March 30, 2022
NOT-CA-21-071 - Notice of Special Interest (NOSI): Expanding Cancer Control Research in Persistent Poverty Areas
National Cancer Institute (NCI)
The purpose of this Notice is to inform applicants in response to NOT-CA-21-071 "Notice of Special Interest (NOSI): Expanding Cancer Control Research in Persistent Poverty Areas" of a change to the "Research Objectives".
The following new language is being added to this FOA (in bold italics)
Research Objectives
To advance cancer control research, the NCI will support a program of research that addresses cancer-related disparities in populations residing in Persistent Poverty (PP) areas of the U.S. Proposed scientific projects should include multilevel interventions that address underlying factors affecting persistent poverty and examine other social determinants of health in one or more areas across the cancer control continuum, including prevention, diagnosis, treatment, survivorship, and end-of-life care research.
Persistent Poverty: The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Economic Research Services (ERS) has defined persistent poverty at the county level. According to ERS, counties are designated as being persistently poor if 20% or more of their populations were living in poverty based on 1980, 1990, and 2000 decennial censuses and 2007-11 American Community Survey 5-year estimates (https://www.ers.usda.gov/topics/rural-economy-population/rural-poverty-well-being/).
There are also smaller areas, such as census tracts, that experience persistent poverty which provides a broader representation (compared to county level), across all the states and Puerto Rico to include communities in extreme poverty. The U.S. Census defines census tracts as small, relatively permanent statistical subdivisions of a county or equivalent entity (https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/geography/about/glossary.html#par_textimage_13). NCI, in working with ERS of the USDA, has defined persistent poverty at the census tract level. At the census tract, persistent poverty is wherein 20% or more of the population in a census tract is below the federal poverty line based on 1990 and 2000 decennial censuses and 2007-11 and 2015-2019 American Community Survey 5-year estimates. A list of the census tracts in persistent poverty is provided on the NCI Geographically Underserved Areas website.
All proposed research studies can choose to conduct research either at the census tract level (provided list of census tracts) or the county level. For a list of PP counties in the U.S., click here.
Shobha Srinivasan, Ph.D.
Division of Cancer Control and Population Sciences
National Cancer Institute
Telephone: 240-276-6938
Email: sriniva2@mail.nih.gov
and Human Services (HHS)
