Request for Applications: Education Competitive Grants Program (US)

Deadline: 5-Mar-24

The National Institute of Food and Agriculture requests applications for the Alaska Native-Serving and Native Hawaiian-Serving Institutions Education Competitive Grants Program (ANNH) for Fiscal Year (FY) 2024 to promote and strengthen the ability of Alaska Native-Serving Institutions and Native Hawaiian Serving Institutions to carry out education, applied research, and extension community development programs.

The Alaska Native-Serving and Native Hawaiian-Serving Institutions Education Competitive Grants Program (ANNH) is administered under the provisions of Section 1419B of the National Agricultural Research, Extension, and Teaching Policy Act of 1977 (7 USC 3156).

Purpose and Priorities

• NIFA intends this program to address educational needs, as determined by each institution, within a broadly defined area of Food, Agricultural, Natural Resources, and Human Sciences (FANH).
• The ANNH is aligned with the following USDA Strategic Plan FY 2022-2026 goals:
  • Strategic Goal 2: Ensure America’s Agricultural System is Equitable, Resilient, and Prosperous
  • Strategic Goal 4: Provide All Americans Safe, Nutritious Food
• The ANNH is aligned with the following USDA Science and Research Strategy, 2023–2026 Priorities:
  • Priority 1: Accelerating Innovative Technologies and Practices
  • Priority 2: Driving Climate-Smart Solutions
  • Priority 3: Bolstering Nutrition Security and Health
  • Priority 4: Cultivating Resilient Ecosystems
  • Priority 5: Translating Research into Action
• NIFA is soliciting applications for the ANNH Grants Program that support:
  • Activities of collaborative membership of Alaska Native-Serving or Native Hawaiian-Serving Institutions to enhance educational equity for underrepresented students;
  • Strengthening institutional education capacities, including libraries, curriculum, faculty, scientific instrumentation, instruction delivery systems, and student recruitment and retention, to respond to identified state, regional, national, or international educational needs in the FANH sciences;
  • Undergraduate and graduate students from underrepresented groups to prepare them for careers related to the food, agricultural and natural resource systems and sciences and beginning with the mentoring of students from K-12, and continuing with the provision of financial support for students through their attainment of a doctoral degree; and
  • Cooperative initiatives between at least two or more Alaska Native-Serving or Native Hawaiian-Serving Institutions, which may work in cooperation with one or more other entities including units of State government and private sector organizations, to maximize the development and use of resources, such as faculty, facilities, and equipment, to improve FANH education programs.

Funding Information

• This RFA is being released prior to the passage of a full appropriations act for FY 2024. Enactment of additional continuing resolutions, appropriations act, or other authorizing legislation may affect the availability or level of funding for this program. The amount available for the Alaska Native-Serving and Native Hawaiian-Serving Institutions Education Competitive Grants Program (ANNH) in FY 2024 is approximately $6,287,050, which includes $4,787,050 of FY 2024 funding and $1,500,000 of prior year funding.
• Award Ceiling: $1,500,000
• Award Floor: $150,000

Grant Types

• The following is a list of available grant types under this RFA:
  • Standard Grant: Supports targeted, original projects. Applicants must be an eligible ANNH institution (two or 4-year independent branch campus, or branch institution of a State system) with project activities to be undertaken principally on behalf of and for the benefit of the lead applicant. Applicants may partner with other ANNH or non-ANNH without the requirement of sharing grant funds with other project partners.
  • Collaborative Grant: Supports projects with at least one additional partner or a multi-partner approach to enhance education, extension, research, or integrated programs. Collaborative Grants build linkages to generate a critical mass of expertise, skill, and technology to address education/teaching, extension, research, or integrated programs related to the food, agricultural, natural resources, and human sciences. These grants will reduce duplication of efforts and build capacity and must be organized and led by a strong applicant with documented project management knowledge and skills to organize and carry out the initiative. The partners must share grant funds. The amount of funds awarded to collaborative members as sub-grantees does NOT have to be the same for each sub-grantee. All collaborators must have a substantive role in the collaboration that is reflected in the budget allocation to partners.

Eligibility Criteria

• For the purpose of ANNH, an eligible institution means an individual public or private, nonprofit Alaska Native-Serving and Native Hawaiian-Serving Institutions of higher education that meet the definitions of Alaska-Serving Institutions or Native Hawaiian-Serving Institution established in Title III, Part A of the Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended (20 U.S.C. 1059d).
• ANNH Eligible Applicants
  • Branch Institutions of a State System
    • For the purpose of this program, the individual branches of a state university system or public system of higher education that are separately accredited as degree granting institutions are treated as separate, individual institutions, eligible to apply for and receive awards, provided that they otherwise satisfy the definition of Alaska Native-Serving Institution or Native Hawaiian-Serving Institution as specified above.
  • Independent Branch Campuses
    • Independent branch campuses of individual institutions may apply for and receive grant awards under this program, provided that they otherwise satisfy the definition of Alaska Native-Serving Institution or Native Hawaiian-Serving Institution as specified above. An “independent branch campus” means a unit of a 2-year or 4-year institution of higher education that is geographically apart from the main campus, is permanent in nature, offers courses for credit and programs leading to an associate or bachelor’s degree, and is autonomous to the extent that it has its own faculty and administrative or supervisory organization and its own budgetary and hiring authority.
  • Collaborative Arrangements
    • Two or more eligible, individual institutions, independent branch campuses, or branch institutions of a state system may form a collaboration to carry out education, applied research, and extension programs in FANH. In addition to the individual eligible institutions (or independent branch campuses, etc.), such a collaboration also may include units of State government and private sector entities.
• Certification of Eligibility: Eligibility documentation must be submitted with the application. At the time of application, each primary applicant will be required to demonstrate or certify that it is an eligible institution under the ANNH Grants Program. If the applicant is a new or existing collaborative project, each member of the collaborative must demonstrate or certify that they are an eligible individual institution, independent branch campus, or a branch institution of a state system.

For more information, visit Grants.gov.