Minnesota Innovations in Perinatal Health

This Request for Proposals (RFP) is focused on improving perinatal health outcomes for communities of color, American Indian communities, and rural communities. This RFP aligns with the Innovations for Maternal Health Outcomes in Minnesota (I-MOM) program, which centers perinatal health innovations within communities most impacted.  This RFP will fund innovative activities in community engagement and communications focused on improving perinatal health and focused on supporting the implementation of the perinatal health strategic plan. Grant funds can be either used to support existing programming or used to create new programming.

Funding details and application instructions can be found in Minnesota Innovations in Perinatal Health (PDF).  

Proposal documents

• Attachment C: Project Narrative (PDF)
• Attachment D: Work Plan Template (Word)
• Attachment E: Budget Details and Justification (Excel)
• Attachment F: Application Score Sheet (PDF) 
• Attachment G: Conflict of Interest Form (PDF)
• Attachment H: Due Diligence Form (PDF)
• Attachment I: Background Information on Perinatal Health (PDF)
• Attachment J: Sample Grant Agreement (PDF)

Timeline

RFP released: March 2 
Information session: March 10 
Technical Assistance session: March 12 
Letter of Intent (LOI) due: March 13 by 5 p.m. (Letter of Intent is optional).   
Questions due: March 30 
Applications due: April 3 by 5 p.m. 
Estimated grant start date: June 1

Information session

An information session will be offered on March 10 at noon via Microsoft Teams. The information session will outline the main components of the RFP. Questions from the information session will be addressed in the FAQ document found below. The presentation slides and session recording will be uploaded here, once they are available.  

• Tuesday, March 10 from noon – 1 p.m. on Microsoft Teams
  • Meeting ID: 280 231 852 060 59  
  • Passcode: QV7vX9QR 

RFP information session slides (PDF) 

Technical assistance session

A technical assistance session will be offered on March 12 at noon via Microsoft Teams. The TA session will focus on Foundant, the grant interface platform, that will be used by applicants to submit proposals. Questions from the technical assistance session will be addressed in the FAQ document found below. The presentation slides and session recording will be uploaded here, once they are available.  

• Thursday, March 12 from noon – 1 p.m. on Microsoft Teams
  • Meeting ID: 216 115 549 310 51  
  • Passcode: T3Rs3t8a

RFP technical assistance session slides (PDF)

Letters of intent 

Applicants are strongly encouraged to submit a non-binding Letter of Intent (LOI) to apply for funding under this RFP. While prospective applicants are strongly encouraged to submit a letter of intent, it is not a mandatory requirement of this RFP.

Letters of Intent should include:  

• Applicant legal name  
• Proposed communities and/or priority populations to be served.  
• Proposed geographic area to be served.  
• Anticipated strategy to be funded through this RFP.  
• Anticipated amount of funding the applicant will request.  

Letters of Intent must be submitted via email by 5 p.m. on March 13 to health.mch@state.mn.us.  

If you do not receive a confirmation within two days of submission, please contact the MCH section at 651-201-3650.

Questions and answers

Perinatal health innovations RFP FAQ (PDF) 

All questions regarding this RFP must be submitted by email to health.mch@state.mn.us. All questions and answers will be posted every Friday on this webpage.  

Please submit questions no later than 11:59 p.m. on March 30. Questions submitted after this date will not be answered. The final questions and answers will be posted to the website on April 1.  

Application submission instructions

Applications must be submitted electronically by 5 p.m. on April 3 to the grant interface portal, Foundant (https://www.grantinterface.com/Home/Logon?urlkey=mdcfh).  

Late applications will not be accepted. It is the applicant’s sole responsibility to allow sufficient time to address all potential delays caused by computer or technology problems. MDH is not responsible for any computer or technology issues that may arise in the receipt of applications.  

How to access Foundant:

• New Users: Please click on “Create New Account” to complete the registration process and create your logon credentials.  
• Existing Users: Please enter your credentials and log in. If you forgot your password, use the “Forgot your Password?” link to the left on the logon screen to reset your password.  
• Not Sure: If you think that you or someone at your organization has already registered in Foundant, do not create a new account. Please contact our MDH Maternal and Child Health staff at health.MCH@state.mn.us for assistance.  
• Once in the system, click on the “apply” button located on the upper tool bar on the home page. You will be redirected to a list of open applications in the system. Please select the option that reads: Minnesota Innovations in Perinatal Health (June 2026- September 2027) application.  

Acknowledgement of application receipt:

MDH will “reply all” through the grant interface portal to the email address that submitted the application to acknowledge receipt of your application within two business days of the receipt of an application. If you do not receive an acknowledgment email within that time frame from when you submitted the application, it means MDH did not receive your application/documents. Please contact the MCH section via email at health.mch@state.mn.us after that time frame for further instructions. 

Request for Reviewers

The Maternal and Child Health (MCH) Section seeks reviewers to participate in a community review process for the Minnesota Innovations in Perinatal Health grant. This Request for Proposals (RFP) is focused on improving perinatal health outcomes for communities of color, American Indian communities, and rural communities.

We are especially seeking reviewers who:

• Identify as a person of color and/or American Indian  
• Reside in Greater Minnesota
• Have lived experience in perinatal health inequities  
• Have a background in perinatal health  
• Have lived experience/or work with pregnant and postpartum women/birthing people

* Reviewers will be required to identify any conflicts of interest and will not review a proposal if they have a direct relationship with the applicant. The number of reviewers selected will be contingent on the number of applications received.

Reviewers will be asked to:

• Attend a 1-hour virtual reviewer orientation session, either on April 1 or April 2, noon - 1 p.m.  
• Review and score assigned applications in the Foundant grants management system    
• Attend a 4-hour virtual community review team meeting (either on April 15 or 16)

*Detailed information will be sent out for both meetings.   
*Reviewers are expected to have reliable internet access to participate in the meetings.

Reviewers can be compensated for their time spent reading and scoring applications, as well as time spent in the review meetings.

Interested? Please complete this online Minnesota Innovations in Perinatal Health Reviewer Recruitment application. The deadline to apply to be a grant reviewer is Friday, March 27, at 5 p.m. Please email health.mch@state.mn.us if you have any questions.