2027 Healthy Kids Initiative Policy Research Call for Letters of Intent (LOI)

The Paso del Norte Health Foundation (Health Foundation) seeks letters of intent (LOIs) from eligible organizations to support the Health Foundation’s goals under the Healthy Kids initiative through policy research. The goal is to reduce youth disconnection by making it easier for young people in the Paso del Norte region to spend time outdoors and to participate in safe, developmentally appropriate, youth-directed, or unstructured play, outside of school hours.

The Health Foundation defines disconnected youth as young people between the ages of 5 and 17 who do not have a positive activity, a trusted adult, and a safe environment outside of school. Outdoor time and youth-directed play can help youth move more, build confidence, connect with peers, and spend time away from sedentary and screen-based activities. A literature review prepared for the Health Foundation found that screen time can displace sleep, physical activity, time spent outdoors, and in-person social engagement. The review also found that outdoor play and nature exposure are linked to physical activity, mental well-being, stress reduction, social connection, and positive youth development.

Outdoor play does not happen consistently for all youth. The literature review found that outdoor time is shaped by conditions that families and out-of-school time (OST) programs often cannot solve alone. These include whether safe outdoor spaces are nearby, whether youth can get to them, whether programs have enough staff to supervise outdoor activities, and whether liability concerns or facility-use rules limit the use of schoolyards, parks, trails, or other public spaces. The review suggests that these barriers can be addressed through practical policy and procedure changes, such as shared-use agreements, clearer permission processes, risk-benefit guidance, staff training, and cross-sector partnerships.

What We Will Fund

Research Focus

The Health Foundation seeks both policy research and applied research on the conditions that make it easier or harder for disconnected youth to be outdoors and engage in youth-directed play outside of school hours. Research may examine policies, procedures, agreements, rules, implementation barriers, feasibility questions, or other factors such as parent concerns, staffing, safety, and use of public spaces. Examples of research include examination of:

• shared-use or joint-use agreements for schoolyards, playgrounds, parks, trails, fields, or other public spaces, including barriers to implementation and recommendations for improvement;

• park rules, facility-use rules, permitting procedures, or fees that help or limit youth outdoor activity;

• temporary use of streets or public spaces for youth outdoor activity, such as Play Streets or block-level street closures;

• policies, plans, or partnerships that expand youth use of outdoor spaces, such as park access goals, nature access plans, children’s outdoor bills of rights, or partnerships between public agencies and youth-serving organizations;

• organizational policies and procedures that protect time for outdoor activity or youth-directed play;

• staff training, supervision, and safety procedures that support youth outdoor activities;

• OST program policies and procedures that limit recreational screen use during program time, create phone-free or device-limited outdoor activity periods, allow reasonable exceptions, and help staff apply expectations consistently.

Applicants may propose other research that clearly supports youth outdoor activity and youth-directed play outside of school hours. Deliverables may include policy scans, implementation reviews, feasibility analyses, barrier assessments, model policy language, agreement templates, decision-making tools, and procedure recommendations.

Research Outside the Scope of this LOI

• Research focused mainly on recess, physical education classes, or other school-day activities. School settings may be included when the research addresses afterschool, weekend, summer, or community use of school property.

• OST program mapping. A separate effort will focus on mapping OST programs in the region.

• Lobbying or advocacy by the researcher for a specific policy.

Key Dates

September 30, 2026: LOIs due via the Health Foundation’s online application system October 29, 2026: Invitations for full proposals announced December 10, 2026: Full proposals due March 29, 2027: Notice of grant award April 1, 2027: Funding cycle starts

Eligibility Criteria

Eligible applicants include universities, research institutions, nonprofit organizations, consulting firms, and other qualified agencies with demonstrated expertise relevant to this LOI and the capacity to produce clear, useful products.

The Health Foundation uses the LOI process to welcome ideas from interested applicants. After review, the Health Foundation will invite selected applicants to submit a full proposal.

Service Region

The Paso del Norte Health Foundation operates in a unique binational environment, which stretches across two countries and three states. This region serves the 2.4 million people living in El Paso and Hudspeth Counties in far west Texas, Doña Ana, Luna, and Otero Counties in southern New Mexico, and the municipality of Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, Mexico.