Improving Mental Health and Engagement in Care Among People with HIV — Evaluation Provider | HRSA 25 059

Opportunity Information: Apply for HRSA 25 059

The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) is offering a cooperative agreement opportunity titled Improving Mental Health and Engagement in Care Among People with HIV - Evaluation Provider (EP), Funding Opportunity Number HRSA-25-059 (CFDA 93.928). This is a discretionary health funding opportunity under the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program (RWHAP) Special Projects of National Significance (SPNS) portfolio. HRSA expects to make one award for an organization that will serve as the national Evaluation Provider, working alongside a separately funded Implementation Technical Assistance Provider (ITAP) under a companion notice of funding opportunity. The EP and ITAP are required to co-lead the overall initiative, meaning the evaluation function is not a side activity but a central leadership role that shapes how sites implement, learn, and improve over time. Applications were originally due March 18, 2025.

The initiative is centered on improving outcomes for people with HIV who also have mental health conditions and who are out of care or struggling with retention in care. The core idea is to support a national cohort of implementation sites as they adapt and put into practice culturally responsive interventions that better engage people in both HIV primary care and mental health services. While the initiative is anchored in this population, the EP and ITAP can also identify additional priority populations when selecting implementation sites, including populations highlighted in the National HIV/AIDS Strategy. The broader purpose is to generate practical, transferable learning about what strategies actually work across different settings and communities to improve engagement in care, mental health outcomes, and HIV outcomes.

HRSA lays out three main objectives for this initiative. Objective 1 focuses on implementation support: helping a cohort of sites adapt and implement culturally responsive interventions designed to engage and retain people with co-occurring HIV and mental health needs in appropriate care. Objective 2 is the evaluation mission, which is where the EP has primary responsibility. The EP must evaluate how the interventions are implemented using implementation science frameworks, and continuously document and share findings throughout the project to support real-time learning rather than only end-of-project reporting. The evaluation is expected to look at how interventions are adapted in practice, what barriers and facilitators affect implementation, what implementation strategies are used to make the work succeed, what the costs are, and what outcomes are observed across implementation measures as well as client and service outcomes. Objective 3 is about scaling learning beyond the funded sites by creating and disseminating user-friendly multimedia products that other RWHAP organizations can use to replicate effective interventions in their own settings, making the deliverables practical and accessible rather than purely technical reports.

Eligible applicants are domestic organizations only, not individuals. HRSA defines domestic broadly to include the 50 states, Washington, DC, Puerto Rico, and several US territories and freely associated states, including the Northern Mariana Islands, American Samoa, Guam, the US Virgin Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, and the Republic of Palau. Eligible organization types include public and nonprofit private entities such as state and local governments, academic institutions (including private institutions of higher education), local health departments, nonprofit hospitals and outpatient clinics, community health centers supported under Section 330 of the Public Health Service Act, faith-based and community-based organizations, and Indian Tribes or Tribal organizations with or without federal recognition. The EligibleApplicants list also includes nonprofits with and without 501(c)(3) status, and Native American tribal organizations (other than federally recognized tribal governments).

In practical terms, this opportunity is looking for an organization with strong national evaluation capacity and deep familiarity with implementation science to guide an initiative that blends service innovation with rigorous, usable learning. The EP is expected to help the RWHAP field understand not just whether engagement and mental health interventions work, but how they can be adapted, implemented, afforded, and sustained across real-world HIV care settings serving diverse priority populations.

• The Health Resources and Services Administration in the health sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Improving Mental Health and Engagement in Care Among People with HIV — Evaluation Provider" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 93.928.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2025-01-16.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2025-03-18. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 1 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: State governments, 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, Others.

Apply for HRSA 25 059

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