Use of mini-grants to disseminate evidence-based interventions for cancer prevention and control

Introduction:

Mini-grants are an increasingly utilized tool to engage communities in evidence-based practices for promoting public health. Common strategies for disseminating evidence-based interventions (EBI) include websites, registries, implementation manuals, webinars, trainings, and other forms of technical assistance. The purpose of this project was to describe the use of mini-grants to promote EBIs for cancer prevention and control.

Methods:

Four NIH/CDC-funded Cancer Prevention and Control Research Network (CPCRN) sites are at various stages of engagement in a mini-grant process. The sites came together to describe their mini-grant strategies using the following categories: description and source of EBI, specific EBI or policy/environment changes, funding levels, review and selection criteria, and timeframe. They further described the grantees by site in the following categories: number of grants awarded, types of organizations funded, and selected accomplishments.

Results:

The majority of mini-grants awarded covered topics such as physical activity and nutrition. The amount of resources offered ranged from $1,000 to $10,000. Most grants went to community-based organizations. This mini-grant opportunity was characterized by its emphasis on technical assistance for evidence-based programming. All projects had some evaluation component, although there was great variability in the scope of the evaluations.

Conclusion:

Working in partnership with other organizations helped to facilitate the implementation and evaluation of evidence-based strategies for cancer prevention and control. Standardized evaluation tools may help communities better implement EBIs. The mini-grant processes described serve as a model for the promotion of public health topics in other domains.