Community Pilot Project Programs

NAACFRC’s Community Pilot Project Program aims to build capacity among community-based organizations (CBOs) to conduct research that is responsive and relevant to the well-being of African American children and families. This community program provides training and funding to CBOs for community-based participatory research. If selected, the CBO will conduct a pilot research project that positions them for future collaborative research.If selected, the CBO will conduct a pilot study that positions them for future collaborative research.

2025-26 Application Portal is now open

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NAACFRC invites CBOs to submit a pilot research project proposal to participate in the program. Projects must address at least one NAAFCRC research priority area:

Economic self-sufficiency or poverty alleviation (e.g., Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program)
Early education and care (e.g., Early Head Start and Head Start childcare assistance programs)

Download the Application Preview below to learn more about proposal requirements. CBOs may request support in developing their proposal from the NAACFRC or other partners (e.g., academic faculty researchers).

Letters of intent are strongly recommended but not required. They should be submitted by March 14, 2025. Applications are due April 18, 2025.

Eligibility Criteria

CBO must be a not-for-profit under Section 501(c)3 of the Internal Revenue Code.
CBO must primarily serve African American children and/or families.

Funding

Three CBOs will be selected to receive up to $20,000 in funds over a 12-month period beginning in September 2025 to conduct their pilot research project.

Funds may be used for non-administrative personnel (salaries and fringe), consultants, supplies, and other approved expenses. Funds may not be used for capital expenditures for equipment or rental costs of off-site facilities.

Download application preview

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If you have questions or would like to inquire about technical assistance for your proposal, please email info@naacfrc.org.

2024-25 Community Pilot Project Program Awardees

Fathers, Families & Healthy Communities

https://ffhc.org/

Fathers, Families & Healthy Communities is a Chicago-based non-profit organization that provides transformative services to Black fathers to improve their quality of life. Believing in a holistic and asset-based approach to uplifting fathers, the organization creates opportunities for fathers to meaningfully connect with their children, family, and communities through peer support groups, sector-driven job training and placement, and skill-building services. Alongside this, the organization makes a difference for the fathers, families, and communities it serves through leadership development, grassroots organizing, and policy transformation.

In recognition of the pressing concerns surrounding Black men and workforce engagement in Chicago, their pilot research project will identify specific barriers to access, engagement, and employment in the workforce for Black fathers, while increasing the understanding and connections with the community to implement future directions.

This project will address NAACFRC’s research priority of economic self-sufficiency.

Georgia Early Education Alliance for Ready Students (GEEARS)

https://geears.org/

GEEARS is a non-profit organization founded in Georgia that operates to inspire and provide leadership for a state-wide movement surrounding the quality and healthiness of early learning and development for children ranging from 0-5 years old. Partnering with the Atlanta Public Schools Office of Early Learning, their pilot research project will examine low enrollment in quality early childhood education programs within underserved neighborhoods. GEEARS will examine the current barriers to enrollment and identify effective strategies to overcome them through a comprehensive evaluation and redevelopment of GEEARS’ Ambassador program.

This project will address two of NAACFRC’s research priorities, early care and education (e.g., Early Head Start and Head Start, childcare assistance programs) and poverty alleviation. The organization greatly emphasizes the link between the two areas and plans to increase opportunities to access affordable childcare to help families improve economic self-sufficiency.

Programs for Parents

https://programsforparents.org/

Programs for Parents (PfP) is a not-for-profit organization based in Essex County, New Jersey that has a focus on families and home-based childcare (HBCC) educators. The PfP pilot research project will serve as a launchpad for future efforts to better understand the decline in the supply of HBCC educators across the state. PfP’s initiative represents an important opportunity to advance the early care and education (ECE) field’s understanding of HBCC.

This project will address the NAACFRC’s research priority of early care and education by exploring the needs of black families, home-based early educators, and childcare facility owners in New Jersey. The initiative hopes to determine the resources that states and governments need to ensure the components of their services, including quality, expansion, and sustainability of services.

Past Community Pilot Project Program Awardees

2023-24 Community Pilot Project Program Awardees

Pillars Initiative

beapillar.org

Pillars Initiative is a non-profit organization based in Georgia that aims to enhance the well-being of underserved youth and emerging adults through education, service, and scholarship. Pillars has incorporated financial literacy into its Transitions Life Skills course to increase social and economic mobility in Dekalb County, explicitly focusing on single-parents families with teens aged 16-19.

