USDA-NIFA – Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) Education and Workforce Development now includes a NEW Program Area to address the need to develop and deploy rapid, reliable, and readily-adoptable strategies in workforce preparation through formal K-14 education, as well as in youth development through non-formal education to cultivate interest and competencies in STEM and agriculture during this challenging time. Funded projects are expected to develop tools, techniques, and other practices that can be rapidly adopted at home or by educators and extension specialists to ensure the effective formal and non-formal education of K-14 students and other youth development opportunities.
Applications will undergo an expedited peer-review and awarding process to ensure rapid project start-up. All projects must clearly demonstrate capability of rapid implementation and should not require lengthy exploration or start-up efforts. Applicants must provide evidence that training and resources developed through the proposed project will be immediately deployed. It should not take the duration of the project to have meaningful impact.
Interested applicants are invited to register for an informational webinar on July 28, 2020 at 11:00 AM in Central Time.
Who Is Eligible to Apply: 1862 Land-Grant Institutions, 1890 Land-Grant Institutions, 1994 Land-Grant Institutions, Hispanic-Serving Institutions, Nonprofits with 501(c)(3) IRS status, other than Institutions of Higher Ed, Nonprofits without 501(c)(3) IRS status, other than Institutions of Higher Ed, State Controlled Institutions of Higher Ed, State Agricultural Experiment Stations. The list of eligibility is abbreviated.
Program Area Priority: The COVID-19 pandemic is impacting the nation’s programs for youth development, education, and workforce development, including those in the food and agricultural sciences supporting the six Farm Bill Priority areas of AFRI. There is a need for the formal and non-formal education activities, particularly in the rural areas as the economy reopens, while social distancing to keep COVID-19 infection rates under control. This program area priority addresses the need to develop and deploy rapid, reliable, and readily-adoptable strategies in workforce preparation through formal K-14 education, as well as in youth development through non-formal (e.g., extension) education to cultivate interest and competencies in STEM and agriculture during this challenging time. Funded projects are expected to develop tools, techniques, and other practices that can be rapidly adopted at home or by various educators and extension specialists to ensure the effective formal and non-formal education of K-14 students and youth development.
• Projects should develop and deploy rapid, reliable, and readily-adoptable formal and non-formal extension educational resources and strategies for youth and students at K-14 levels in disciplines of food and agricultural science supporting the six Farm Bill Priority areas of AFRI.
• Formal and non-formal education and workforce development projects may utilize technology and create new digital or non-digital learning resources that can be deployed during the COVID-19 pandemic and during the recovery from it.
• Non-formal education programs for youth development should take a “whole child” approach given the psychological stress and trauma that can be manifested as a result of physical isolation or other stressors.
• Projects should include strategies to ensure access to content by diverse participants and/or practitioners during periods of limited or no internet or technology access.
• Projects should create or update, innovative, interactive learning resources that align with National and/or State Standards and are not duplicative of other existing resources.
Program Area Priority Additional Information:
• Before preparing an application, applicants must contact Dr. Emma Moran (Program Area Priority Contact at emma.moran@usda.gov) by email to inquire about the suitability of their project for submission to this program
• REQUIRED Project Summary and Project Narrative format. Proposals that do not comply with these instructions may be excluded from review and consideration of funding.
• This program area accepts new applications only. Renewal applications are not accepted.
• Applications will undergo an expedited peer-review and awarding process to ensure rapid project start-up. All projects must clearly demonstrate capability of rapid implementation and should not require lengthy exploratory or start-up efforts.
• A justification of how the project addresses a critical and urgent stakeholder need related to the COVID-19 pandemic must be included in the Project Narrative of the full application.
• The applicant must provide evidence that the training and resources developed through the proposed project will be immediately deployed. It should not take the duration of the project to have meaningful impacts.
• Projects that enhance access and interest in agricultural education for communities underrepresented in STEM education; train or retrain the agricultural workforce needed to enhance economic prosperity; and/or utilize the whole-child approach to promote learning in food and agriculture are encouraged.
• Projects that involve participation from industry and nonprofit organizations through collaborating mentors and/or that connect education professionals, particularly those from low-resource schools, to existing USDA and Federal resources (e.g., USDA Agricultural Research Service, Forest Service, Federal laboratories, open data resources) to enhance student outcomes in the food and agricultural sciences are encouraged.
• As applicable, if the majority of project activities are taking place off-site, off-campus indirect cost rates should be charged.
• If organized by the program, the Project Director (PD) will be required to attend one AFRI PD meeting during the performance period of the award. Reasonable travel expenses must be included as part of the project budget.