The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS), requests applications for Regional Food System Partnerships (RFSP). AMS will competitively award grants to eligible applicants for projects that meet the purpose of the program.
Donor Name: U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)
State: All States
County: All Counties
Deadline (mm/dd/yyyy): 05/16/2022
Grant Size: $1,000,000
Details:
The RFSP supports partnerships that connect public and private resources to plan and develop local or regional food systems. The RFSP focuses on building and strengthening local or regional food economy viability and resilience by alleviating unnecessary administrative and technical barriers for participating partners.
Partnerships will be responsible for:
- Determining the size and scope of the local or regional food system in which the project’s goals, outreach objectives, and eligible activities are to be carried out;
- Coordinating with AMS to receive and provide technical assistance; and
- Conducting outreach and education for potential participation in the partnership agreement and eligible activities.
- Applicants will work with their partners to catalyze the development of local or regional food systems.
- Applicants will coordinate efforts within the partnership to set priorities, connect resources and services, and measure progress towards common goals.
AMS will prioritize applications that:
- Leverage significant non-Federal financial and technical resources and coordinate with other local, State, Tribal, or national efforts. Any match resources included in the proposal above and beyond the match requirement may lend support to the proposal.
- Cover an area that includes distressed low-income rural or urban communities with areas of persistent poverty that provide significant opportunities for high impact investment; or
- Have multiple entities and partners, although such partners need not be based in the partnership’s defined region.
Funding Information
- Planning & Design Minimum Award: $100,000; Maximum Award: $250,000
- Implementation & Expansion Minimum Award: $250,000; Maximum Award: $1,000,000
- Farm to Institution Minimum Award: $250,000; Maximum Award: $1,000,0000
Eligibility Criteria
- Local Governments: Any unit of government within a State, including a county; borough; municipality; city; town; township; parish; local public authority, including any public housing agency under the United States Housing Act of 1937, or public transportation agency; special district; school district; intrastate district; council of governments, whether or not incorporated as a nonprofit corporation under State law; and any other agency or instrumentality of a multi-, regional, intra-state, or local government.
- Nonprofit Corporations: Any organization or institution, including nonprofits with State or IRS 501 (c) status and accredited institutions of higher education, where no part of the organization’s or institution’s net earnings inure to the benefit of any private shareholder or individual. Corporations organized to construct or operate a public improvement, the profits from which inure to the benefit of one or more State or to the people therein.
- Economic Development Corporations: Organizations whose missions are to improve, maintain, develop, and/or market or promote a specific geographic area.
- Regional Farmers Market Authorities Entities that establish and enforce State, regional, or county policies and jurisdiction over State, regional, or county farmers markets. State agencies are eligible if their State’s regulatory statutes identify the specific State agency as a regional farmers market authority.
- Tribal Governments Governing bodies or governmental agencies of any Indian tribe, band, nation, or other organized group or community (including any native village as defined in Section 3 of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act, 85 Stat. 688 (43 U.S.C. § 1602)) certified by the Secretary of the Interior as eligible for the special programs and services provided through the Bureau of Indian Affairs
For more information, visit Grants.gov.