Pillars Initiative’s Community Pilot Project, which will address NAACFRC’s priority area of poverty alleviation, will research and evaluate the effectiveness of this financial literacy program designed to equip teenagers with the essential skills and knowledge to manage their finances, make informed financial decisions, and accomplish their financial objectives. By equipping these young individuals with the skills and knowledge to manage their finances effectively, this program may help break the cycle of poverty and set them on a path toward financial stability and success.

Girassol Wellness, Inc.

girassolwellness.org

Girassol Wellness, Inc. is a volunteer non-profit organization in Atlanta, Georgia with a longstanding commitment to serving African American women and children with lived experiences of poverty, homelessness, and reduced access to health care services. Their mission is to deliver low-cost behavioral health care that is informed by the lived experiences and lived environments of their target population.

For their Community Pilot Project, they will address the NAACFRC priority area of poverty alleviation through ethnographic research methods. Their research project involves documenting the stories and lived experiences of Atlanta residents who were recently permanently displaced from their homes and relocated inside metro Atlanta. They will utilize CBPR methods to document community narratives and explore themes of systems, safety, and poverty and their impact on the health and well-being of African-American families.

2022-23 Community Pilot Project Program Awardees

Brooklyn Perinatal Network (BPN)

BPN was established in 1988 by a community task force to address high infant mortality. Their purpose is to prevent and reduce infant/maternal illness and death, which for several years have been excessively high in African American communities.

BPN’s Pilot Project, “An exploration of preconception health, birth outcomes, maternal loss and fatherhood in Brooklyn, NY” examines men’s preconception care and health, and paternal preconception risk factors for adverse birth outcomes. It was funded to provide insights into the fatherhood perspective that might help Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, Early Head Start/Head Start, and Child Care Assistance better serve African American communities.

This project is in alignment with NAACFRC’S research priority of Social Mobility and Early Care and Education (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, Early Head Start and Head Start, Child Care Assistance).

Children’s Home & Aid

Children’s Home & Aid engages with nearly 30,000 children, youth and families each year in over 65 counties across Illinois, linking them to a network of resources. They advance the well-being of children by investing in families to disrupt the systemic and multi-generational cycle of racial, social, and economic inequality.

With the bulk of current research on fathers’ educational involvement being drawn from samples of White middle-class fathers, the Children’s Home & Aid Community Pilot Project is, “Best Practices for Promoting Positive Father Educational Involvement & Child Well-Being in Fatherhood. The purpose of the research is to lead to the development of a conceptual framework for African American fathers’ educational involvement and a corresponding fatherhood program curriculum inclusive of educational involvement components. This project is in alignment with NAACFRC’s research priority of Early Care and Education (Early Head Start and Head Start, Child Care Assistance).

Fathers Incorporated

Established in 2004, Fathers Incorporated works collaboratively with organizations around the country to identify and advocate for social and legislative changes that lead to healthy father involvement with children, regardless of the father’s marital or economic status, or geographic location.

Fathers Incorporated’s Moynihan Institute proposed research utilizing an ecological framework to identify potential contextual and individual factors that may serve as barriers to paternal engagement and accessibility. The objectives of the study are to understand the lived experiences of young, African American fathers and the perceptions of the supports available to assist them in their fathering roles. This project is in alignment with NAACFRC’S research priority of Economic and Social Mobility (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families).

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Community Pilot Project Programs

2025-26 Application Portal is now open

Eligibility Criteria

Funding

Three CBOs will be selected to receive up to $20,000 in funds over a 12-month period beginning in September 2025 to conduct their pilot research project.

2024-25 Community Pilot Project Program Awardees

Fathers, Families & Healthy Communities

Georgia Early Education Alliance for Ready Students (GEEARS)

Programs for Parents

Past Community Pilot Project Program Awardees

2023-24 Community Pilot Project Program Awardees

Pillars Initiative

Girassol Wellness, Inc.

2022-23 Community Pilot Project Program Awardees

Brooklyn Perinatal Network (BPN)

Children’s Home & Aid

Fathers Incorporated

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