Announcing Preventing Adverse Childhood Experiences: Data to Action Funding Opportunity Recipients

The CDC’s Division of Violence Prevention announces four recipients of funding from CDC-RFA-CE20-2006: Preventing Adverse Childhood Experiences: Data to Action (PACE: D2A). The awardees will measure, track, and prevent adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) in their state. The new recipients are:

Georgia Department of Public Health
Connecticut Office of Early Childhood
Commonwealth of Massachusetts Department of Public Health
Michigan Public Health Institute

ACEs are potentially traumatic events that occur in childhood (0-17 years). ACEs are linked to chronic physical and mental health problems, future violence victimization, and reduced life opportunities. Examples of ACEs include:

experiencing neglect,
experiencing or witnessing violence,
and having a family member attempt or die by suicide.

Examples of ACEs also include aspects of the child’s environment that can undermine their sense of safety, stability, and bonding, such as growing up in a household with:

substance misuse,
mental health problems,
instability due to parental separation, or
household members being in jail or prison.

Funded recipients will 1) enhance or build the infrastructure for the state-representative collection, analysis, and application of ACE-related surveillance data that can be used to inform and tailor ACE prevention activities, 2) implement strategies based on the best available evidence to prevent ACEs and 3) conduct data to action activities to continue to assess state-wide surveillance and primary prevention needs and make needed modifications. Recipients will focus on the implementation of at least two designated strategies derived from CDC’s Division of Violence Prevention’s (DVP) resource, Preventing Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs): Leveraging the Best Available Evidence. In these endeavors, recipients will be expected to leverage multi-sector partnerships and resources in order to improve ACEs surveillance infrastructures and to coordinate and implement ACEs prevention strategies. As a result, recipients will better understand the burden of ACEs in their communities and engage in strategies that will prevent ACES from occurring, in order to help to promote safe, stable, nurturing relationships and environments where children live, learn and play.

Pending available funding, CDC’s Injury Center intends to commit approximately $500,000 per year for three years to support the four cooperative agreement recipients.