The Extramural Associates Program (EA) sponsored a workshop entitled “Successfully Managing Your Grant” at NIH on November 1-2, 2006. The workshop was designed to increase the PI’s effectiveness in the operation of the grant from the end of the residency to the completion of the EARDA grant. Extramural Associates and their business officials from forty institutions attended this workshop.

Dr. Regina Smith James, the director of the EA Program, gave welcoming remarks and an overview of the workshop’s objectives. Dr. Yvonne Maddox, deputy director of the NICHD, provided greetings and shared the NICHD vision on the future direction of the EA Program.

The EA staff and NICHD Grants Management staff led the sessions focusing on the following kinds of issues, illustrative of the two-day agenda:

• Progress Reports, Notice of Grant Awards and Prior Approvals
• The Electronic Process
• The Financial Status Report (business officials only)
• The EARDA Grant and Pilot Research (PIs only)
• Individual meetings between the EARDA-PI and Grant Management Specialist
• Internet Resources
• The Guide Notice and the NIH Policy Statement
• A demonstration on the 424 Electronic Transmission

The workshop also included intensive work sessions focused on issues related to:

• the components of the Notice of Grant Award and the Terms and Conditions associated with it
• who to call for answers to questions about the grant
• conditions under which Prior Approvals are required
• how to request a Carryover of Funds
• when to submit the Progress Report
• preparation of the detailed budget
• making awards for Faculty Pilot Projects

The financial aspects of the EARDA grant are very important and, therefore special sessions were designed for business officials to ensure the implementation of budgetary requirements. Attention was also focused on workshop sessions for the EARDA PIs, highlighting programmatic issues related to the implementation of the EARDA grant.

The EARDA PIs and the business officials felt that the workshop was beneficial and recommended that similar work sessions be held in the future.

Regional Technical Assistance Workshops (RTAWs)

When the EA Research Development Award (EARDA) grant program began in 1994, the EA Program Advisory Board recommended that a mechanism be established to recruit high-quality EARDA applications on an annual basis, keeping in mind the unique culture and teaching mandate of EA-eligible institutions.

Based on this recommendation, and with concurrence from the EA Program director, the EA Program initiated the RTAWs. These workshops were intended to provide EA-eligible institutions with equal access to expertise without having to travel great distances, regardless of their geographic locations. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) provides funding for one person per institution to attend the RTAW, although additional participants from each institution are encouraged.

Generally, the objectives of the RTAWs are to provide participants with:

• A unique opportunity to learn about the EARDA and to obtain technical assistance in preparing generic federal and non-federal proposals, including the EARDA;
• An opportunity to meet with key personnel from the NIH and from other federal agencies, and to learn firsthand about current and emerging programs related to the goals and objectives of the EA Program;
•  forum for establishing and strengthening collaborations and partnerships, which is a key objective of the EA Program; and
• The opportunity to describe their successes as EARDA grantees for the purpose of encouraging other EA-eligible institutions to apply for the award.

The RTAWs are budgeted in the EA Program's annual operations budget for the EA Program; the workshops are jointly organized by the EA Program staff and the co-host organization or institution.

Since 1994, the following EA-eligible institutions have co-hosted RTAWs:

• Texas Southern University, 1994
• Morehouse College - Atlanta, Georgia, 1995
• Carlow College - Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 1996
• East Los Angeles Community College - Los Angeles, California, 1997
• Bethune Cookman College - Daytona Beach, Florida, 1998
• Texas Southern University - Houston, Texas, 1999
• Immaculata College - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 2000
• Tennessee State University - Nashville, Tennessee, 2001
• New Mexico Highlands University -Tucson, Arizona, 2002

Major goals of the 2002 RTAW were to allow the greatest opportunity to successfully recruit Tribal College participants, and to increase the participation of Hispanic-serving institutions from the mainland United States.

Overall, the RTAWs are one of the most effective mechanisms for recruiting EA participants; thus these workshops appear to be fulfilling their intended purpose. Because of their effectiveness as a recruitment mechanism for EARDA applicants, as well as their usefulness in serving other important functions, the RTAWs will remain an integral component of the EA Program experience.