Model Continuums of Care Initiative (MCCI) for Women and Girls at Risk and Living With HIV/AIDS and Harmful Alcohol and Associated Comorbidities Planning Cooperative Agreement (U34) | RFA AA 17 013

Opportunity Information: Apply for RFA AA 17 013

The Model Continuums of Care Initiative (MCCI) Planning Cooperative Agreement (U34) is a National Institutes of Health funding opportunity focused on strengthening HIV prevention and care for women and girls who are at risk for HIV or living with HIV/AIDS, specifically in communities where racial and ethnic minority women experience a disproportionate share of the HIV burden. The central idea behind the initiative is that harmful alcohol use is not just a parallel health issue, but a key driver that can increase HIV acquisition risk, disrupt engagement in care, and undermine treatment adherence. This opportunity supports planning work to build and test integrated, multi-level approaches that reduce alcohol consumption while also improving HIV-related outcomes, with an emphasis on creating practical models of care that can work in real community settings.

The award uses the U34 Planning Cooperative Agreement mechanism, which is designed to help teams prepare for larger-scale implementation and evaluation efforts. In practice, this means applicants are expected to do the groundwork required to launch rigorous implementation and operations research, such as developing partnerships, refining intervention components, building shared protocols, establishing data collection and management plans, selecting outcomes and measures, addressing regulatory and ethical requirements, and ensuring the approach is feasible and acceptable to the community. Because it is a cooperative agreement, NIH is typically more involved than in a standard grant, with substantial programmatic interaction intended to help shape the project toward strong readiness for future implementation research.

A defining feature of the MCCI initiative is its reliance on a community-based participatory research approach. The expectation is that community members, service providers, and other local stakeholders will not be treated as an afterthought or only as recruitment channels, but will meaningfully participate in developing the model of care and the research plan. This approach is meant to increase cultural relevance, improve uptake, and strengthen the likelihood that any successful strategies can be sustained after the research phase. The initiative also explicitly frames the work as building "continuums of care," signaling a focus on coordinated systems that link screening, prevention, treatment, and supportive services rather than isolated, one-off interventions.

The initiative outlines four core research aims that the planning work should prepare to address. First, it prioritizes improving screening and early engagement in care, which includes identifying harmful alcohol use and HIV-related needs sooner and connecting women and girls to appropriate services quickly. Second, it emphasizes enhancing retention in care, recognizing that ongoing engagement is often disrupted by substance use, unstable housing, stigma, trauma, mental health conditions, intimate partner violence, transportation barriers, and fragmented services. Third, it targets improving medication adherence, reflecting the critical role of consistent antiretroviral therapy for viral suppression and health outcomes, and the ways alcohol use and related comorbidities can interfere with daily adherence routines. Fourth, it calls for addressing how alcohol affects the adoption of female-controlled HIV prevention strategies as they become available for real-world implementation, specifically citing microbicides and pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP). The intent is to understand and reduce alcohol-related barriers to using these prevention tools effectively and consistently.

The opportunity is also concerned with comorbidities that often co-occur with harmful alcohol use in populations affected by HIV, which can include other substance use, mental health conditions, trauma histories, and broader social and structural challenges. A key population noted in the description is pregnant mothers who engage in risky drinking and other substance use, underscoring an interest in models that can address maternal health, fetal and infant health risks, and HIV care simultaneously. Overall, the expected output is an evidence base that supports more effective, integrated systems of care for women and girls along the HIV risk-to-care continuum, with alcohol reduction positioned as a practical lever for improving both prevention and treatment outcomes.

In terms of eligibility, the opportunity is broadly open to many U.S.-based organization types, including state, county, city or township governments; special district governments; independent school districts; public and state-controlled institutions of higher education; private institutions of higher education; nonprofit organizations with or without 501(c)(3) status (excluding those that are institutions of higher education in that category); for-profit organizations (other than small businesses); small businesses; and Native American tribal governments (federally recognized) as well as tribal organizations other than federally recognized governments. The notice also highlights additional eligible applicant categories such as Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), Hispanic-serving institutions, Tribally Controlled Colleges and Universities (TCCUs), Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian Serving Institutions, and Asian American Native American Pacific Islander Serving Institutions (AANAPISISs), along with faith-based or community-based organizations, regional organizations, eligible federal agencies, and U.S. territories or possessions. At the same time, it clearly restricts foreign participation: non-domestic (non-U.S.) entities and foreign institutions are not eligible to apply, non-domestic components of U.S. organizations are not eligible, and foreign components as defined by the NIH Grants Policy Statement are not allowed.

Administratively, this is a discretionary funding opportunity under the health category, with a cooperative agreement as the funding instrument. The opportunity number is RFA-AA-17-013 and it is associated with CFDA 93.273. The original closing date listed is January 4, 2017, and the award ceiling is $225,000. The opportunity was created on September 23, 2016. While the funding level and planning mechanism indicate this is not meant to fund a full-scale, multi-year effectiveness trial, it is intended to produce a strong, community-grounded, implementation-ready research plan and partnership structure that can support subsequent, larger studies aimed at improving HIV outcomes by integrating alcohol reduction strategies into HIV prevention and care systems for women and girls.

• The National Institutes of Health in the health sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Model Continuums of Care Initiative (MCCI) for Women and Girls at Risk and Living With HIV/AIDS and Harmful Alcohol and Associated Comorbidities Planning Cooperative Agreement (U34)" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 93.273.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2016-09-23.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2017-01-04. (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 $225,000.00 in funding.
• 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 AA 17 013

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