Laura and John Arnold Foundation Issues Requests for Letters of Interest/Proposals

HOUSTON, Sept. 16, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Laura and John Arnold Foundation (LJAF) recently issued solicitations for Letters of Interest and Proposals from organizations with innovative ideas for addressing a number of pressing and persistent challenges. The eight Requests for Letters of Interest and one Request for Proposals are intended to further LJAF's work in several key areas, including criminal justice, evidence-based innovation, sustainable public finance, research integrity, science and technology, and health care. Each of the solicitations describes a specific issue that LJAF is seeking to address and outlines criteria and guidelines for developing Letters and Proposals, which must be submitted by Dec. 15, 2016. 

"All of our work at the Laura and John Arnold Foundation is focused on analyzing the root causes of complex problems and finding sustainable solutions that can be implemented at scale," LJAF Director of Communications Leila Walsh explained. "We never limit ourselves to what has been proposed or tried in the past. Those who are submitting solicitations should think big. Our team is looking for breakthrough ideas that will lead to the creation of new tools, pilot projects, and policies that can help to measurably improve people's lives."

The most competitive proposals will present projects that are intended to evaluate existing programs; conduct research that can help to inform federal, state, and local policies; and develop new tools to address particular challenges. Specifically, LJAF invites Letters focused on the following areas.

1. Piloting and rigorously evaluating diversion and alternative to arrest programs
   Letters should propose projects that are intended to measure the impact of such programs on public safety, fairness, and cost efficiency. Outcomes of interest include recidivism, the use of criminal justice and/or other public resources, and socio-economic indicators such as housing, employment, income, and education.
   
   
2. Conducting studies on public retirement policy
   Key areas of interest include the impact of plan design, funding policy, and investment policy on retirement cost and cost uncertainty; how rising retirement cost has impacted government budgets and workers' benefits, salaries, and jobs; how various benefit designs affect workers and plan sponsors; best practices for pension plan governance; and best practices for transparent and useful pension plan reporting.
   
   
3. Designing and measuring the efficacy of tax policies
   We are seeking proposals to evaluate the effects of taxation on individual behavior and business practices; the impact of intra- and inter-state/local tax competition; the use of corrective taxation, including the design and implementation of the tax as well as the deployment of generated revenue; the economic and social outcomes of tax policy; and potential opportunities for procedural improvement.
   
   
4. Improving the quality and transparency of research
   Projects testing the effectiveness of interventions intended to improve research reliability through the use of randomized controlled trials or rigorous quasi-experimental designs, such as controlled interrupted time series or difference-in-differences, are of particular interest.
   
   
5. Improving the state of mental health research 
   Key areas of interest include incentivizing the registration of trials and the full reporting of results through ClinicalTrials.gov, encouraging greater sharing of data and code, and eliciting the disclosure of information about trials that is normally hidden (e.g., protocols and clinical study reports). In addition, we are interested in promoting the use of randomized controlled trials as a method of independently evaluating clinical psychology interventions and programs.
   
   
6. Increasing access to the results of scientific research
   Letters should propose frameworks that allow scientists to search, access, reuse, and repurpose research results and tools such as findings published in scholarly journals, data, computer code, algorithms, and other resources.
   
   
7. Creating tools and techniques to measure the impact of public investments in science and technology research and development
   We are seeking to develop tools that will allow funders and policymakers to identify high-leverage investment opportunities and harness strong data-driven evidence to improve decision making. For example, projects might include the development of a tool that would allow policymakers to determine opportunities for investment in a particular field of research or establish metrics that would help the government identify research labs that have a proven track record of success.
   
   
8. Identifying safe, effective, and less expensive alternatives to pharmaceutical co-pay coupons
   We are interested in identifying innovative solutions that provide safe, effective, and less expensive alternatives to pharmaceutical co-pay coupons. Potential solutions should not negatively affect public health or patient access to care, and projects should include a rigorous evaluation.
   
   
9. Accelerating the adoption of evidence-based approaches to treating opioid addiction
   Proposals should describe approaches to evaluating addiction treatment programs and strategies for people with opioid use disorders. Key areas of interest include rigorously evaluating existing treatment programs, testing new approaches to treatment, and re-orienting government spending around effective programs that demonstrate measurable results.

A more detailed description of these requests can be found here. Please direct questions to the email address mentioned in the specific solicitation that is of interest.

About the Laura and John Arnold Foundation

LJAF is a private foundation that is working to address our nation's most pressing and persistent challenges using evidence-based, multi-disciplinary approaches. Its investments are currently focused on criminal justice, education, evidence-based policy and innovation, public accountability, and research integrity. LJAF has offices in Houston, New York City, and Washington, D.C.

SOURCE Laura and John Arnold Foundation