadership roles, including the first president of the National REACH 
Coalition, the MLK Medical center Advisory Board, and the IP3 Board of 
Directors for Community Commons.

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Compliance With Rules and Contacting Challenge Winners

    Applicants, nominees, and the REACH Lark Award Challenge winners 
must comply with all terms and conditions of these Official Rules and 
winning is contingent upon fulfilling all requirements herein. The 
winners will be notified by email, telephone, or mail after the date of 
the judging.

Privacy

    If applicants choose to provide HHS/CDC with personal information 
by registering or filling out the application form through the 
Challenge.gov website, that information will only be used to respond to 
contestants in matters regarding their submission, announcements of 
entrants, finalists, and winners of the contest. Information is not 
collected for commercial marketing. Winners are permitted to cite that 
they won this contest.

General Conditions

    CDC reserves the right to cancel, suspend, and/or modify the 
Challenge, or any part of it, for any reason, at CDC's sole discretion.
    Participation in this Challenge constitutes an applicants' full and 
unconditional agreement to abide by the Challenge's Official Rules 
found at https://www.Challenge.gov.
    Authority: 15 U.S.C. 3719.

    Dated: February 1, 2022.
Angela K. Oliver,
Executive Secretary, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
[FR Doc. 2022-02409 Filed 2-3-22; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4163-18-P