Systems-Level Risk Detection and Interventions to Reduce Suicide, Ideation, and Behaviors in Youth from Underserved Populations (R01 Clinical Trial Optional) | RFA MH 21 187

Opportunity Information: Apply for RFA MH 21 187

This National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding opportunity, titled "Systems-Level Risk Detection and Interventions to Reduce Suicide, Ideation, and Behaviors in Youth from Underserved Populations (R01 Clinical Trial Optional)" (Funding Opportunity Number RFA-MH-21-187; CFDA 93.242), supports research aimed at reducing suicide risk and suicidal behaviors among youth who are underserved and at elevated risk. The emphasis is on building and testing service system interventions that can be used in real-world settings to identify suicide risk quickly, coordinate appropriate responses, and connect young people to effective care. Rather than focusing on an individual-level program alone, the opportunity is centered on system-level change: how schools, clinics, community organizations, and other youth-serving systems can work together more reliably and effectively to detect risk and intervene in a timely way.

A central purpose of this R01 is to fund studies that evaluate the feasibility, acceptability, and safety of novel, tailored approaches that match the specific risk profiles of particular underserved youth populations. In practical terms, this means applicants are expected to identify a specific at-risk youth group and design an intervention that makes sense for that group’s needs, context, barriers to care, and pathways into services. The award can also be used to generate preliminary data needed to justify or launch a later, larger-scale efficacy or effectiveness study. In other words, this FOA is positioned to help teams move from promising concepts to evidence that the approach can work, can be implemented, and is appropriate and safe in the targeted communities.

The FOA lays out three main research goals. First, applicants should develop a multi-level service system intervention that coordinates suicide risk identification, evaluation, and linkage to needed treatment and supports for a clearly defined at-risk youth group. “Multi-level” implies the intervention should operate across more than one layer of a service system, such as workflows and policies at the organizational level, coordination and communication between agencies, provider practices, and linkages to evidence-based clinical and community services. Second, applicants should test the feasibility and effectiveness of the intervention for improving detection of suicide risk and reducing suicide risk and suicidal behaviors in the targeted youth group. This is meant to go beyond describing a model; it calls for empirical testing of whether the approach actually improves outcomes in a way that matters. Third, applicants should demonstrate that the intervention can be implemented in underserved, under-resourced community settings, and provide evidence that it has realistic potential for uptake and sustainability in the kinds of places where at-risk youth are most likely to show up for care.

The opportunity is explicitly aimed at broadly implementable interventions, meaning the end product should be something that can be used across typical service environments rather than relying on unusually specialized resources. The focus is on improving outcomes by strengthening systems of care and response, including how youth are identified as at risk, how risk is evaluated, and how youth are linked to appropriate treatment and services. The FOA’s ultimate objective is to advance evidence-based, practical strategies that can prevent suicide and suicidal behavior among at-risk youth through stronger systems-level detection and response.

An important boundary in this announcement is what it does not fund. It is not intended to support the development of new screening tools or assessment instruments. Applicants can work with existing tools and established approaches, but the core innovation is expected to come from system design, implementation strategies, coordinated workflows, and service linkages, rather than inventing a new measure. The “Clinical Trial Optional” designation indicates that proposing a clinical trial is allowed but not required; projects may include a trial if that is the appropriate way to test the intervention’s impact, but the FOA is also open to other rigorous designs consistent with the goals of feasibility and effectiveness testing.

Eligibility is broad and includes many types of U.S.-based organizations that interact with youth and community services. Eligible applicants include state, county, and city or township governments; special district governments; independent school districts; public and state-controlled institutions of higher education; private institutions of higher education; Native American tribal governments (federally recognized); tribal organizations other than federally recognized tribal governments; public housing authorities/Indian housing authorities; nonprofits with or without 501(c)(3) status (outside higher education); for-profit organizations (other than small businesses) as well as small businesses; and other organizations that meet NIH requirements. The FOA also highlights additional eligible applicants that are especially relevant to underserved populations and community implementation, including Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian Serving Institutions, Asian American Native American Pacific Islander Serving Institutions (AANAPISIs), Hispanic-serving Institutions, Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), Tribally Controlled Colleges and Universities (TCCUs), faith-based or community-based organizations, regional organizations, eligible federal agencies, tribal governments other than federally recognized, and U.S. territories or possessions.

At the same time, the FOA clearly restricts foreign involvement. Non-domestic (non-U.S.) entities are not eligible to apply, and non-domestic components of U.S. organizations are also not eligible. Foreign components, as NIH defines them in the NIH Grants Policy Statement, are not allowed under this announcement. These restrictions mean the project leadership, applicant institution, and supported components must be based in and conducted within eligible U.S. contexts.

Administratively, this is an NIH discretionary grant using the R01 mechanism, categorized under health-related research funding. The original closing date listed for the opportunity was June 29, 2021, and the opportunity record shows a creation date of April 16, 2021. While the provided listing does not specify an award ceiling or number of expected awards, the substance of the FOA is clear: NIH is seeking research that produces usable, scalable systems interventions that can be implemented in under-resourced community settings and that measurably improve the rapid identification of suicide risk and the effectiveness of responses for youth from underserved populations.

• The National Institutes of Health in the health sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Systems-Level Risk Detection and Interventions to Reduce Suicide, Ideation, and Behaviors in Youth from Underserved Populations (R01 Clinical Trial Optional)" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 93.242.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2021-04-16.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2021-06-29. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Eligible applicants include: State governments, County governments, City or township governments, Special district governments, Independent school districts, Public and State controlled institutions of higher education, Native American tribal governments (Federally recognized), Public housing authorities/Indian housing authorities, 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, For-profit organizations other than small businesses, Small businesses, Others.

Apply for RFA MH 21 187

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