Deadline: 24-Jun-22
The Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR), within the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) announces the availability of funds under the Refugee Agricultural Partnership Program (RAPP).
This NOFO provides funds to eligible entities to develop strategies that incorporate agriculture and food systems to improve the livelihoods and economic selfsufficiency of refugee families, with particular emphasis on newly arrived refugees.
The purpose of RAPP is to encourage the development of agricultural and food systems related services that will improve the livelihoods–physically, economically, and psychosocially–of refugee families resettled in the United States. RAPP accomplishes this by providing discretionary funds to eligible, non-federal entities that provide agricultural training and opportunities to improve the local food systems for refugees.
RAPP works to complement existing programs (e.g., Electronic Benefit Transfer/Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (EBT/SNAP); Women, Infants and Children (WIC); and Senior Farmers’ Market Nutrition Program) while taking into consideration the unique characteristics of the refugee populations being served such as language, skills, agrarian backgrounds, health, and culture.
Objectives
To this purpose, the objectives of RAPP are as follows:
- Increase access to land and other necessary resources for the purpose of farming;
- Incorporate relevant refugee cultural backgrounds and allow refugees to use their experience and skills in farming;
- Increase refugee knowledge and skills in nutrition and food safety for personal consumption and, where relevant, processing for market;
- Increase skills in farming and farming safety (e.g., food handling, safe soil amendment practices, farm equipment training, etc.);
- Provide farming business development and training opportunities to refugees interested in pursuing farming as a means towards self-sufficiency (e.g., financial literacy training, business planning, farming recordkeeping, etc.);
- Increase potential for supplemental income through refugee farming initiatives;
- Increase access to healthy and nutritious foods through farming, particularly in urban areas or areas defined as food deserts by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and
- Provide psychosocial support for refugees through agricultural activities.
Funding Information
- Estimated Total Program Funding: $2,500,000
- Award Ceiling: $100,000
- Award Floor: $80,000
- Length of Project Periods: 36-month project period with three 12-month budget periods
Eligibility Criteria
- Independent school districts
- City or township governments
- Public housing authorities/Indian housing authorities
- County governments
- State governments
- Private institutions of higher education
- Public and State controlled institutions of higher education
- Nonprofits that do not have a 501(c)(3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education
- Special district governments
- Nonprofits having a 501(c)(3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education
- Native American tribal governments (Federally recognized)
- Native American tribal organizations (other than Federally recognized tribal governments)
For more information, visit https://www.grants.gov/web/grants/view-opportunity.html?oppId=335630