Opportunity Overview
The University of Minnesota Clinical and Translational Science Institute (CTSI), in partnership with Children’s Minnesota, is accepting applications for the 2026-27 Child Health Collaborative Grant Program. The program supports rigorously designed collaborative pilot projects addressing important and unmet child and adolescent health needs in Minnesota and is intended to build evidence, implementation pathways, scholarship, and future extramural funding.
Funding and Deadline
Up to three awards are anticipated. Each project may request a total budget of up to $65,000 for the two-year period from January 5, 2027 through January 5, 2029. Applications are due October 5, 2026 at 5:00 PM CDT. Funding decisions are scheduled for December 3, 2026.
Eligibility and Required Collaboration
Each application must include at least two co-Principal Investigators: one from Children’s Minnesota and one from a University of Minnesota campus. The Children’s Minnesota co-PI must be employed or contracted at 0.5 FTE or greater. The University of Minnesota co-PI must be a current full-time faculty member in any track. Co-investigators from Hennepin Healthcare, the University of Minnesota Medical School Department of Pediatrics, and other hospital systems are encouraged but not required.
Project Focus
Projects must address unmet child health needs affecting Minnesota children or adolescents. The RFA highlights toxic stress and mental-health impacts, substance use disorders, and pediatric firearm injury and deaths as timely topics while expressly welcoming other child and adolescent health topics. Proposals should be novel, high impact, scientifically rigorous, and positioned to develop into longer-term research and evaluation supported by NIH or other federal, state, or private funding.
Budget, Match, and Cost Rules
The current RFA does not state a mandatory applicant match or cost-share requirement, so Atlas does not infer one. Indirect costs are not supported. Up to 2.5% of salary effort may be requested. The budget justification and scope of work must reflect substantial commitment from both Children’s Minnesota and University of Minnesota collaborators. Second-year funding is contingent on a satisfactory first-year progress report.
Application and Review
The full application is submitted electronically through REDCap. The proposal must clearly describe investigator roles, study hypothesis and aims, study design and conduct, analysis and biostatistical plans, metrics for data presentation and publication, future funding plans, and scientific and community dissemination. Review criteria include investigators, environment, synergy, innovation, impact, and prospects for scholarship and future funding. The review criteria reference letters of support as evidence of institutional infrastructure and commitment; applicants should verify the exact current REDCap upload fields before final package submission.
Atlas Analysis
Atlas Opportunity Score: 89/100. This is a current, well-defined Minnesota child-health research opportunity with a meaningful pilot budget, explicit institutional collaboration requirements, an exact CDT deadline, and strong relevance to pediatric mental health, substance-use, injury-prevention, and other child-health priorities.
N9+ Fit Score: 0/100. The RFA does not establish a project-specific need or clearly verified budget pathway for N9+ equipment, so Atlas does not force an N9+ role. QC Healthcare Fit: 10/100. A limited research-support or fee-for-service role could be explored only if an eligible Children’s Minnesota/University of Minnesota investigator team independently establishes need and the REDCap budget rules permit it. Dr. Miltie, LLC is not a qualifying direct applicant because the required co-PIs must come from Children’s Minnesota and the University of Minnesota.
Required Next Action
For any prospective applicant team, first confirm both required co-PIs meet the institutional and employment/faculty requirements. Then verify the live REDCap application fields and any required uploads, develop the study aims, methods, analysis, dissemination, letters of support where applicable, and compliant two-year budget, and submit electronically by October 5, 2026 at 5:00 PM CDT.
Verified source: University of Minnesota CTSI Child Health Collaborative Grant program page and the July 27, 2026 current Request for Applications, reverified September 22, 2026.