Key Dates

Related Announcements

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Issued by

National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA)

Purpose

This Notice is a Request for Information (RFI) inviting feedback on a draft of the NIDA Racial Equity Initiative Action Plan.

NOTE: It is important to read this entire RFI notice to ensure an adequate response is prepared and to have a full understanding of how your response will be utilized.

Background

The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) is the lead federal agency supporting research on drug use and its consequences. NIDA’s mission is to advance science on the causes and consequences of drug use and addiction and to apply that knowledge to improve individual and public health.

As an integral component of its strategic direction, NIDA is developing a Racial Equity Initiative to organize and refocus the Institute’s efforts around the goal of addressing the impact of structural racism or organizational structures, systems, and policies that perpetuate exclusion and inequity based on race on addiction science and to take action to promote racial equity in NIDA’s workplace, workforce, and research portfolio.

Information Requested

NIDA seeks comments on the draft outline for its Racial Equity Initiative Action Plan from diverse stakeholders, including scientific experts, health care providers, patients and family members, advocacy groups, other federal agencies, and non-governmental scientific, professional, and healthcare organizations. We encourage organizations to submit a single response reflecting input from their organization as a whole.

We are especially mindful of the fact that, in order to succeed, this effort must be informed by the experiences and perspectives of those impacted by racial inequity, thus we are particularly interested in hearing from groups and individuals who may have been directly or indirectly affected by discriminatory practices or policies within NIDA's mission space. We remain committed to continue seeking feedback from NIDA employees and the full range of NIDA stakeholders, and to incorporating this feedback into a dynamic and ongoing strategy toward racial equity. A critical component of this work will be assessing progress on the specific action items identified.

Please provide your perspective on any or all of the following points:

• The mission, goals, and objectives within each of the three key areas of concern (workplace, workforce, and research portfolio) identified in the action plan.
• Additional gaps and areas of opportunity that should be included in the plan, drawbacks, or challenges to accomplishing these goals and objectives, and/or other items for consideration.
• Any other topics that you find relevant to the development or enhancement of the initiative.
• Ways to ensure widespread dissemination and implementation of the initiative.

The Action Plan can be accessed at - https://www.drugabuse.gov/nida-racial-equity-initiative-action-plan

How to Submit a Response

Responses to this RFI must be submitted via email to [email protected]

To ensure full consideration, responses must be received by May 31, 2022.

Responses to this RFI are voluntary. Do not include any proprietary, classified, confidential, trade secret, or sensitive information in your response. The responses will be reviewed by NIDA staff, and individual feedback will not be provided to any responder. The U.S. Government will use the information submitted in response to this RFI at its discretion.

This RFI is for information and planning purposes only and shall not be construed as a solicitation, grant, or cooperative agreement, or as an obligation on the part of the Federal Government, the NIH, or NIDA to provide support for any ideas identified in response to it. The Government will not pay for the preparation of any information submitted or for the U.S. Government’s use of such information. No basis for claims against the U.S. Government shall arise as a result of a response to this request for information or from the Government’s use of such information. The provided information will be analyzed and may appear, in summary form, removing personally identifying or sensitive information, in reports or other publicly accessible resources.

Inquiries

Please direct all inquiries to:

The NIDA Racial Equity Initiative
National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA)
Email: [email protected]