The National Institute of Food and Agriculture is seeking applications for the Secondary Education, Two-Year Postsecondary Education, and Agriculture in the K-12 Classroom Challenge Grants (SPECA) Program.
Donor Name: National Institute of Food and Agriculture
State: All States
County: All Counties
Type of Grant: Grant
Deadline (mm/dd/yyyy): 04/06/2022
Size of the Grant: $800,000
Grant Duration: 24-36 months
Details:
The program seeks to:
- promote and strengthen secondary education and two-year postsecondary education in the food and agriculture sciences in order to help ensure the existence of a workforce in the United States that’s qualified to serve the food and agriculture sciences system; and
- promote complementary and synergistic linkages among secondary, two-year postsecondary, and higher education programs in the food and agriculture sciences in order to advance excellence in education and encourage more young Americans to pursue and complete a baccalaureate or higher degree in the food and agriculture sciences.
Purpose and Priorities
The purpose of the Secondary Education, Two-Year Postsecondary Education, and Agriculture in the K-12 Classroom Challenge Grants (SPECA) program is to award grants to:
- to enhance curricula in agricultural education
- to increase faculty teaching competencies;
- to interest young people in pursuing higher education in order to prepare for scientific and professional careers in the food and agricultural sciences;
- to promote the incorporation of agriscience and agribusiness subject matter into other instructional programs, particularly classes in science, business, and consumer education;
- to facilitate joint initiatives by the grant recipient with other secondary schools, Institutions of higher education that award an associate’s degree, and institutions of higher education that award a bachelor’s degree to maximize the development and use of resources, such as faculty, facilities, and equipment, to improve agriscience and agribusiness education;
- to support other initiatives designed to meet local, State, regional, or national needs related to promoting excellence in agriscience and agribusiness education
- to support current agriculture in the classroom programs for grades K–12.
Project Category
Each project must support academic instruction with a primary focus in at least one of the following three K-14 Grade Levels:
- Agriculture in the K-12 Classroom (AITC):
- Projects specifically developed by or for the state AITC program. (Note: A letter of support from the relevant state AITC organization endorsing your project, clarifying the absence of duplication with existing materials or projects, and explaining its implementation process into the academic system must accompany applications submitted in this Program Category).
- Secondary School:
- Projects with a specific focus on any of the academic grades 9 through 12
- Junior or Community College:
- Projects with a specific focus on associate degree level (2- year postsecondary) activities
Funding Information
The anticipated amount available for grants in FY 2022 is approximately $800,000 and in FY 2023 is approximately $800,000.
Grant Period
Grant Duration 24-36 months.
Eligibility Criteria
- Applicants for the SPECA must meet all the requirements discussed in this RFA. Applications may only be submitted by: public secondary schools, public or private nonprofit junior and community colleges, institutions of higher education, or nonprofit organizations (Attach IRS 501(c)(3) status under R&R ‘Other Project Information’ Field 12 Other Attachments).
- Failure to meet the eligibility criteria by the application deadline may result in exclusion from consideration or, preclude NIFA from making an award. For those new to Federal financial assistance, NIFA’s Grants Overview provides highly recommended information about grants and other resources to help understand the Federal awards process.
- School boards are not eligible as legal recipients of the award.
For more information, visit Grants.gov.
