Foundation proposal success relies on years of work and a good fit

Faculty member: Rachel Kimbro, Dean, School of Social Sciences, Herbert S. Autrey Chair in Social Sciences
 

Research Project: How Low-Income Families with Young Children Use Multiple Nutrition Supports to Maintain Food Security in a Policy-Lean Environment
 

Foundation: The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation

Food insecurity remains a challenge for many American families, with social services under attack and administrative knowledge of the needs of families deficient to solving the problem. Mothers of young children in under-resourced neighborhoods are particularly vulnerable to food insecurity and the cascading problems that follow.

With the support of a new grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Dr. Rachel Kimbro and her colleague Dr. Cayce Hughes will seek to understand how mothers in Houston’s Sunnyside neighborhood assemble food from different sources in the course of a month, between their own income, SNAP, WIC, family and friends, school means, faith organizations, and food pantries. The ultimate goal is to help policymakers and organizations better meet the need.

While the grant is new, the research has been years in the making.

“This new project in Sunnyside builds on work Cayce and I have done there over the last decade,” says Dr. Kimbro. “Our work tries to illuminate the daily struggles and triumphs there, particularly among mothers with young children.”

She hopes to highlight the resourcefulness of families and to quantify the deficiencies of the SNAP program in meeting these needs. Her efforts are focused on Houston’s Sunnyside neighborhood, where Dr. Kimbro and her team have invested years into connecting with residents and engage with community leaders to understand their needs. This connection is vital in places with a fraught history of disinvestment by government.

“With this research in hand,” says Dr. Kimbro, “community partners will have another resource to advocate for more financial support at the local and state levels.”

The two-year grant was a multi-stage process for Dr. Kimbro and her team. The foundation received 161 brief proposals in response to their call for proposals, coordinated through its Equity-Focused Policy Research Building Evidence program. They invited 30 applicants to submit full proposals. Dr. Kimbro’s was among seven proposals selected for funding. The resulting cohort, led by a program officer at the foundation knowledgeable about healthcare equity, will convene them for quarterly meetings to share insight and experience from across the range of projects.

The path to funding success in this call for proposals was made possible by existing, ongoing research that is a good fit. “One of the things I have learned over the years is that the fit between the request for proposal and the project is crucial,” says Dr. Kimbro. “It’s better when there is an existing, or at least semi-developed, project before you even see the RFP. In other words, my applications are more successful when I am not trying to construct a new project around an RFP. This opportunity immediately seemed to us like a good fit from the start, and we did not have to do much to alter our plans to adjust. That seemed promising; and that was borne out when we ultimately received the grant.”

The Office of Corporate Relations reviewed the proposal at the request of Dr. Kimbro. “Reaching out to OCFR let’s our team add value while also informing us about your work,” said Ted Walker, associate director of foundation relations. “We love supporting faculty, however we can. I was thrilled to know that Dr. Kimbro was successful.”

The global pandemic will challenge the project’s core tenet of in-person data collection. The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation has, fortunately, been flexible with their support as the research team has had to adapt. They will now include the impact of COVID-19 in their data collection, which will be conducted remotely.

“We won't be able to answer the same specific policy questions we had before,” says Dr. Kimbro, “but, it's also an opportunity to incorporate new ideas and questions into our work, so we are embracing it.”