Rural Northern Border Region Planning Program | HRSA 21 106

Opportunity Information: Apply for HRSA 21 106

The Rural Northern Border Region Planning Program is a federal grant opportunity from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), focused on helping rural communities in the Northern Border Regional Commission (NBRC) service area strengthen how they understand and plan for local health needs. Rather than funding direct clinical services, the program is designed to support structured planning work that helps underserved rural areas identify their most pressing health issues, evaluate barriers and gaps in the local health system, and develop practical strategies that can guide future rural health efforts across the northern border region. The overall intent is to leave communities better prepared to address health care needs in a targeted, coordinated, and evidence-informed way.

Funded projects are expected to concentrate on planning activities that clarify key rural health challenges and translate those findings into actionable rural health plans. That can include activities such as collecting and analyzing local data, conducting community health assessments, mapping resources and service gaps, engaging stakeholders (for example, hospitals, clinics, public health agencies, EMS, behavioral health providers, social service organizations, and community members), and facilitating strategic planning sessions that produce concrete priorities and implementation-ready next steps. The announcement highlights several common rural priorities that applicants may address, including access to care issues (such as distance, transportation, limited service availability, and care coordination challenges), health care workforce constraints (recruitment, retention, training pipelines, and burnout), and planning support for small rural hospitals that need to improve financial stability and operational performance. A key expectation is that applicants will build on existing policy and academic reports, so the work does not duplicate what is already known and instead strengthens, localizes, and extends prior research into community-specific planning products.

The grant supports an 18-month period of planning. HRSA specifically frames "planning activities" as work that prepares a community to provide direct services later, meaning the deliverables should position communities to compete for implementation funding, launch programs, or make operational changes after the planning period ends. In practice, that often means producing items such as a regional or community rural health plan, a prioritized set of interventions with timelines and responsible parties, a workforce or access-to-care strategy, partnership agreements or governance structures for collaboration, and clear documentation of needs, assets, and recommended actions. The program is discretionary and uses a grant funding instrument.

In terms of funding scale and competition, the opportunity lists an award ceiling of $190,000 and anticipates making about four awards. The funding activity category is Health, and the CFDA number associated with the program is 93.912. The opportunity number is HRSA-21-106, created May 11, 2021, with an original application closing date of June 14, 2021.

Eligibility is broad and includes many types of public, private, and community-based organizations that might be positioned to lead regional planning. Eligible applicants include county, city, township, and special district governments; independent school districts; public and state-controlled institutions of higher education as well as private institutions of higher education; federally recognized tribal governments and other tribal organizations; public housing authorities and Indian housing authorities; nonprofit organizations with or without 501(c)(3) status (excluding higher education institutions in those nonprofit categories); for-profit organizations other than small businesses; small businesses; and other entities as further clarified in the full eligibility section of the notice. This wide eligibility reflects the reality that rural health planning often depends on cross-sector leadership and collaboration, not just traditional health care institutions.

Taken together, the Rural Northern Border Region Planning Program is essentially a capacity-building and strategy-development grant for the NBRC rural footprint. It is meant to help rural leaders define their most urgent health problems, align partners around shared priorities, and produce credible plans grounded in existing evidence so communities are better prepared to pursue and implement solutions that improve access, strengthen the workforce, and support the stability of rural health systems.

• The Department of Health and Human Services, Health Resources and Services Administration in the health sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Rural Northern Border Region Planning Program" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 93.912.
• This funding opportunity was created on May 11, 2021.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Jun 14, 2021. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $190,000.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 4 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: 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 (see text field entitled Additional Information on Eligibility for clarification).

Apply for HRSA 21 106

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