Systems for Action: Community-Led Systems Research to Address Systemic Racism

Introduction & Purpose

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) is committed to taking bold leaps to transform health in our lifetime and paving the way together to a future where health is no longer a privilege, but a right. To achieve that vision, we are deepening our focus on dismantling structural racism, one of the biggest barriers to health in America. Racism and injustice have become embedded in many structures of American society, including the delivery and financing systems that support medical care, public health programs, and social services.

Effective solutions to systemic racism require medical care organizations working in partnership with public health and social services systems. RWJF’s Systems for Action (S4A) signature research program since 2015 supports research studies. The studies test novel ideas for aligning delivery and financing systems across sectors in ways that address the health and social needs of people experiencing health inequities.

This 2025 call for proposals (CFP) will provide funding for a new cohort of community-led pilot studies to produce new, actionable evidence about how to help medical, social, and public health systems work together to address forms of systemic racism. This CFP focuses specifically on systems alignment (SA) interventions that have the potential to dismantle or disrupt the health effects of systemic racism and to positively affect the health and wellbeing of communities that experience systemic racism. S4A prioritizes SA interventions that, if successful, can be rapidly replicated and spread to many communities and contexts across the U.S. in order to achieve broad national impact.

Eligibility & Selection Criteria

The applicant organization for this CFP must be a CBO that is actively engaged in serving communities that experience systemic racism.

• For the purposes of this CFP, CBOs eligible to serve as applicant organizations include Section 501(c)(3) charitable organizations, local and state government agencies, and tribal organizations.
• Preference will be given to applicants that are either public entities or nonprofit organizations that are tax-exempt under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code and are not private foundations or Type III supporting organizations. RWJF may require additional documentation.
• Applicant organizations must be based in the United States or its territories.
• If necessary, the applicant organization may utilize the services of a fiscal sponsor to support the project’s financial management and grants management and reporting activities. The fiscal sponsor can be the research partner that the CBO has partnered with in this proposal.
• Research institutions such as universities and contract research organizations are not eligible to serve as lead applicant organizations for this CFP, although they may serve as fiscal sponsors for eligible applicant organizations.

Key Dates & Deadlines

January 22, 2025, 3 p.m.–4 p.m. ET: Applicant Webinar. Registration required.

January 27 through June 3, 2025: Weekly Office Hours Help Session for Applicants. View schedule and register.

February 24, 2025, 1 p.m.–2 p.m. ET: Applicant Webinar. Registration required. 

June 4, 2025 (3 p.m. ET): Deadline for application submission. Late submissions will not be accepted for any reason. 

August 22, 2025: Applicants notified of funding decisions. 

October 1, 2025: Projects start.  
 

Total Awards

• Number of awards: Up to five awards will be funded.
• Amount of awards: Each award will be up to $200,000.
• Award duration: Awards will be up to 12 months.