The Georgia Council on Lupus Education and Awareness announces:
The 2024 Georgia Lupus Collaborative Grant
Request for Application
Purpose:
To improve the lives of citizens of Georgia who live with lupus and/or their caretakers
Award Amount:
One or more projects will be funded, up to a total of $30,000*
*Awarded to one or more 501c(3) organization(s) from Georgia that aspire to the GCLEA’s mission statement and goals.
Contact:
Important Dates:
Application Deadline: 5 p.m. on March 7, 2024
Funding Notification: March 21, 2024
Project Start Date: March 21, 2024
About the Georgia Lupus Collaborative Grant
The GCLEA seeks to improve the lives of citizens of Georgia who live with lupus and/or their caretakers by awarding one or more grants to worthy individuals and/or organizations from Georgia that aspire to GCLEA’s mission statement and goals. An independent committee will be formed to review and score proposals and make recommendations for funding to the GCLEA. Preference will be given to Georgia residents and organizations, projects that have a high probability of success, and those with a sustainability plan beyond GCLEA funding. One or more projects will be funded, up to a total of $30,000.
Funding Criteria
All proposals will be evaluated based on the following criteria:
- Response to Community: Preference will be given to organizations that support the mission statement and goals of the GCLEA and galvanize community power and voice to build an inclusive, just, and healthy future for those who live with lupus and/or their caretakers. These organizations should be serving the citizens of Georgia.
- Community Engagement: Preference will be given to organizations that demonstrate a long-term commitment and connection to the communities they serve.
- Intended Impact(s): Preference will be given to organizations that (1) demonstrate a clear and nuanced analysis of the issue(s) and the historical and local context; (2) clearly outline their approach addressing the issue(s); (3) define what short-, medium- and long-term success looks like; and (4) identify potential challenges and possible solutions for those challenges.
- Leadership, Staff, and Governance: Preference will be given to organizations whose leadership, staff, and governance (1) have deep experience in their communities; and (2) reflect the rich diversity and stories of the communities they serve.
- Collaboration: Preference will be given to organizations that demonstrate a collaborative spirit through (1) an awareness of available overlapping and complementary efforts and services; (2) a desire to partner to increase impact, where appropriate; and (3) an understanding of local community context and the desire and ability to leverage existing community relationships and/or build new ones.
Fiscal Responsibility and Sustainability: Preference will be given to organizations that can effectively receive and responsibly spend grant dollars, as demonstrated by (1) a clear budget narrative that articulates how grant dollars will be used, as well as a plan for financial sustainability beyond the Georgia Lupus Collaborative grant cycle, (2) appropriate milestones, and (3) clear plan for documentation and accountability. All awardees will work with the fiscal agent assigned by the GCLEA to invoice and receive funds. Funds are subject to state rules and regulations. Awardees will be guided by the Department of Community Health as needed.
Confidentiality
All submitted applications will be kept confidential, except as necessary for evaluation or to comply with any applicable laws. All applications submitted will be shared internally with a ​team of reviewers including members of the GCLEA, consultants, and outside subject matter experts, selected at the sole discretion of the GCLEA. The GCLEA will also aggregate and anonymize data and learnings from the RFA to inform future program development, wh​ich may be shared externally. Application materials and review narratives will not be returned to applicants.
About the Georgia Council on Lupus Education and Awareness (GCLEA)
The Georgia Council on Lupus Education and Awareness was established by the Georgia General Assembly in 2014 to improve the lives of Georgia residents who live with lupus by improving public education and awareness, improving access to resources for patients and family members, and developing information that will inform current and future public health efforts. It is the Council’s hope that these efforts will increase appropriate and earlier diagnoses of lupus by non-rheumatologists.
The GCLEA aspires to
- develop resources that will improve the level of lupus education and awareness in healthcare providers and the general public,
- develop resources for communities that lack access to specialized lupus healthcare providers, and
- develop resources that encourage professional development and proficiency in the diagnosis, care, management, and treatment of people with lupus.
The appointed members of the GCLEA consist of Co-Chairs State Representative Kim Schofield and S. Sam Lim of Emory University and Grady Health System. Other members include Cathy Craven of the Georgia Department of Community Health, State Senator Tonya Anderson, Rana Bayakly of the Georgia Department of Public Health, and Teresa Lasseter. The GCLEA is assisted by Brandy Sylvan and Kaitlin Ward of the Georgia Department of Community Health.
About the Georgia Lupus Collaborative
The GCLEA held a Lupus and Related Autoimmune Diseases Workshop on August 30, 2019, which was designed to foster collaborations between providers, researchers, community leaders, private industry, non-profit organizations, legislators, government agencies, professional organizations, and academia in order to improve the lives of people impacted by lupus in Georgia. This workshop was made possible by funds granted by the Georgia General Assembly to the GCLEA. Forty-one attendees worked together to identify current needs in the lupus community and ways in which each of their respective organizations and institutions could collaborate to support, educate, and/or provide services to the lupus community. Organizations represented at this workshop included the Georgia Department of Public Health, Georgia Department of Community Health, Augusta University, Emory University School of Medicine – Division of Rheumatology, the Georgians Organized Against Lupus (GOAL) research cohort, the Arthritis Foundation, Emory University School of Medicine – Division of Nephrology, Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, American College of Rheumatology, Goodwill Industries, Grady Health Systems, Emory Healthcare, Piedmont Hospital, members of the Georgia General Assembly, Georgians For a Healthy Future, the Jordan Savage Foundation, GlaxoSmithKline, and the Lupus Foundation of America, Georgia Chapter. Topics discussed included: increasing minority involvement in clinical trials; increasing awareness among non-rheumatologist service providers; creating a clearinghouse for rheumatologists who are interested in opportunities for volunteering and garnering ongoing commitments from participants towards future collaboration.
The overarching goal was to share current activities and achievements, provide perspective, create opportunities to collaborate in the future, and establish sustainable connections. One aim was to identify, among other things, projects related to lupus and related autoimmune diseases and/or identify projects that can be applied to lupus and related autoimmune disease; identify needs in the lupus community and current projects in the state’s lupus community; and identify opportunities to collaborate on current and future projects. Invitees agreed to contribute their time to these workgroups, which, combined, formulated a consortium now called the Georgia Lupus Collaborative or the Collaborative.
Participants were excited about learning more and making plans to do more to promote lupus awareness and education in Georgia and committed to remaining active with and connected to GCLEA through the Georgia Lupus Collaborative. As a result of these discussions, the GCLEA committed its support and resources to further these efforts.